CodeJunky
IBA Member
Garage floor
- Thread starter CodeJunky
- Start date
R
raymondburke
Hello. I built a new house. Garage is heated, I've been paking the sleds inside, it's been amazing. BUT I messed up twice and spun the track a little bit.
What is everyone using to protect the floor?
I was going to epoxy it but I was told the studs will f it up just like concrete. I was thinking some sort of floor covering like rubber floor mats or something. I need to be able to use dolys to move the sleds around and it needs to be able to take a few stud hits. I'm not running crazy studs...yet.. mega bites no triggers on this sled. So hoping something cheaper and thinner will work. It's a three car garage 1100sqft minus the stairs. I only want to do one side and it doesn't have to go all the way up and around.
Looking for options or opinions?
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CodeJunky
IBA Member
The house and garage sound awesome.
I did loads of research before settling on the epoxy resin route, and am pleased with the result. It looks great. However, I do not think this will be as hard wearing for studded tracks. Not sure how rubber matting would do, but you can get samples here in the UK, which may give you some idea of how tough they are (or not). https://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-matting-rubber-flooring/garage-flooring/ There must be an equivalent company in the US. Surely Can you get track gusards for snow sleds?
I did loads of research before settling on the epoxy resin route, and am pleased with the result. It looks great. However, I do not think this will be as hard wearing for studded tracks. Not sure how rubber matting would do, but you can get samples here in the UK, which may give you some idea of how tough they are (or not). https://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-matting-rubber-flooring/garage-flooring/ There must be an equivalent company in the US. Surely Can you get track gusards for snow sleds?
pilegreatest
New Member
thank you for your suggestion
pilegreatest
New Member
I am purchasing a house in a couple weeks with a 3 car garage (750sqft) and I want to coat the garage floor. I plan to clean and etch the floor with muriatic acid first but I would like to get opinions on which kit to go with. I see great reviews on the Rustoleum Garage Shield and the Kilz brands as well as ColoredEpoxy brands. What are your recommendations? And go!
There are two sides to this.
1) The garage floor finish needs to be robust enough to resist wear.
2) The castors of any mobile garage equipment, especially vehicle jacks and lifts, need to be soft enough not to damage the floor finish.
The hard polyurethane castors supplied with Abba stands will over time chew the garage floor finish and may also damage the concrete. Other castor types include:
Hard rubber castors which will be easier on the floor if you don't mind the black skid marks they leave.
Soft (normally grey) rubber castors similar to those used by the NHS in hospitals etc which are floor friendly.
1) The garage floor finish needs to be robust enough to resist wear.
2) The castors of any mobile garage equipment, especially vehicle jacks and lifts, need to be soft enough not to damage the floor finish.
The hard polyurethane castors supplied with Abba stands will over time chew the garage floor finish and may also damage the concrete. Other castor types include:
Hard rubber castors which will be easier on the floor if you don't mind the black skid marks they leave.
Soft (normally grey) rubber castors similar to those used by the NHS in hospitals etc which are floor friendly.
AirbusFlieger
Well-Known Member
Another option is concrete stain.
It does not damage, and can be touched up.
Looks good too.
It does not damage, and can be touched up.
Looks good too.
NavyVet1959
Active Member
Must be a small lottery where you live...
Ceramic floor tiles can be pretty cheap ($1 per sq-ft) and not really that difficult to install... If your concern is being able to roll things across them though, the grout lines should be small and the wheels should be large... My kitchen has ceramic tiles and when I need to pull the refrigerator out, the wheel will noticeably get stuck in the grout lines...
NavyVet1959
Active Member
I did an acid stain in a house that I previously owned... There was a xylene based polyurethane gloss coating / sealer put over it in the end... It looked good, but it was a lot of work getting the concrete ready for the stain since the workers figured that since the slab was going to be covered with carpet, it didn't matter if they spilled paint on the concrete... Builders like to use carpeting because it is cheap, covers up imperfections in their finish of the slab, and when the slab eventually cracks due to an improperly designed foundation, it is not noticeable... With tile or stone, you'll immediately notice a crack that goes from one room to the next...
NavyVet1959
Active Member
My garage has a brush finish on the concrete... They do that so that is is not slippery... We get an average annual rainfall of 50", so it's not unreasonable to assume that a car will be dripping water when it pulls into the garage... As such, they put the same finish on the garage floors as you might see on a sidewalk (at least around here)...
I built a platform / dolly for my Harley so that I could more easily move it around. It allows me to park it in front of my 2-door Jeep on one side of the garage. I have 8 castors under it which give it a 2000 lb rating, but it is a bit difficult to move thanks to the brushed finish on the floor... I think that the issue is that the castors need to change direction when I am pulling the dolly back out and the texture on the concrete prevents the wheels from swiveling... It's an 800 lb bike and the platform probably weighs around 100 lbs...
It's really an issue of surface area of the rollers and how smooth is the surface you are trying to roll the object across... I've moved a 1600 lb gun safe through a house with a few pieces of 3/4" sched-40 PVC pipe as rollers underneath it... The weight gets distributed across a lot of surface area and makes it easier to roll... Moving it across carpet though requires you to put down some boards or pieces of plywood to keep the rollers from sinking into the carpet and padding and thus being very difficult to roll...
I built a platform / dolly for my Harley so that I could more easily move it around. It allows me to park it in front of my 2-door Jeep on one side of the garage. I have 8 castors under it which give it a 2000 lb rating, but it is a bit difficult to move thanks to the brushed finish on the floor... I think that the issue is that the castors need to change direction when I am pulling the dolly back out and the texture on the concrete prevents the wheels from swiveling... It's an 800 lb bike and the platform probably weighs around 100 lbs...
It's really an issue of surface area of the rollers and how smooth is the surface you are trying to roll the object across... I've moved a 1600 lb gun safe through a house with a few pieces of 3/4" sched-40 PVC pipe as rollers underneath it... The weight gets distributed across a lot of surface area and makes it easier to roll... Moving it across carpet though requires you to put down some boards or pieces of plywood to keep the rollers from sinking into the carpet and padding and thus being very difficult to roll...
AirbusFlieger
Well-Known Member
I did mine the crayon eater way; slapped it right on.
NavyVet1959
Active Member
San Diego or Parris Island crayon eater way?
When people talk about "staining" concrete, there really are two different methods that they might be talking about... One is basically just a pigment suspended in a solvent that soaks into the concrete and adds some color -- basically like a thinned down paint... The other is an acid based procedure where the acid reacts with the limestone in the concrete to bring out mottled patterns which you then add a clear coat over the top to make it glossy.
AirbusFlieger
Well-Known Member
LoL, PI, Platoon 3017 June-Aug 1985San Diego or Parris Island crayon eater way?
When people talk about "staining" concrete, there really are two different methods that they might be talking about... One is basically just a pigment suspended in a solvent that soaks into the concrete and adds some color -- basically like a thinned down paint... The other is an acid based procedure where the acid reacts with the limestone in the concrete to bring out mottled patterns which you then add a clear coat over the top to make it glossy.
Actually my wife did the stain. A two step process. Etching, then two coats of color.
It was mottled and it looked great. I wiped up oils etc and it seemed unphased.
NavyVet1959
Active Member
I took boot in San Deigo... Back when we actually had a boot camp there... I've been on the Marine base there though... I was in San Diego 10 years or so ago and could not even recognize most of what is left of the Navy base... Not sure if that is because of everything changing or just old memory...
For a good looking acid stain though, the concrete needs to be smooth to start... I don't think it would look that great if you started off with a brushed finish like I have in my garage... There's also some nasty safety precautions that you have to make when dealing with the gloss coat and the thinner for it... You can either go with a very tight fitting special mask / filter or have an external fresh air supply... I ended up designing a forced fresh air mask supply so that the mask did not need to fit tight and it didn't matter that it leaked...
AirbusFlieger
Well-Known Member
Put thin layer of concrete? Grind it?I took boot in San Deigo... Back when we actually had a boot camp there... I've been on the Marine base there though... I was in San Diego 10 years or so ago and could not even recognize most of what is left of the Navy base... Not sure if that is because of everything changing or just old memory...
For a good looking acid stain though, the concrete needs to be smooth to start... I don't think it would look that great if you started off with a brushed finish like I have in my garage... There's also some nasty safety precautions that you have to make when dealing with the gloss coat and the thinner for it... You can either go with a very tight fitting special mask / filter or have an external fresh air supply... I ended up designing a forced fresh air mask supply so that the mask did not need to fit tight and it didn't matter that it leaked...
Spitballing…
NavyVet1959
Active Member
I don't think that it would work that well... A thin layer of concrete would not bond that well... And to get it that thin, you probably would be talking about cement or a mortar mix not *concrete*... There's also the issue that new concrete needs to cure for a few weeks before the chemical reaction in it has got to the point where the acid stain will create the right mottled look... A polished stained concrete can look good inside a house, but it is a lot of work, especially when the workers who poured the concrete initially figured their "workmanship" would always be hidden by carpeting...
Now, the *other* type of stain which is basically just a thinned paint, it's really not that different than just spilling oil when you are changing the oil in your car... Most people don't want solid black colored garage floors though...
If you rent one of those large floor buffer type concrete grinding machines with the diamond pads, you could smooth it though... A quick web search shows that Home Depot has a small 10" one that rents for about $200 per day... The big ones that I've seen used were more like 20" in diameter...
For me though, I only really NEED to grind the area where my motorcycle platform / dolly rolls in my garage and that is probably just an 8'x8' area, so I MIGHT just be able to buy one of the HarborFreight 4" diamond cup wheels and use it on my angle grinder to remove the brush finish from the concrete in that area. That would require motivation though and would destroy my knees (not much cartilage left in them)...
MidTNJasonF
Premier Member
Late to the thread but my long and less than favorable experience with floor coatings in my shops, garages, and facilities (machine shops) points me to only three viable solutions (in my opinion of course).
1) If you want that high end coated floor look Polyaspartic coatings professionally prepared and installed is your absolute best option. 100% solids Epoxy coatings on a professionally prepared surface (mechanical not chemical) is a distant second. Any consumer grade or DIY grade Epoxy or an Epoxy product that is not 100% solids is a waste of time and money. It will lift, it will scratch, it will chip, it will stain. Not if but when.
2) Acid etch/stained with a quality sealer. Again prep is pretty important for an attractive end product.
3) Uncolored concrete with an acrylic polymer modifier and quality sealer.
I have had Race Deck style interlocking tiles. My welder melted them and they were a pain to keep clean/swept around edges and in grooves. My jack stands made an impression if there was not pad to spread the load. A jack or anything with casters was a pain to roll around due to the embossed pattern in the tiles.
I have had DIY Epoxy. It lasted about three years in a residential 2 car garage with only car and motorcycle traffic and basic maintenance. It started developing lifts and flaws about a year in and it was a well prepped surface.
I have had professional quality 100% solids Epoxy in a residential garage. It lasted about 5 years before it really started showing its age and issues. Again it eventually lifted in high traffic areas with car tires. It also suffered sun damage despite it's supposed UV resistant properties.
I have had 100% solids Epoxy in shop and facilities, all professionally done commercial coatings. They lasted longer but still would wear, scratch, and lift in high traffic areas. Forklift and pallet jack rollers were particularly hard on it. I have also burned up such coatings in welding and plasma cutting areas.
I have had professionally installed polyaspartic coatings and they flat out work. I have had it in machine shops that still look good years later even after constant (7 day a week, 20+ hours a day) foot, forklift, and pallet jack traffic. A good deep clean on some of them and you would have thought the floor coating was fresh and new even 5 years in.
I would not mess with tiles or anything like that. Unless you are really good and have a really good level prepped surface you will experience cracking. Ceramic and Porcelains can be very attractive and tough but they are very dependent on a perfect install. Any voids or unevenness will create a stress point. All it takes is a tire, caster, table leg, or roller in the wrong spot and you have a crack.
I have seen some nicely finished spaces with some of the new adhesive vinyl tile products out there but they will not hold up to jack stands, small diameter metal casters with a load, welding slag, or dropped metal stock.
Since I did not want to pay the price for quality professionally installed Polyaspartic coating in my personal / home shop this time around I went with sealed concrete. My shop sees cutting, welding, plasma slag, metal jack stands, metal rollers on engine hoists and jacks, general metal fabrication issues like metal parts dropping on it, and lots of spilled/leaking fluids so it was the most economical and best wearing solution for me.
1) If you want that high end coated floor look Polyaspartic coatings professionally prepared and installed is your absolute best option. 100% solids Epoxy coatings on a professionally prepared surface (mechanical not chemical) is a distant second. Any consumer grade or DIY grade Epoxy or an Epoxy product that is not 100% solids is a waste of time and money. It will lift, it will scratch, it will chip, it will stain. Not if but when.
2) Acid etch/stained with a quality sealer. Again prep is pretty important for an attractive end product.
3) Uncolored concrete with an acrylic polymer modifier and quality sealer.
I have had Race Deck style interlocking tiles. My welder melted them and they were a pain to keep clean/swept around edges and in grooves. My jack stands made an impression if there was not pad to spread the load. A jack or anything with casters was a pain to roll around due to the embossed pattern in the tiles.
I have had DIY Epoxy. It lasted about three years in a residential 2 car garage with only car and motorcycle traffic and basic maintenance. It started developing lifts and flaws about a year in and it was a well prepped surface.
I have had professional quality 100% solids Epoxy in a residential garage. It lasted about 5 years before it really started showing its age and issues. Again it eventually lifted in high traffic areas with car tires. It also suffered sun damage despite it's supposed UV resistant properties.
I have had 100% solids Epoxy in shop and facilities, all professionally done commercial coatings. They lasted longer but still would wear, scratch, and lift in high traffic areas. Forklift and pallet jack rollers were particularly hard on it. I have also burned up such coatings in welding and plasma cutting areas.
I have had professionally installed polyaspartic coatings and they flat out work. I have had it in machine shops that still look good years later even after constant (7 day a week, 20+ hours a day) foot, forklift, and pallet jack traffic. A good deep clean on some of them and you would have thought the floor coating was fresh and new even 5 years in.
I would not mess with tiles or anything like that. Unless you are really good and have a really good level prepped surface you will experience cracking. Ceramic and Porcelains can be very attractive and tough but they are very dependent on a perfect install. Any voids or unevenness will create a stress point. All it takes is a tire, caster, table leg, or roller in the wrong spot and you have a crack.
I have seen some nicely finished spaces with some of the new adhesive vinyl tile products out there but they will not hold up to jack stands, small diameter metal casters with a load, welding slag, or dropped metal stock.
Since I did not want to pay the price for quality professionally installed Polyaspartic coating in my personal / home shop this time around I went with sealed concrete. My shop sees cutting, welding, plasma slag, metal jack stands, metal rollers on engine hoists and jacks, general metal fabrication issues like metal parts dropping on it, and lots of spilled/leaking fluids so it was the most economical and best wearing solution for me.
Has anyone got any advice on garage flooring? I was thinking my car needs a decent floor to park on! I wondered about the floor tiles that can be banged together with a soft mallet. Could do with decent quality though; I don't want the tiles popping up around the joins when I drive over it.
NavyVet1959
Active Member
If you are talking about ceramic tiles, they will crack under the weight of the car unless you fully bed them in thinset mortar when you lay them down.
Car?