[photo1902]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Costco garage tiles.

But you don't get to experience the Xylene fume experience

[aviator]

And reply to your question, let me tell you my qualifications first. I started as a laborer in concrete construction as a summer job at the age of 15. When I retired,I owned a small group of ready mix concrete companies, a concrete block,& paver manufacturing plant, Rock and Sand, gravel pits, Rock crushers, excavating equipment, small cranes, concrete pumps, and related construction equipment. In the end I was still cement finisher, on all our jobs. We built everything From large industrial, manufacturing, commercial, municipal, schools, drives and parking lots, residential foundations, steps ,sidewalks ,driveways. If it was made out of concrete or masonry we did it.
The first piece of advice I would give you is never, never, never, ever paint flatwork concrete. I understand you do not have the best possible situation. The best possible color solution, is to have your concrete supplier put the color of your choice in at the batch plant. The color will be mixed in, it's organic, and goes entirely through the mix. Even if you chip there's still color there. Ready mix plants have the availability of almost unlimited colors to mix in your loads. That's how they get the colors in all the different colors of pavers.
Example a large manufacturing plant had an internationally known floor maintenance company come in and paint some kind of their best most expensive epoxy on their entire new plant floors. They prep the surface. And did it in sections as it was a very large job. It did not stand up well to forklift, material pallets, foot traffic, and drop tools. They had that scraped off there, faster than scraping scum off of Louisiana swamp. That all ended in a fairly large lawsuit.
The best solution to your question is staining. Not painting. Staining soaks in just like the oil stains on a driveway it's soaks in way deep. There is very little preparation to apply a stain. You can pour it on, squeegee it on, mop it on, roll it on. The texture of your driveway does not change and become slippery, it stays the same as it is now. Stains come in acid-based, water base, and solvent-based. Stais penetrate the concrete, and don't just try and adhere to the surface like paint, or epoxies.Some smell quite a bit more than others. As far as sealing, we used linseed oil, which is cheap, and protected the concrete from road salts, motor oil, and other penetrates, the pores and capillaries in the concrete fill up with the linseed oil, and protects it from other contaminants. If you wish to add color at a later date just stain it again.
I have seen some pretty artistic looking work done with acid base stains.I was not artist enough to have done any of that kind of work, I am just a cement finisher. But I have seen some very beautiful work done by somebody who is way more artist than me.
I am not very knowledgeable on the new Poly applications that were mentioned in this post. My guess is they would get slippery when wet, and require reapplying from time to time.
Understand this is my experiences, and my opinion. I'm sure there are some engineers that will not agree with me. I am not, and never was an engineer.I only have my many years of experience as a manufacturer of concrete products, concrete and construction, and this is what worked for us.
I am neither an orator, or writer, so I'm sure you will find plenty of errors in this. But I am a very experienced concrete producer and constructor, concrete finisher.

[aviator]

Me again, I forgot to add when you look at all the new big box stores, Walmart, Sam's club, Dollar general, they no longer, and haven't for many years ,epoxy coated their floors. At very least they stain them, and have somebody in to polish them. Just saying, they found out what works and what doesn't.
In addition terrazzo floors, are cement-based color added in the mix, and highly polished. You can spill almost anything you want on a terrazzo floor and it always comes out shiny. Terrazzo is cement-based.Stands up to foot traffic and color stays put. Custodial staff will often times wax them, but not necessary. They are highly polished and will stay shiny without wax. But they are highly polished and makes them somewhat slippery when wet.

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

I did my own, I made a mistake and used HCT Xylene based sealer with shark grip. Took 1 day as the 2 1/2 car garage was completely empty. The only problem, is this product is NOT good for a garage as it does not stand up well to chemical spills (gasoline, paint thinners, etc.) Mine is a working garage, and now a "sealed" floor with stains. I am considering recoating, but I have a lot of research to do, as the garage is now full and it will not be practical to have the existing coating ground off.

Yea, I’ve done mine too myself. Really looked good but I guess I didn’t etched mine well enough. It peeled in a couple small spots, but the epoxy paint stuck better the 2nd time. It said on the can that hot tires wouldn’t peel it but I did it again & again. If you do it yourself get Industrial grade epoxy paint. (sealer) You’ll need a jack hammer to remove it, & it’s quite expensive, but it permanent!

[PoolBrews]

The poly may have to be reapplied in 20-25 years - this is based on the manufacturer. I broadcast shark grip over the surface when I applied the clear poly coat, and have not had any issues so far.