Epoxy Concrete Paints

[Art Todesco]

I have been looking at the various epoxy paints for garage and basement floors. I did some googling on the subject and found everything from super to terrible. I suspect the terrible review were because the prep work was not done or done poorly. Some products are water based and some are solvent based. Any experience from the people here on these products? Thanks

[Joe]

I've used Sears water based recently for a 26' square garage. Excellent result, concrete was well cured. It came with a cleaner and sand additive . I tossed the sand and sprinkles. Some years earlier I used a two part Glidden solvent base in a 3700 sqare foot commercial building. That's when I found that the sand and other additives were useless. On that job, muriatic acid was used because the concrete was very new. The present commercial two part solvent types most like the Glidden of that time are the ones offered by Sherwin Williams paint stores. That will be my choice for the next project. Bottom line, the solvent based are longer wearing and probably a bit better adhesion on a well prepared concrete. Some of the garage floor finishes I have seen lately will leave black marks on the finish where new tires are allowed to sit for a few days. HTH

Joe