RaceDeck does, may cost less, easier and faster to install, can pull it up and sell it to someone else,,,,,,,,,can't do that with epoxy!
Consider a floor jack. Small metal wheels. Contact patch of 2 inches across and maybe an eighth deep. Now balance half the weight of your project on those. Then once it's jacked up, the jack stand footprint while you yank and lean on it. Storage yes, light work probably but marks will happen, Heavy work it's going to fail. Don't ask the sales person, ask to see prior (years, not weeks) work.
I worked in a Ryder truck shop with epoxy floors, they held up pretty good, but no torch work or metal working. It was really slick with snow on your boots or oil on it. We mopped and washed it after every shift to keep it clean in case customers came through.
I have a little 2 car garage that I am planning on laying out an epoxy floor in. That garage sees no jacks, no shop cranes or torches. It is a display garage for finished cars to sit in. My house garage where the dailies are parked would be next to receive an epoxy floor. My shop floor? Not in a million years. That is for working, no fancy *** floor is going to survive what I do in there. I clean it, swab it and occasionally mop wax it if I am bored and need something to do.
There's a whole section over there devoted to floor coatings, and a couple professional installers often post there to answer technical questions. It's a good resource.
I second the slick when wet, I worked in a shop that had epoxy on the floors and it was a pain in the *** to wet sand paint.
Definitely put the rubber chips in/on the floor, I paid a "Pro" to do my garage floor, after 15 years it's not so bad , but without the rubber chips it was like a sheet of ice, I put various rubber mats, rugs to dry feet when entering, It was never suggested to me and apparently I never noticed that the floors I'd walked on had chips, warn or something else so they were not so slick. It's held up well, no complaints about that.
Hello, Epoxy has many levels. But, it is epoxy. My friend’s garage floor was the over the counter gallon can of whatever brand it was and he rolled it on his concrete floor. He is a nice guy, but he is a little on the anxious side when it comes to major projects. He was in a hurry and I left him to do his thing on his garage floor. A week later, I went over to see his floor coating. It was a speckled coating with more white than any other color. I noticed that he had some oil drops centered on the car parking areas. Anything else that was blown in was obviously shown with the almost white speckled coating surface. Now, he has to wipe the floor almost every day due to the choice of colors. When he closed the garage door, I noticed that the speckled white coating stuck out about 1.5 inches beyond the edge. So, everyone that walked by notices it due to the garage door color was brown. Jnaki No one wanted to tell him that pre planning was necessary to have a nicely finished project. YRMV When my wife and I decided to re-do our garage, we wanted the best shelves and cabinets we could find. That was the first step. So, we decided that over the many years of local big box store bought cabinets was not going to do the final job. We had gone through many different stores and models to put in our garages over the years. We noticed the big faults of each one, with the shelves being the big culprit. Since they are coated with Melamine surfacing, it is easy to clean, but, we always had to put a coupe of extra shelf plugs in the back wall for support in the middle of the cabinet shelves. Even just lightweight boxes of “stuff” had enough weight to make the covered shelves sag in the middle. So, for our final garage make over, we wanted something stronger and better suited to long range storage and usage. We decided to have a professional company make an offer with their heavy duty products. Instead of ½ inch shelving that most big box stores have on hand, their product was a Melamine coated and sealed shelf made out of ¾ inch thick material. Along with the thicker outside coating, each shelf is almost bullet proof with the normal wall plug supports holding the shelf up. The cabinets also had the ¾ inch wall thickness and coated surfaces. So, this last garage make over was going to last and not have multiple varieties of cabinets from the local stores to buy when they break. (Or the drawers don’t work well. ) The thin drawers were the best thing for daily use products. The deep drawers were for portable larger hand tools and saws. Each drawer is very strong and does not bend with any amount of a variety of saws. Circular, reciprocating and jig saws of all sizes. The heavy drill is also not a problem. Jnaki As far as the counter, it is also great to do work on, but not for hammering or drilling unless one has a base to keep the drill from puncturing the surface. Even with hammering or wrenching, a base surface is necessary. Well, at least it is for me. (No one wants a cracked counter top or one with holes from drilling.) This guy has been with us since 1986 when we had a kitchen remodel project in our old house. The installers cut out a sink opening and then rounded the edges for my custom protective board. It is used for all drilling, painting, wrenching work on the cabinet countertop. It had protective feet to keep the surface from scratching. After the final installation of the cabinets on two sides of the small garage, it was time for a floor coating surface. The same company was well known locally for their version of the epoxy product. Not too white and not too dark was the color my wife and I selected. Too white makes all tire marks too evident, even bicycle tire marks show up. Too dark and every dust mote pops up every time the doors open for access. But, the final coating had both colors to allow a clean surface and no dings can harm the floor. I have dropped wrenches, an electric drill and saw as well as various large tools. Not one ding on the surface. The worse spill was lacquer thinner. It did wipe up easily and not one melt or mark on the floor surface. The laydown individual tile pieces are not good at the cracks that allow seepage of any spilled liquid to get underneath. A one coat surface is sealed and impervious to spills. Most cities have the professional companies that have similar products. A thorough investigation of those, local to you, companies is the best way to get a good job done. Not expensive for a long lasting great looking and functional garage. Concrete is fine, as we have lived with 5 different homes with garage floors. But, once the professional coating is finished, there is no going back to plain concrete. Plus, it is not slick as a wet concrete floor... YRMV Right after a week's worth of rain and wind. The street surface coating gets on the tires and at the time of the photo, showed up on the epoxy coating. But, a simple spray and wash dry mop takes off the tire marks. Then it becomes pristine, just as if the company applied the coating yesterday. Note: Don't forget to add an insulated garage door. The old style plywood lift door my brother and I made for our backyard garage was heavy and bulky. The newer homes have roll up steel doors. But, there are grades of thin roll up doors. We had a simple one layer unit for years. In the summer, when the sun hit the closed door for hours, it radiated the heat inside. (not good.) In the winter, the cold also radiates through and at night or late in the day, a jacket is necessary if one was to work in the garage with the door down. An insulated surfboard bag usually is strapped in the far corner. A perfect place for storage. Get the best insulated door panels as possible. It makes all the difference in the world when working in the space during the heat or cold. (day or night) The floor gets cold naturally, but at least the insulated door keeps the sun from blasting too much heat in the warm sunny days. The insulated door is cool to the touch and not blasting hot as one walks by behind each of the daily drivers.
Epoxy looks great, beyond that i dont want a dance hall finish, any spill and that stuff is slicker than snot on the steering wheel and no doubt broken a few bones
shop i work at epoxied the floors close to twenty years ago. they have held up pretty fair. we have forklifts on them and you can see places that have worn away as well as walking paths in some areas . i will say this, if you weld or burn it will not hold up. as for oil and grease it seemed to be good. don't recall it being slick, but sometimes i don't remember yesterday.
i put in a big box epoxy floor when I built my garage. coverage was a joke, took several kits to do the floor. it has held up well for the 10 years it has been on, minimal marks from jacks. it is slippery when wet, especially if tracked in snow. i did not do the chips so it looks like shiny concrete.
One thing most guys experience is epoxy coated floors are really slick if your shoes get wet, or the floor gets wet! Easy to take a dive if you suddenly step on fluids on an epoxy finished floor!
As a long time tradesman , I have not found any paint type coating to hold up under typical shop conditions. I am working on a large man cave for myself and have found a clear sealer product that will resist gas , pee water , oil and daily jack use and does not require recoating in a few years. This product is clear and once down , is permanent protection. It can be applied with a paint roller or weed sprayer. I will get the brand and post on here. I had to order it , not available across the counter. Vic
I met a guy that built an insulated metal garage and had issues with condensation. Thinking the condensation was from the unsealed floor, he coated it with an epoxy coating/paint. After doing that, the problem went away. In this instance coating the floor was a good way to keep moisture from migrating up through the concrete in wet weather. I've contemplated doing it to my garage floor also...it gets wet here in the winter.
Easy enough to solve the issue of being slippery add anti slip when it is being applied. Problem solved.
Ive got the kind with the non slip flecks in it. Did it ourselves probably close to 10 years ago. Its just our home shop but its held up fine to grinding, welding, floor jacks & all kinds of spills. I know not everyone likes the stuff, but I do & Id do it again if I built another shop.
As a tangent a local here is building a machine shop to repair construction equipment, diggers and such this year. He said it would be steel construction with concrete floor and under-floor heating. When asked about the floor heating he just said "You don't crawl on the floor in the kitchen but you do in the machine shop" I thought a bit about his priorities, but ok he has a point.
House in floor heating is nice too. Never owned one, but if the floor is warm, it feels good and heat rises. Still gotta exchange air though.
Buddy's garage condo had some sort of pro installed light grey epoxy coating. We started out trying to shield it when cutting and welding; but soon gave up. Ended up with a lot of burn marks. The light color was nice for working. Held up to floor jacks and jack stands. The floor was heated and great during the winter.
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