Freshening up the garage

[clmeue37]

I bought a house earlier this year with a 22'x16' attached garage. The walls were already drywalled and it has a natural gas heater hanging in the back corner. I've never parked my vehicles inside and don't plan to in this one. This is my workshop, toy storage, and man cave all in one. The "wainscoting" is pallet boards I got for free from work. The brown paint in the one pic is the color I am painting the rest of the walls. I know it's dark but I'm adding a couple more fluorescent light fixtures. Besides I like the brown lol. Future additions will be some shelving, the mini beer fridge, and tv. I also keep an old laptop in the garage which has my music and PDF manuals on it for convenience.

I have a question for you guys about coating the floor. What have you guys used and had success with? I won't be parking a heavy vehicle on it but will pull my truck in there from time to time. Any suggestions or comments are welcome! Just doing the best I can with what I have

[Flyingw]

I had coated my floor four times with the Rustoleum garage floor coating system. It didn't last more than a couple of years. I had tire lift too since my wife insists on parking in the garage. Finally I had had enough and had it professionally done by Garage Experts. I LOVE MY FLOOR!!!!!! They came in and ground all the old coatings off and applied their coating. The coating Garage Experts use allows the concrete to breathe. The DIY type coatings from Lowes and Home Depot are crap in my opinion. If you want a nice looking durable floor, have it professionally done. I hate bare concrete. Coating your floor will make cleaning the floor easier, the light is instantly better by about 30%, and it feels good under your feet.

[bkm]

I see you have one of those damn wife's also who insist on parking in the garage. I was talking to yeagerb the other day and told him I'm going to copy off of you and line my garage walls with cabinets like your garage. I love looking at your setup.

[sledcrazyinCT]

I agree about the $40 a can at lowes or depot is not gonna last. The rustoleum floor coating will lift over time.

Spend some money and buy a two part floor epoxy from Sherwin Williams or Pratt & Lambert this stuff will hold up to abuse. Also prep the concrete with muriatic acid after you degrease and pressure wash the floors...prep is key to long lasting paint adhesion

[El Camexican]

I had coated my floor four times with the Rustoleum garage floor coating system. It didn't last more than a couple of years. I had tire lift too since my wife insists on parking in the garage. Finally I had had enough and had it professionally done by Garage Experts. I LOVE MY FLOOR!!!!!! They came in and ground all the old coatings off and applied their coating. The coating Garage Experts use allows the concrete to breathe. The DIY type coatings from Lowes and Home Depot are crap in my opinion. If you want a nice looking durable floor, have it professionally done. I hate bare concrete. Coating your floor will make cleaning the floor easier, the light is instantly better by about 30%, and it feels good under your feet.

Wow! That looks GREAT! I assume welding on that is out of the question?

[Flyingw]

I do light welding if you can call it that but I try to protect the floor.

[atc007]

Awesome thread! Love your pallets 37! Poly them,and they'll be there looking great longer than us. Great tip on the floors Jim. I too would have been posing this question building my Sons. I'm going in all barrels loaded trying to give him a real nice space to work. Like yours Jim lol.. Bryan,,I bet she's not a damn Wife when you roll over and feel that hot soft body

[bkm]

Awesome thread! Love your pallets 37! Poly them,and they'll be there looking great longer than us. Great tip on the floors Jim. I too would have been posing this question building my Sons. I'm going in all barrels loaded trying to give him a real nice space to work. Like yours Jim lol.. Bryan,,I bet she's not a damn Wife when you roll over and feel that hot soft body

She calls herself the damn wife.lol Whenever I have a moment and she brings me back to reality she always says "oh I know, that damn wife is right again" I just agree and move along.

[atc007]

Ahhhhh yes

[Caminofeld]

I had had enough and had it professionally done by Garage Experts. I feels good yo.

How much did they charge you? I'm planning on doing a rubberized floor coating and re-drylocking the basement this fall. Do you think the Lowes stuff would last longer if it's just occasional foot traffic or is it just complete junk? What prep did you do to the concrete before applying it? Thanks.

[Caminofeld]

Also have to give clmeue37 and FlyingW compliments on some very nice trikes

[Flyingw]

My garage floor was $1800.00. They came in a ground the concrete removing all previous coatings. Normally the prep is to wash the floor with a mild acid solution. Grinding is recommended. The air temp when applying the HD or Lowes type of coatings should not be more than 75deg. You can go to Rustoleum's web site or even YouTube and research the process. For a non-workshop type of floor that will only get foot traffic, the Rustoleum type of coating should hold up just fine. For me, my floor was worth every penny. I spend allot of time working in my garage especially during the Winter and I'm usually padding around out there in my socks. The finish on my floor makes the garage feel like a room and not a garage with a slab of concrete. The overlayment type of floors like Race Deck are fine until you spill some oil and have to clean under it. Ceramic tile is an option but it does have to be installed right to hold the weight of a vehicle. There are many type of industrial grade coatings you can put down yourself but the quality of the finish is only as good as the prep and they typically have a real pungent stink while the coating is curing. For a basemant, there is a moisture test you need to do on the concrete first to determine if moisture leeching up through the concrete is going to be a problem.

[yaegerb]

I bought a house earlier this year with a 22'x16' attached garage. The walls were already drywalled and it has a natural gas heater hanging in the back corner. I've never parked my vehicles inside and don't plan to in this one. This is my workshop, toy storage, and man cave all in one. The "wainscoting" is pallet boards I got for free from work. The brown paint in the one pic is the color I am painting the rest of the walls. I know it's dark but I'm adding a couple more fluorescent light fixtures. Besides I like the brown lol. Future additions will be some shelving, the mini beer fridge, and tv. I also keep an old laptop in the garage which has my music and PDF manuals on it for convenience.

I have a question for you guys about coating the floor. What have you guys used and had success with? I won't be parking a heavy vehicle on it but will pull my truck in there from time to time. Any suggestions or comments are welcome! Just doing the best I can with what I have

I have done 3 floors for guys who needed help and I can tell you the do-it-yourself stuff is the way to go when the house is brand new, NOT when its had oil/gas/you name it impregnated in the floor. 2/3 times the floors peeled, chipped because of our preparation (which we thought was adequate). The 2 that didn't work, the floors were well used (like a garage should be) and we used approx 20 coats of muratic acid wash with a power washer in-between and they looked great to the untrained eye. IMO the only way to properly prep OLD floors is to diamond grind then acid wash, but that isn't cheap by any means. I am with Jim on this one, if you really want to go that route, spend the extra $$$ and get it professionally done.

[Flyingw]

Amen Brother.... Nothing worse than spending all the time, effort, and money on a floor that fails in no time. I did it four times and that was enough for me. Now I just enjoy my floor. The Garage Expert guys will come out and repair two chips at no cost and if I really screw it up, They are there to fix it. Their selection of colors was I believe 11 colors and about as many choices in flake color and size. After they put down the color coat, they came back and put down two coats of clear. Like I said, I LOVE MY FLOOR!!!!

[yaegerb]

Amen Brother.... Nothing worse than spending all the time, effort, and money on a floor that fails in no time. I did it four times and that was enough for me. Now I just enjoy my floor. The Garage Expert guys will come out and repair two chips at no cost and if I really screw it up, They are there to fix it. Their selection of colors was I believe 11 colors and about as many choices in flake color and size. After they put down the color coat, they came back and put down two coats of clear. Like I said, I LOVE MY FLOOR!!!!

I had my garage quoted earlier this year and they will have to diamond grind/wash/patch/etc. Let's just say I am saving my money up for that endeavor...LOL...totally worth it in my opinion. Love the way yours turned out!