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Minimum for a lift is 4 inches I would do 5 or 6 if you can afford it. Get the higher strength concrete. I forget the name but the type I got has fibers in it. I got a hand towel finish. It is smooth but not perfectly so it is not slippery when wet yet easy to clean,etc...
I agree with 93Ruby about the extra thickness. I would go 6 inch for my own (when in doubt, build it stout).
The good news is that if you know the proposed post positions, you can go extra thick only there (say a 24 inch x 24 inch area per post). No need to do the entire floor extra thick. Fiber reinforcement is a good idea. As is wire mesh. Well placed Rebar ( steel reinforcing bars) is best.
3000 - 3600 psi will do. But it will take it 28 days to cure to that strength (unless you order high early strength). Regular mix will achieve about 50% of its ultimate strength in 3-5 days.
I dug out some big "piers" under where my lift posts would be, probably overkill, but figured it couldn't hurt. We did 5" thick for the slab, with the piers being much much thicker.
I used a 100% solid epoxy from Wolverine Coatings. Don't know if they are still around. They used to be big on garage journal. If I had to do it again, I would have just left the grey base coating and not done the flakes. I may coat it again someday!
I dug out some big "piers" under where my lift posts would be, probably overkill, but figured it couldn't hurt. We did 5" thick for the slab, with the piers being much much thicker.
I used a 100% solid epoxy from Wolverine Coatings. Don't know if they are still around. They used to be big on garage journal. If I had to do it again, I would have just left the grey base coating and not done the flakes. I may coat it again someday!
I used a light tan epoxy kit I got at Lowe's. I have a 3-car garage and I was worried that the specs said it would do a 2-car. But there was enough material to easily do the floor. I did not use the flakes as I wanted to be able to sweep the floor and wash clean and use a squeegee to push water out. I also didn't add a non-skid material and it turns out the floor is not slippery when it's wet.
Definitely make sure the new floor has cured before putting down an epoxy finish. Cleaning the floor is very important. I cleaned my floor 3 times using a 50-50 mix of Simple Green and water. It's also important to rinse the floor thoroughly! Most epoxy kits come with a form of citric acid to apply and rinse off as the final prep step.
A couple years ago I bought a Maxx-Jax mid-rise 2 post lift. The specs called for a 4" slab thickness and the install kit included 10 Wej-It anchors that needed only 3.5" of floor thickness to work. The spec on the garage floor when it was poured was for a 4" thickness using a 3000 psi mix. When I drilled the first two holes for the anchors, I measured the pad at that point. The thickness was 2.5" So much for a contractor following the plans... The floor also had some cracks that were within 6" of where the anchors were to be placed and that was too close.
What I did then was to have a company come out and cut out two 4'x'4 chunks of the floor, dig down 12" and pour new pads using a 5000 psi mix. Rebar was used in the pads and also rebar was used to tie the existing floor to the new pads. I had already measured for the jack stand locations so the contractor knew exactly where to install the rebar.
The pads needed to cure for 21 days and at that point I hammer-drilled the 10 holes and used 7" long epoxy anchors. The drilling was easy; the hardest part was cleaning the dust and debris out of the holes.
The finish on the pads was troweled smooth. I recently painted the slab pieces with a paint for concrete porches and got a pretty good paint match.
I used a light tan epoxy kit I got at Lowe's. I have a 3-car garage and I was worried that the specs said it would do a 2-car. But there was enough material to easily do the floor. I did not use the flakes as I wanted to be able to sweep the floor and wash clean and use a squeegee to push water out. I also didn't add a non-skid material and it turns out the floor is not slippery when it's wet.
Definitely make sure the new floor has cured before putting down an epoxy finish. Cleaning the floor is very important. I cleaned my floor 3 times using a 50-50 mix of Simple Green and water. It's also important to rinse the floor thoroughly! Most epoxy kits come with a form of citric acid to apply and rinse off as the final prep step.
A couple years ago I bought a Maxx-Jax mid-rise 2 post lift. The specs called for a 4" slab thickness and the install kit included 10 Wej-It anchors that needed only 3.5" of floor thickness to work. The spec on the garage floor when it was poured was for a 4" thickness using a 3000 psi mix. When I drilled the first two holes for the anchors, I measured the pad at that point. The thickness was 2.5" So much for a contractor following the plans... The floor also had some cracks that were within 6" of where the anchors were to be placed and that was too close.
What I did then was to have a company come out and cut out two 4'x'4 chunks of the floor, dig down 12" and pour new pads using a 5000 psi mix. Rebar was used in the pads and also rebar was used to tie the existing floor to the new pads. I had already measured for the jack stand locations so the contractor knew exactly where to install the rebar.
The pads needed to cure for 21 days and at that point I hammer-drilled the 10 holes and used 7" long epoxy anchors. The drilling was easy; the hardest part was cleaning the dust and debris out of the holes.
The finish on the pads was troweled smooth. I recently painted the slab pieces with a paint for concrete porches and got a pretty good paint match.
[Thread Jack] (pun intended)
Do you like your MaxJak? How often do you move it out of the way and is it a pain?
I just built a garage and originally planned on an in ground scissor lift (Bendpak SP-7X or Atlas SLP-7K) as I have plenty of overhead room. But when you factor in installation, they're over twice the price of a MaxJak so I'm waffling on just getting a MaxJak and calling it a day.
An asymmetric two post lift would be ideal but I like the idea of moving the lift out of the way (MakJax) or recessing it in the ground (Scissor).
I used a light tan epoxy kit I got at Lowe's. I have a 3-car garage and I was worried that the specs said it would do a 2-car. But there was enough material to easily do the floor. I did not use the flakes as I wanted to be able to sweep the floor and wash clean and use a squeegee to push water out. I also didn't add a non-skid material and it turns out the floor is not slippery when it's wet.
Definitely make sure the new floor has cured before putting down an epoxy finish. Cleaning the floor is very important. I cleaned my floor 3 times using a 50-50 mix of Simple Green and water. It's also important to rinse the floor thoroughly! Most epoxy kits come with a form of citric acid to apply and rinse off as the final prep step.
A couple years ago I bought a Maxx-Jax mid-rise 2 post lift. The specs called for a 4" slab thickness and the install kit included 10 Wej-It anchors that needed only 3.5" of floor thickness to work. The spec on the garage floor when it was poured was for a 4" thickness using a 3000 psi mix. When I drilled the first two holes for the anchors, I measured the pad at that point. The thickness was 2.5" So much for a contractor following the plans... The floor also had some cracks that were within 6" of where the anchors were to be placed and that was too close.
What I did then was to have a company come out and cut out two 4'x'4 chunks of the floor, dig down 12" and pour new pads using a 5000 psi mix. Rebar was used in the pads and also rebar was used to tie the existing floor to the new pads. I had already measured for the jack stand locations so the contractor knew exactly where to install the rebar.
The pads needed to cure for 21 days and at that point I hammer-drilled the 10 holes and used 7" long epoxy anchors. The drilling was easy; the hardest part was cleaning the dust and debris out of the holes.
The finish on the pads was troweled smooth. I recently painted the slab pieces with a paint for concrete porches and got a pretty good paint match.
Now this is slick. I'm certain my cookie cutter suburbian garage floor is much too thin for a stand, good to know there's a workaround that doesn't involve an entirely new floor.
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I did the this gray epoxy with a polyaspartic top coat and it is a MF'r to find a dropped screw/nut/bolt! Other than that, I absolutely love it! You can see where my lift bolts were already mounted and taped off.
Curious as to why? I'm going to be coating my floor soon and was assuming I'd do flakes.
I prefer the clean look of the solid color, and as mentioned, its easier to see small stuff if dropped (little clips, or small thin washers, or small nuts/bolts, etc).
Be careful if you decide to use the Lowe's kit. My floor was prepped properly but really sticky race tires will pull the paint up of left in the same spot for a length of time.
About a year ago I installed a Bendpak 2-post lift in an existing slab and was concerned about its strength. I contacted Bendpak's tech support, and they said that the column's footprint is sized to support the limit weight on a standard construction slab (4" thick, normal compression strength concrete, mix of steel mesh and rebar).
I think the real point to be watched when using your lift is to keep it fairly balanced. My BP lift came with a set of drawings showing how to place various configurations of vehicles on the lift to keep the c.g. close.
Be careful if you decide to use the Lowe's kit. My floor was prepped properly but really sticky race tires will pull the paint up of left in the same spot for a length of time.
Even stock C6/C7 tires will lift paint on some of them.
I don't suggest using ucoatit, I followed the directions to the letter, with a 2yr old garage floor that was perfect. Having peeling under tires years later. I do like the flakes and sand though.
For a new floor 6 inches thick, 4000 psi concrete with fiber. 18x18 pads for two post lift are 10 inches thick with rebar. The fiber helps the concrete resist cracking in the future.
12-01-2015, 04:26 PM
garage floor finish
