Garage floor paint/coating suggestions

Hey all, just wanted to pick your brains on this one. I know that this sounds ridiculous, but I am looking for an affordable garage floor sealant or paint for my parents garage. Keep in mind they live in Michigan where road salt is used in abundance during the winter months. They are looking for "something that will look nice". The garage doesn't see any mechanical work at all since I moved out. At their old house they used some kind of gray "paint" kit that came with black and white chips to spread on the floor and it worked o.k. but started to give in places where their hot tires made contact when parked, and it also started to fail due to road salt. In my opinion garage floors should have stains but they do not feel the same. Anyways the question here is have any of you used or seen reasonably priced products used on garage floors that lasted? If so what are the names and results. Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Paul

P.S.
One guy tried to sell them rubber squares that interlocked to form a mat on the floor, the cost you ask? 3,000 dollars for the three car garage.

Personally I would price out linoleum tile, big roll, if the garage is 3 car, 36x24 I'd use 3 12x24ft rolls.. after doing one really good floor scrubbing, few dabs of glue and roll it out. They may even have a special glue for that kind of application that can handle the temperature variations. Alot of times you can find the rolls of linoleum at discount discontinued places for cheap, like $20 a roll...the trick is finding 3 of the same size/pattern/color.
I've also seen two done in ceramic tile that looked really nice and the tile was surfaced so that it is not slippery. It's actually not that hard to do using 12x12 inch tiles. The biggest PIA is cleaning the garage out so everything is off the floor.

i think the por15 folks have a paint for that purpose.

try, www.porstore.com

http://www.prattandlambert.com/products_and_specifications/industrial_maintenance/6720.html

Used this on 2 garages now...great stuff, no problems in the Chicago area winters

Rev

Thanks for the suggestions so far. That Por15 is something I recall seeing in a post about a build on this site. It was used to paint an axle I think. Good suggestions so far, but keep them coming guys. I don't think that ceramic tile or linoleum will hold up with the freeze thaw cycle and wear in a garage.

Paul

I've always thought this looked pretty interesting http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=56&SBL=1 It's rustoleums epoxyshield garage floor sealer.

Pat

I used some Latex Enamel "Porch Paint" from Ace Hardware on my floor. It was relatively cheap (~$15/gal) and has held up pretty well. This floor gets abused because it sees quite a bit of cutting and welding as well as oil, grease and antifreeze. It sealed the floor and holds up/cleans up well.

Les

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I'm gonna pass on the information and see which product they would like to go with.

Paul

Not sure about the others, but the kits you can buy in the hardware stores with the chips in them should really be done to a brand new garage floor. They've got to be done to an absolute spotless floor other wise they dont set properly.

99XJSPORT06 said:

Not sure about the others, but the kits you can buy in the hardware stores with the chips in them should really be done to a brand new garage floor. They've got to be done to an absolute spotless floor other wise they dont set properly.

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One of the reasons I suggested linoleum, I've never seen a painted garage floor last more than 2 or 3 years no matter how good you clean it and etch it.

Might want to peruse this site for a while
http://www.myflooring.org/garage-flooring.php

I've seen this at sams club in the auto/tire section but a bit cheaper.
http://www.elite-xpressions.com/flooring_garage.htm

RichP said:

I've seen this at sams club in the auto/tire section but a bit cheaper.
http://www.elite-xpressions.com/flooring_garage.htm

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This looks like it may be a viable option for the application they want. Thanks again for all the suggestions and sorry for the late reply. As soon as they decide what material they want to use I will post a mesg and then update on the durability. I forgot to say that the floor is about two years old and has very little oil spots now.

Thanks again,
Paul

How about this? Home depot/ lowes, Armstrong tiles $0.18 each . inexpensive, strong, cleanable, oil resistant, wont discolor with hot tires parked on them, wax it and buff to a shine if you want. Peel and stick or glue it down.

99xjache said:

How about this? Home depot/ lowes, Armstrong tiles $0.18 each . inexpensive, strong, cleanable, oil resistant, wont discolor with hot tires parked on them, wax it and buff to a shine if you want. Peel and stick or glue it down.

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$0.18 a tile?

I checked out H.D. and the linoleum tiles were at least $0.86/sq ft or $2.49/sqft for the custom rolls of black and white tiles. My new 3 car 688sqft garage will cost me $590 (or $1700 with custom rolls) - more than I want to spend.

I am probably going to go with the epoxy for money reasons. Does a fresh coat of epoxy apply easily to an old coat?

d10shun said:

$0.18 a tile?

I checked out H.D. and the linoleum tiles were at least $0.86/sq ft or $2.49/sqft for the custom rolls of black and white tiles. My new 3 car 688sqft garage will cost me $590 (or $1700 with custom rolls) - more than I want to spend.

I am probably going to go with the epoxy for money reasons. Does a fresh coat of epoxy apply easily to an old coat?

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I really dont know about overlaying old epoxy. I looked into epoxy, and found that I had to clean, etch, prime and the epoxy coat the floor if I wanted the epoxy to stay for a while. The cost was over 900 bucks for materials alone. There are some cheaper "epoxies" out there that wont stand up to a hot tire parking on it, let alone an accidental gas spill. Thats why I chose the tiles. It took me all of 8 hours to pressure wash the floor, let it dry, and then place the tiles with 1 helper. I was moving my stuff back in the next morning. My decision was based not only on cost, but time.

That garage is my dream garage! nice job, my only problem would be keeping my wife out of it LOL

These are MY two dream garages