how to redo stained and painted garage floor?

[Steve]

I have a client who wants to refinish his garage floor. He previously put down a gray stain. That started peeling after a few years, so he put a two-part epoxy on top. I'm assuming he followed the directions. He most likely did.

The epoxy is lifting from tire heat. The stain below looks worn through. He tried paint remover, with only partial results. That doesn't surprise me with epoxy paint.

What is a good way to refinish this floor? I'll stop by my paint supplier tomorrow for advice, but I'd also like input from the teeming masses. Also, how do I price this? I'm tempted to tell him time and materials.

p.s. I already told him that his best bet might be some kind of matting.

[BobK207]

I have used Rustoleum 9100 Series DTM Industrial Mastic for concrete floors (garages & labs) with great success.

You can search this group for more info but here is a link to a post I made about the product I have used.

Links to prep & tech info as well.

Bob

[lonely.dipal]

hi

dear

brother h r u

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea, once you get one coating on a concrete floor, it is difficult to get it ready for a different coating so the following coatings almost all fail.

I believe the only way you are going to get the job done right is by grinding it. Dirty nasty job.

Personally, I like you matting idea.

[HeyBub]

I saw a guy try to grind off the stripes in a parking lot. Couldn't be done.

Paint's gonna get into all the depressions, irregularities, and crannies. To get it out, you'll have to grind down a LOT of concrete.

How about sandblasting?

Architects use vines to cover mistakes; decorators use curtains. Probably neither would work here.

[David L. Martel]

Steve,

It would help to know what the floor is made of.

Dave M.

[Steve]

"David L. Martel" wrote on 28 Dec 2007 in group alt.home.repair:

It's concrete. Is there another type of garage floor?

[Joseph Meehan]

I suspect the parking lot may have not been concrete. I have seen concrete ground down, but it takes some heavy duty equipment to do it, you are not going to do it with an electric drill. :-)

I doubt if sand blasting is going to work. The epoxy coating is not really hard enough for that use. But I would be worth a try.

[hallerb]

perfect solution replace garage floor, seal concrete but NEVER PAINT OR COAT CONCRETE AS IT CREATES A ENDLESS MAINTENCE HASSLE

[Steve]

Steve wrote on 27 Dec 2007 in group alt.home.repair:

The Sherwin Williams paint dude suggested sandblasting the entire floor. That'd do it. I have no idea how much that would cost.

[Malcolm Hoar]

Yes, after two rounds of failure with coatings, it may be time to try a different approach...

There are some tile systems designed specifically for garage floors. They're kind of expensive but it's gonna be pretty costly removing that epoxy mess in order to prepare the surface for yet another coating.

Here's one such product from Costco:

And today I received a coupon that will take $30 off the normal price of a box (valid 1/7 to 1/27).

I've seen some other similar products but I do know that Costco have been selling this one for quite a few years; I'm sure they would have pulled it by now if they had a lot of returns/complaints.

[Joseph Meehan]

I would certainly use a good two part epoxy finish on any garage floor I get. I looks good and it is far easier to keep clean. I have had mine for over 10 years and it still looks great. I find those who have had bad experiences have either failed to apply it correctly (think prep work) or used inferior products.

Maintenance is far easier when finished (properly) than if not finished.

I am sorry you appear to have had a bad experience.

[jmhartle]

the easiest way to strip and prep the floor is to use a small sandblaster, they are about 80 dollars and a small air compressor will suffice. this will also etch the floor for the greatest adhesive properties

[David L. Martel]

"

Asphalt, dirt, gravel, and wood all come to mind. I"m troubled by the failure of the stain and the failure of the epoxy. Perhaps this floor has a moisture problem. While I'm not sure why the previous work failed I'd head for the paint store and try some paint that's meant for concrete if you can get the epoxy up. If you can't get the epoxy up I'd consider this a lost cause and use any cheap paint.

Dave M.

[Joseph Meehan]

I would not say that is the easiest way, but it is practical for some DIY'ers I once sandblasted a 2½ story brick home, but after a couple of days I rented a trailer mounted compressor, that speeded things up a lot. Doing that job I found that some paint is hard and is easy to get off, but there are some paints that are rubbery and almost impossible to get off. I used a combination of various paint removers (mostly a lye/ corn starch formula - It is a wonder I did came out of that project alive) manual scrapping and the sand blasting to clean it up. Sand blasting should work very well on a basic concrete floor. The problems would likely occur on a floor that had been sealed or painted. Then I would say it might work well.

In any case, if you can't get a good prep, don't bother. You are wasting your time and money.

[krw]

Probably not, but garage tiles should do a good job. I've been thinking about using them for my next house (maybe in six months or so). I'm not near an Internet connection now or I'd post a link.

[krw]

Dirt. ;-) A friend has a wood floor in her garage. It's made from 4x10s over a root cellar. Good thing there are no termites in the area; gave me the willies looking at it.