Garage Floor Paint?

[Ed]

I was looking at different types of garage floor paint and I've seen a variety of brands and prices. The cheapest starts at about 18 dollars a gallon from Home Depot all the way to a 250 dollars for a kit that is supposed to do a 2 1/2 car garage. U Coat it . I don't mind spending the 250 if it is worth it.

Has anybody used something else? Could you share your results/comments?

Thanks

[EScanlon]

With your being up north, in the snow belt, you'll want to make sure that your floor is nice and dry before you apply any paint. Otherwise, as soon as it gets nice and cold the paint will literally chip right off.

I served in the Air Force for 7 years, all at Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan (Lower Peninsula). If you look on the map, find Alpena and go about 60 miles south there's a town called Oscoda. If that doesn't show up, look for Tawas, and go 15 miles north.

Anyhow, the reason for telling you this is that one of the things we had to do was keep the Hangar floors painted. In order to do the job right, we had to pressure wash the floor, then we used a concrete etching solution before we applied an Epoxy Floor Paint. But the floor had to be completely bone dry for each step. That took sometimes D A Y S. However, when done right, it lasts for years.

Unfortunately to give you specific brands, types, etc, the paint we got just came in with a Milspec number, Stock Number and Color. Even though I was the supply guy, we normally didn't investigate what manufacturer was the one that was currently under contract to provide that paint.

Hope this helps you in your search.

By the way, you may consider applying sand as a non-slip agent, because the finished paint will be very slippery when wet. If you do that, apply your sand when the paint is still tacky but almost dry, sweep it onto the area you want, THEN apply another coat of paint and let dry. The additional coat of paint is so that the sand won't come off and you will still have the non-slip texture. And it will be a definite NON-SLIP, i.e. you'll get a nice scrape if you slip on it.

FWIW

[beandip]

Silica sand will add the texture so it is a little non skid. Like scanlon said with out it , it's like ice when wet. I have used porch paint with good results that is concrete porch or deck paint . you can also mix the sand in the paint before you apply just mix often. Moisture coming from underneth the paint will cause it to blister. So if you have noticed white dusty stuff forming on the cement , sort of looks like soap residue, chances are the paint will blister and lift . The problem if you seal the surface the paint will not have enough " tooth" for the paint to stick to. If done right it looks great . I did my basement work shop and it was great , much better to clean spills and such.

[Ed]

I just finished doing my basement too. I used the cheap 18 dollar stuff to see how it works. So far it looks great and it does make it easier to clean spills. If it holds up I might use it for the garage. Thanks for the sand idea.

[beandip]

If you see any of the white stuff that I mentioned before , you might think about paint, any moisture coming from under the slab will cause the paint to lift. If that is the case then think about just using a sealer like Thompsons water seal , it leaves the concrete looking like it is wet . It wont peal or chip because it soaks into the cement , I don't know any thing that will penetrate it. Paint will not stick to it either .