11-16-2010, 03:44 PM | #1 |
Drives: Yes Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sammamish, WA
Posts: 1,789
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My garage floor DIY epoxy project - lots of details and PICS (long)
After what seemed to me like endless amounts of reading online, and narrowing my choices down to Wolverine and Epoxy-Coat (two top brands of epoxy that others had good experiences with), I decided to go with Epoxy-Coat based mostly on cost and ease of application. I didn't think that spending double would get me a floor that would be twice as good, so that's what I decided. I had a fresh 40-50 day old slab of concrete with no expansion joints, minor hairline cracks, never been touched by tires or any chemicals. Total of about 600 square feet.
This is the story of my journey from prep to finish and what I learned along the way. My floor didn't turn out as perfect as I had expected, but perhaps that's my fault for being an amateur or possibly for doing a double thickness. I'll explain below with photos. I ordered a total of two and a half kits (so that I could do a double thick application of 20 mils per their recommendation) and on one Friday night several weeks ago I began my prep process. Here are the steps I followed in general:
Here are things I found out or learned the hard way:
The bottom line is that I love it despite my installation errors with section overlap. The product seems to live up to its reputation, but the installation is not quite as easy as the video seems to imply, at least it wasn't for me. I spent a lot of time reading instructions, watching their video, and asking questions before I got started so I'd know what to do, and I felt like I had a good handle on the required steps, but the end result is not quite as good as I had hoped for. On the flip side, for the money I spent, the results are quite good and I feel confident that it will protect my floor for many years. For next time, I'll ask more questions to find out how I can avoid seeing the roller edges and overlap between sections and hopefully I can do a more perfect job next time. Everyone who has seen it so far has been more impressed than I expected, so I guess to them it looks amazing. I, of course, can still see the imperfections, but it does fit the bill for a heavy use work surface, and now I can finish my compressor lines and buy a lift to get some work done on the cars. I hope you find this helpful. Please ask any questions - I'm by no means an expert, but I know more now than I did last Friday! Brian |
11-16-2010, 03:46 PM | #2 |
Whipped
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Did my garage last year. . . won't do it again. . . such a pain in the ass and the floor jacks chip up the floor.
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11-16-2010, 03:47 PM | #3 |
Drives: RSSS Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: DFW
Posts: 2,492
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Get some insulation in those walls! Going to be a cold floor to work on!
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11-16-2010, 03:49 PM | #4 |
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looks awesome, now it needs a kegorator.
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Jannetty Racing JRE Street Package
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11-16-2010, 03:51 PM | #5 |
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Nice! Just had mine done.
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2013 Mustang GT Black M6
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11-16-2010, 03:52 PM | #6 |
Drives: 2023 Black ZL1 Auto Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: FEMA Region 4
Posts: 2,935
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Contratulations! Your floor looks great. I used Sherwin Williams Tile Clad Epoxy about 8 years ago on my garage floor. I love the looks of it and it holds up well. From experience, I'd say that the bubbles are from moisture trapped in the concrete. I'm suprised they tell you to apply it in sections though. If I did it over again I'd spray it to get a better finish. I'd like to recoat mine again, but there isn't an easy to remove the finish and another coating on top of the old one isn't likely to stick. I hope you kept some of the produt to use for touch-ups. I've had to touch mine up with floor enamel in a few places.
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11-16-2010, 03:53 PM | #7 |
So Cal Race Team
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thanks for posting. want to do this as well to my garage.
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11-16-2010, 03:58 PM | #8 |
ride the pain train
Drives: 2011 1LT RS, 1998 fxstc HD Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Daytona Beach
Posts: 2,047
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anyone looking into this check out muscle gloss brand epoxy. it is expensive but it looks sweet and you can get a ton more flakes
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PAIN is temporary, PRIDE is forever......RACE HARD
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11-16-2010, 04:04 PM | #9 |
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Dang, that's nice! That's too pretty to park ANYTHING on...
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11-16-2010, 04:34 PM | #10 |
Drives: 2SS/RJT/A6/Received 09/09/09 Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Frederick County, VA
Posts: 598
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Nice Job, I have been thinking about doing the same thing to my garage floor. Your comments will be helpful if i proceed.
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11-16-2010, 04:47 PM | #11 |
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Where did you order your materials from?
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Black 2SS ordered 1/4/2010, received 2/19/2010
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11-16-2010, 05:05 PM | #12 |
Drives: 2017 Bright Yellow ZL1 6spd Join Date: May 2010
Location: Central MA
Posts: 642
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I just built my garage this summer. I used the U-Coat-it product. Within 1 month all three of my cars were lifting the coating off the floor. I followed the instructions to the letter. So I call U-Coat-it. They sent me a "test kit". Basically an envelope, a piece of plastic, and some instructions. First test was to try and scrape the coating off with a nickle in 4 different places. Only one spot near a wall scrapped a little bit. The second test was to put pieces of duct tape sown in 4 places for 15-20 minutes and see if it lifts when removed. Not a spec came up. Naturally , they want pictures to document your testing. After 5 weeks, I called them to find out what the findings were. Since nothing came up, they evaluated it from the pictures. They said my concrete looked "soft". I had also stated in my statement to them that i had taped a 2'x2' piece of plastic to the floor to observe if the concrete had cured enough, based on other manufacturer's recommendations. U-Coat-It said it was pretty much a dumb test and proves it was my fault the coating has failed.
Ironic, only where the hot tires sit, it peels up. U-Coat-It sent me a kit to touch up the areas that peeled. Here's my recommendation: STAY AWAY FROM U-Coat-It! |
11-16-2010, 05:21 PM | #13 |
NFRNO SS
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I am thinking about doing this to my garage floor, also. What was your reason for doing it double thickness?
There are quite a few brands out now, so it is getting harder to decide. You would think U-coat it would be the industry standard, since it's probably been out the longest. |
11-16-2010, 05:42 PM | #14 |
Drives: 2011 ss camaro Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: spring hill, fl
Posts: 1,705
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wow
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10/28/2010 got it
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