garage floor repairs/coatings

[ZR8ED]

Does anyone have a suggestion for repairing small chips/pits in a cement floor? I have been waiting to paint the floor with an epoxy based paint, but someone suggested that I repair some of the imperfections in the floor first to make it smoother, so I have been holding off, thinking about it (should read..got lazy and procrastinated)

 

Could plain ole cement work? (powder not with aggregate) I have seen nice repairs in industrial plants, made of some type of epoxy resin, but not sure what it is or where I could get some not in 5 gal pails.

 

Suggestions ideas are welcome.

 

Scott.

[tfreer85]

How big are the chips/cracks? I'd stay away from laying down more concrete. You aren't going to get very good adhesion to the bottom (original) slab and its going to crack more if you don't lay down a slab more than 2". Again depending on the size of chips and cracks you should be able to fill with a concrete epoxy resin. I'll have to ask my dad what he thinks the best way to do it (commercial concrete contractor). I'll post again later on today for you. Additionally if you've never laid concrete or finished concrete, I highly recommend you stay away from it if you can.

 

Tyson

[johnc]

Most industrial supply houses (Grainger, McMaster-Carr) sell epoxy based concrete repair stuff. The most important thing for the repair and the later painting is to get the floor clean. Use a good degreaser first (maybe degrease it a couple times) and then acid wash.

[ZR8ED]

The chips are small. No more than 1/2" deep and 2" accross. Like someone dropped a tool once upon a time and took a small chunk out The rest of the slab is in pretty good condition, and just needs a good final cleaning before paint. I cleaned it fully last year but it got too cold to paint so I left it. (read got lazy and procrastinated again) Should be a quicker clean up this time.

 

I miss the epoxy floor. So much cleaner and easier to wipe up/clean, and has an added benefit of making the room brighter.

 

I appreciate if you have a product name. I'll have to find a place and see what they carry up here. I have only searched the usual civilian/mass consumer type stores.

 

Thanks,

Scott

[datsun79z]

Ah. Painting the garage floor. This conjures up horrific memories that are best left to the past. I painted mine. I followed the directions to the letter. I etched the floor and did the whole nine yards.

 

I live in Beaverton, just outside Portland Oregon in the Willamette Valley. So where am I going with this? Well, it rains down here. If it does not rain up there read no further.

 

The one thing the paint manuf. do not tell you, is that painting the floor COMPLETELY seals it. That floor will never again drain. You will pull your rain soaked car into your garage, go inside, later, come back into the garage only to find HUGE puddles of standing water under the car.

 

If you do paint it, invest in a biggy size floor sqeegie. I am now in the process of using a flame thrower to try and burn the paint off of my garage floor so it will once again drain as it used too.

 

On the plus side, the floor looks quite nice untill you start to experience what the paint manuf. refer to HOT TIRE PICKUP. This is the process of the tires literally picking up and removing the paint, and the tires do not have be warm to accomplish this.

 

Hope this helps out.

 

Regards;

 

Mike

[johnc]

Did the same thing with my shop floor when I first moved in 6 years ago. Spent 5 days cleaning (with Tide and Simple Green), etching, drying, and prepping the floor for an industrial epoxy paint. Laid it down like butter and let it dry for a week.

 

A couple weeks later I drove my Z into into the shop after a day of autocrossing and the sticky Hoosier A3s peeled the paint right up in 9" wide strips.

 

I will never, ever paint or epoxy a concrete floor unless its brand new concrete. Even then I'll probably use a stain instead of a paint or epoxy.

 

http://www.concretenetwork.com/stained-concrete/

[rxsleeper]

Go over to www.garagejournal.com and check out the flooring forum. Lot's of information.

 

In the last month I finally put epoxy down on my shop floor. I used the Costco 100% solids EpoxyMaster brand. There is a vast difference of opinion on what makes the best coating. I tend to agree with JohnC and if I could have afforded it I would have done a stained/polished/sealed concrete system. It would have cost several times more to have a pro job than the $600 or so I spent.

 

As to your repair. If your floor has a smooth trowel finish you will need to "rough it up" so the Epoxy will adhere to it. You can use the acid method that I used or rent a shot blaster and blast the entire floor. It is only with a profile on the concrete will you get the epoxy to adhere correctly. I had saw cuts in mine and if you look closely in the pictures below you will see where I filled the saw cuts with a concrete "caulk" before I coated it. I cleaned for 3 full days with pressure washer and degreaser and it was a new floor with only a few spills. I then let it dry for a week before applying the epoxy. It only took 2 hours to put the epoxy down.

 

Here is what it looks like:

[tfreer85]

Okay, so my dad recommends this product: Planet top x by mapie. He said its a water based and will dry in a couple hours and fill your chips no problem. Somewhere in Toronto they should carrying it, its an international company and pretty popular for carry all sizes, huge industrial to small garage quantities.

 

After speaking with him, he said if you were willing to add more than 2" inches you could apply a top layer of concrete no problem. I don't know how big your garage is, but for about a single car garage you'd be looking at around $1k to have it poured, stained, and polished/sealed. Hope this helps!

[Mayolives]

Epoxy concrete patch products normally work very well if installation instructions are followed. They are very visible and will not match the color of the original concrete floor, but this isn't a problem if you are planning to paint or stain the floor. The best "do it yourself" product I have used is Rust-Oleum Concrete Stain. It is imperative that you follow the instructions and even though Rust-Oleum does not specifically state that the floor should be cleaned with acid prior to using, I have had excellent results by taking the extra time to clean with muriatic acid. The old floor MUST be absolutely as clean as you can get it in order to have good results. I did my garage floor four years ago and have punished it with jack stands, engine parts, transmission jacks and all sorts of normal race car repairs. It still looks good with the exception of a few nicks and chips where I have really did a number by dropping bigger things, etc. There are industrial products that are used in factories that are probably more durable but for the Harry home owner, I don't know of a better deal than Rust-Oleum. It's not cheep. If memory serves me, I paid about $250.00 for five gallons.