[gfmucci]

That looks great. I would NEVER drive on a floor like that!!!

[Lil Dancer]

My husband did ours - he didn't buy a kit, just a gallon or two of the special concrete paint/sealer from Lowes. He etched the garage floor, and also did the lanai, rinsed thoroughly, waited overnight then painted with a roller. It turned out great - its been two years, and no sign of paint coming off. He didn't use the flakes though,and the finish is between a satin and a semi-gloss. If you don't mind a little elbow grease, it looks like a pretty easy project to accomplish.

[The Great Fumar]

OK OK MINTJULEP

My wife saw your pic and now I have to do it........Thanks a heleva lot...

One stroke fumar > > > :edit: :edit:

[renielarson]

My son did his garage floor with gray paint and black/gray flecks...looks absolutely great! We plan on doing it this summer to our villa garage floor.

Son said it was time consuming but easy...that says a lot for someone who is not all that handy.

Have fun, Fumar!

[crazyeddie]

Folks, if you don't mind a newbie jumping in on this, as a Corvette enthusiast, many folks on the corvette forum are using a product made from plastic. It may be a bit more expensive than epoxy, but it won't come up. Google Racedeck, some great looking floors there--e

[nitehawk]

just wondering if you etch the garage floor and wash it off does it hurt the driveway - or can you wash it off the driveway before it etches the driveway

[renielarson]

As I looked at Racedeck I thought of my laundry room linoleum floor with the small grooves and how dirt finds its way into those little grooves. The only way to keep it clean is to use straight clorox or ammonia, a scrub brush, face mask, and lots of elbow grease.

I wonder about the depressed pattern in the Racedeck system and how dirty my garage floor gets. I'm thinking it would take a lot of time and trouble to keep it vacuumed and clean looking. I'm thinking, too...that it would have to be wet mopped to keep its nice appearance.

Anyone have first hand experience with this system?

[Mintjulep]

Originally Posted by nitehawk

just wondering if you etch the garage floor and wash it off does it hurt the driveway - or can you wash it off the driveway before it etches the driveway

It didn't do anything to my driveway.
I did move my car and cart out of the line of any possibility of spattering tho.
Didn't want to chance spots in the paint.

Originally Posted by the great fumar

OK OK MINTJULEP

My wife saw your pic and now I have to do it........Thanks a heleva lot...



One stroke fumar > > > :edit: :edit:

Sorry fumar... :

[gfmucci]

Now my brother got me all worried about doing this myself in a limited timeframe... during the three or four days when I visit later in May. He cautioned that if the humidity is high or rainy outside that the concrete may not dry thoroughly enough after the etching. If you HAVE to do this when the humidity is high outside, e.g. over 80%, close the garage door, have a large fan blowing across the surface to dry it out, maybe with a dehumidifier running. Now this is the "iffy" part. Once it gets thoroughly dry, and it's still humid outside, and you feel a need to paint anyway with the garage door closed, you better wear an appropriately designed respirator.

Anyway, my delemma is should I plan a 200 mile trip for this purpose with the chance of it being too humid in mid- to late May. I will not apply epoxy with the garage door closed.

[REDCART]

A word of caution. My neighbor who has had years of experience with epoxy on garage floors mentioned that you want to tape the floor on the inside of the door rather than at the edge of the garage floor meets the driveway. He said it doesn't matter how long you let the epoxy dry, the rubber door seal under the garage door will stick to the epoxy and pull off from the bottom of the door. Seems kind of stange that hot tires won't stick to the epoxy but a garage door seal will. I pass the advice along because it comes from an experienced do-it-yourselfer. George

[renielarson]

Thank you George...will remember that

We plan on doing our garage floor this summer.

[chelsea24]

:bigthumbsup: Wow Minty, that floor looks great! Now I have to see if I can get vetman to do it! I like the color and the fleck effect.

[REDCART]

Other questions: I understand that you use a watering can to apply the muriatic acid or whatever you use to etch the concrete with. Then you have to use either a garden hose or power washer to rinse the acid from the garage floor. Doesn't all that spray wind up wetting the wall surface in the garage, unless you use painters plastic to cover the first three feet of the wall and tape it to the baseboard molding? Has anyone who may have used S&S or another professional service recall how they protected the wall surface in the garage? Do you then squeegee the water out of the garage or pick it up with a shop vac?

[gfmucci]

I could probably do this epoxy procedure in my sleep by now...with all the advice and thought that's gone into the pros and cons of do it yourself, and all the horribles to watch out for.

But I just signed up today to have S & S do it...around Memorial Day.* I decided there are too many variables with the weather/humidity, quantities, fleck uniformity, tools and materials to be transported to the site (I don't live there yet.)* I will have plenty of other tasks I can do while I'm there for the several days - and I get to report back to everyone what kind of job S & S Enterprises did and how satisfied I was with them.* While they're there, they will install the attic stairs and the two sheets of plywood to create an attic floor for storage.

[Muncle]

Great move. You're retired and shouldn't have to put up with the rigors of the labor or the self recrimination if something went wrong or even if it were less that perfect. Everyone here raves about S&S, so they'll likely do a good job for you. Congrats.

I got the garage, drive, etc. painted last year by Amy Newsome and simply love it. Not only does it improve the looks, but it makes the garage and especially the lanai so much easier to keep clean. And it's so much more comfortable to walk on barefoot than just concrete. The only issue was when Amy and her assistant, another attractive young lady, did my place it was really hot outside. So of course, they dressed accordingly. Consequently all the dirty old men in the neighborhood felt obligated to come over and check out the work --- all day --- every day.