# Garage concrete floor treatment



## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Now that I have everything moved to one side and painted my garage wall white, I'm thinking of painting the floor.
Home Depot has an epoxy for concrete (after the etch prep) but it is a slate grey.
I'm wanting something lighter to reflect light rather than slate grey.

Any suggestions?


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Colour is not as important as making sure the painted floor does not become slippery....

A light grey would be OK. Slate grey is a bite darker, right?


----------



## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Color is important to brighten the otherwise dark garage as much as possible.


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hi, Ralph; have you tried any of the brand name trades outlets (where the painting contractors shop)? You should be able to get epoxy floor paint in basically any colour you want. Don't know where you are in the 'States but here's a few companies to try...
Global Top Ten and The PCI 25 - 2013 | 2013-07-15 | PCI Magazine
The other avenue is the fibreglass/epoxy resin wholesalers.
Up here that'd be:

Coast Fiber-Tek Products
Industrial Plastics & Paints

You might have access to affiliated branches?


----------



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm sure that you can get concrete paint in different colors but I'm not sure about an epoxy. Whatever you use I would add this to it. It works and its cheap. Home Hardware - 227g Anti-Skid Compound


----------



## GulfcoastGuy (Feb 27, 2012)

Hey Ralph, the epoxy product you speak of is intended for garage floors that must stand up to the heat of tires fresh from the highway. For simple foot traffic you could get good use from 3-4 coats of a quality porch paint. Then the color choices increase.

Just a thought.


----------



## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Have you thought about staining the concrete comes in many different colors


----------



## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

GulfcoastGuy said:


> Hey Ralph, the epoxy product you speak of is intended for garage floors that must stand up to the heat of tires fresh from the highway. For simple foot traffic you could get good use from 3-4 coats of a quality porch paint. Then the color choices increase.
> 
> Just a thought.


The painted floor needs to stand up to the tools that are on wheels.
Band saw, jointer to name to most used.

And I still need to be able to park my car in the garage if I want to.


----------



## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Ralph, further to what I said earlier, what you need is white base, to which you add the appropriate colourant. It's highly unlikely that you'd find a ready mixed tint (that you like) on the shelf. I agree with you on the epoxy finish being the right choice. 
You're going to have to hurry if you live in the North US...evenings are getting colder and you really _don't want to have an electric heater going in there_ once you get the finish down. That epoxy floor paint is temperature sensitive as I recall.

Try these guys...their product is _waterborne_. Custom tints available!
Insl-x Superior Coating Systems
Insl-x Superior Coating Systems


----------



## Oldmcst (Jun 15, 2013)

rwl7532 said:


> Now that I have everything moved to one side and painted my garage wall white, I'm thinking of painting the floor.
> Home Depot has an epoxy for concrete (after the etch prep) but it is a slate grey.
> I'm wanting something lighter to reflect light rather than slate grey.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Check out www.ArmourGarage on the internet. Lots of colors and a grainy surface. VERY expensive, but is industrial grade.


----------



## rayschimpf (Sep 30, 2009)

Ralph
I have painted several concrete floors with epoxy I usually get mine at a Sherwin William paint store they will mix whatever color you want. They also have a product you add that will make it antiskid that really works. That’s the good news. 
The bad news the floor hast to have no other paint on the floor and then acid etched if there has ever been any oil leaked on the floor this hast to be removed almost 100 percent otherwise the paint will not stick. The next important step is drying time under ideal conditions it needs no foot traffic on it for several days and no vehicle traffic for three weeks or more otherwise when you park your car on it with hot tires it will pull a spot of paint right off the floor when you drive away the next morning. It’s a great product but you have to follow the directions to the letter or the product will fail. Someone else mentioned the cool weather this is critical the cooler the concrete the longer it must set before you can put anything heavy on it. You may want to wait until next summer. I would recommend saving a little of both parts in an air tight can so you can use it for touchups there most likely be spots that will come up on old concrete. Epoxy should be painted the entire floor at one time. I know this isn’t what you want to hear but that’s the nature of the product.


----------



## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Ray,

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this subject, you made the fine print on the side of those packages a whole lot easier to understand!


----------



## Tensace (Dec 2, 2013)

EliteCrete (dot com) might be more than you're looking for, but the product rocks and is beautiful. EliteCrete will claim you need to be trained, but I'm betting if you contact them they can walk you through it. Cost is a about a buck a foot as I recall.


----------



## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Worth looking into: Water glass, or sodium silicate, applied to concrete, reacts chemically with it to become part of the concrete. It's been described as "granite" like, after being applied to concrete. Interestingly, applied to wood, it would just wash off in the elements.


----------



## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

WEAR BREATHING protection when using these things. Just running a fan is not enough. Epoxy is great, but, before curing, it's mean.


----------

