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Curious as to how many of you that painted your garage floors prepped the floor with muriatic acid to etch the surface. That is the key to keeping the paint from peeling or lifting. The floors on both my garages were painted with epoxy by the builder. 12 years in the house and the paint has held up very well. Some wear and tear but not much. A little peeling around a few cracks and that is it. The builder told me they etched the concrete before painting. Here is a very good video explaining the entire process.
I had my floor painted with Industrial Grade Epoxy before we moved into the house. The concrete was about 3 months old at the time. Contractor came in the day we signed the papers and sanded down the concrete. Once that was done they applied the first layer of paint including on the concrete foundation at the bottom of the walls. Several days later they came back and applied the final layer of paint with some sprinkles in it to provide traction and some color. That was in December 2013. 6.5 years later the paint is still holding up well. Even in the spots where brake fluid spilled on the floor and didn't get cleaned up immediately because I was trying to get a brake line fastened.
There are scuff marks where the lift arms slide across it and there are black marks where the four tires sit due to brake dust that comes off the wheels and tires after a track event. Every once in a while I will clean the black marks but they have gotten ground into the paint pretty well so only reduce down to a very dull gray cast on the paint.
The paint is tough and hasn't been damaged by heavy tools dropping on it.
My previous garage had a concrete floor that was poured in 1970. The concrete wasn't brushed so it was smooth and it didn't have those damned expansion joints in it. When I moved out 43 years after the floor was poured there were two very small thin cracks in the floor even though the floor had seen temps vary from the 90s to the -10s it didn't need expansion joints. The big problem with the floor was the concrete surface itself. It absorbed everything and once fluids were absorbed they stained the concrete and couldn't be cleaned out. Same with dirt. We lived in upstate NY and in the winter the cars would drag in all of the sand/salt mix the town would spread on the roads. Cleaning that mess up every spring was hard because I literally had to use an abrasive soap powder and scrub the floor to get the dirt out of the crevices. Now with my painted floor I just spray some soapy water on the floor and use a push broom to move everything out of the garage. It is so much easier to clean. Most of the time just using a broom to push dirt out works.
Curious as to how many of you that painted your garage floors prepped the floor with muriatic acid to etch the surface. That is the key to keeping the paint from peeling or lifting. The floors on both my garages were painted with epoxy by the builder. 12 years in the house and the paint has held up very well. Some wear and tear but not much. A little peeling around a few cracks and that is it. The builder told me they etched the concrete before painting. Here is a very good video explaining the entire process.
This. For epoxy prep is everything and painting and spreading some chips is the easy part. Most early failures are due to lack of proper prep. My dad, brother and I have done 4 of our garage floors now and with really good success. My brother's floor is now 17 years old and still going strong. His is in Texas as well with plenty of heat in the summer and hot tires on it all the time.
My prep was 110% correct. Epoxied my Garage Floor twice. Both times after a few years, cracking, flaking, etc. LEAVE YOUR GARAGE FLOOR ALONE.
We got it Mr Livingston. You had bad luck with your experiences with your garage floor painting. No need to shout. I am sure you will never paint any of your garage floors in the future. Those of us that have had good experiences will continue to do so.
Last edited by ShadowGray19; 05-04-2020 at 07:23 AM.
I just finished my garage floor this weekend (3-car garage). The pic I attached shows it only 1/3rd of the way done. I'll update this post with pics now that it is completed. I used a rubberized 18"x18" interlocking tile that I found at Menards (sorta like a Home Depot/Lowes). The tile is from a company called Multy Home, but I think, according to the folks at Menards, they are going to discontinue selling that brand. I bought enough for 1000 sq. ft. plus.
I concur some floors will look like crap two or three years after application. Having done it my self years ago and experiencing those issues, this time I had a professional come in and do it. It was a longer process but looks much nicer however, for the portion that is exposed to outside I would recommend leaving it bare concrete. With the AZ heat and penetrating sun, it takes care of clear coated after two years. The remaining floor is as great looking as the day it was done.
I pressure washed and etched the floor twice. Maybe the diy coating isn’t as good as the professional stuff. It looked awesome for some time.
‘Also if you spill on it it will mess up the finish.
When I painted my garage floors ( 2 garage floors each 24' X 32' I waited 2 + years after I poured ( build and poured in 1978 painted in 1980 ) But I used the "old" Dutch Boy oil base paint and the paint is still holding up well.
Rich
I have never cared to bother with my garage floor, but after seeing the low cost vynil tiles I am thinking maybe. Those things would live thru a nuclear blast and cost very little, plus if one gets messed up, easy to repair. Paint on a floor, even when done well seems like it would be something I would worry about, given the stories and how hard I use my garage. (Steel wheels on a rottissery that my camaro is mounted on, that abuses the concrete itself!)
Well there seems to be a lot of positive and negative views on this. Some have had good luck and others not so much. So far my experience has been positive. I strongly feel prep work is everything, and that is with everything you do not just flooring. I have swept the garage a few times, put the car back in the garage right after a wash, and after a nice long drive.. I have had no discoloration or hot tire pick up at all. I will in the future buy something to put under the front tires just so I know where to stop while pulling in, but for now, I am very impressed.
Stay away from white tiles if you do Racedeck, I did them and they are all stained, wish I had gone with gray instead. But the positive side is when I moved I was ale to move the floor with me and just add the red tiles to fill in open space. I would say 20 years is getting my moneys worth out of them.
Don't epoxy your Garage floor. I did it and within a few years, it was cracking, flaking, destroyed. Costed me big money in the beginning to do after my house was built. New home. I did all the prepping 100% and still after 3 years it started to look like sh*t so I recommend leaving it alone. Bare concrete for me from now on.
Had the same problem. Went with Motofloor (by Racedeck) from Costco goes on sale a couple times a year. (to cover up the bad epoxy)
So with all the Swisstrax / race deck floors that are solid, do you need to do anything with rain dripping off car to maintain the floor or do you just let it evaporate?
05-03-2020, 01:32 PM
