With apologies if this has been discussed to death. I did try a search
OK, I'm dealing with a 30-year-old 3-car garage flooring. At some point someone put down some coating (paint, drylok, epoxy, I dunno) which is mostly gone. The usual small cracks, oil leaks and dirt, but nothing too bad. I'm not really looking forward to moving everything out (and REALLY don't want to leave everything in my driveway for an extended period while something dries) so I'd ideally like something that can be done in stages.
So with that background, what's the recommendations these days? Tiles? box store epoxy? something else? Just walk away? Have someone else do it?
Rent a shipping container box, load it up and hire a professional. Or buy a $5000 Miata and forget it all.
Yeah, I seem to recall some rubber/plastic tiles that Tim tested back in the day, but I dunno what's good nowadays, or if all the DIY solutions seem like a waste of time and money. I know I don't want something that's just going to come up and look worse. I can look bad without spending any money at all.
tl;dr Do you have customers? If so, epoxy, but clean up any spills ASAP. No? Cheap paint.
Epoxy floors looka ferrrrry niiice, but are slicker than squirrel snot. Spill any kind of oil and they're dangerous slippery. Putting sand/texture down helps, but it's still slick. You have to have the discipline to clean up any spills immediately, and never run on it. For some reason the Air Force loves epoxy floors, and they don't mix well with combat boots.
I went with cheap gray garage paint on my floor, but it's absolutely a work surface. As a result it looks dirty most of the time, and needs a frequent repaint to look nice. Every time I roll a car out I sweep, but it will always look dirty. I value my health over anybody else's judgement.
My ex- did store epoxy from Lowes in her 28x24 garage. Her comments... Whatever the box says you'll need - double it. The prep is a royal PITA... but if you don't do the prep, don't even bother. Bearing in mind - the prep to make regular paint last for more than a week will be about the same. She did it in stages - half on one side one week and then the other a couple of weeks later. Give yourself at least a week for each side to do the prep and coating and a solid week for the first side to cure before you put stuff on it. She did it about 10 years ago and when I saw it a few years afterwards it still looked ok with minimal lifting. I think she put down something to improve grip when wet. She did not put the colored chips into the coating as that makes finding dropped fasteners a PITA. Just basic grey.
Do a moisture test. Take a 12" square of clear plastic and tape it to the floor. Wait a month or so. If moisture collects under the plastic, moisture is seeping through the concrete and the concrete isn't sealed very well and the chances of epoxy (or any coating) failing are high.
I'm thinking the benefit/effort ratio just ain't there and I'm probably better off with an ugly garage floor.
Unless the tiles are the way to go.
Someone I trust a lot recommended that I just go with plain concrete paint. It’s not sexy, but it’s easy to apply and easy to touch up.
No advice on the type of product, but I do have a suggestion for whatever you pick. If the coating you choose has the option to add color flakes, don't. Or at least go very light with them. My floor was done prior to me buying the house. Its a white epoxy with a metric butt load of grey and black flakes. It basically looks like TV static. It looks killer until you drop a nut or bolt, then its like it vanished. Its so hard to find small stuff that gets dropped on the floor. If I could do it over it would just be a solid color.
