I recently shared a few photos on social media of my recent garage floor epoxy project and had several questions so I thought I would share a few photos of the project as well as links to the products that I used in case anyone might be interested in doing a project of their own…
Important: If you are starting from scratch, please read & follow the instructions carefully! My project was actually a re-coating of an existing epoxy floor that failed, so the instructions below are for re-doing an existing epoxy floor coating.
Cleaning & Degreasing the Existing Floor
I initially pressure washed the floor to remove as much flaking epoxy that I could and used a wire brush to break up any loose pieces that I could find. Once this was finished and the floor was dry I used Rust-Oleum Interior/Exterior Concentrated Cleaner and Degreaser. This product comes in a one gallon jug and is amazing! I had two areas that had some oil that had dripped onto the floor and it broke this down in no time.
Patching Cracks and Chips in the Concrete
Probably the most time consuming part of the entire process was the time spent on my knees patching cracks and smoothing imperfections in our concrete using Rust-Oleum Concrete Patch and Repair. Once this product was smoothed on w/ a putty knife there was a period of time to allow it to dry and harden. We put fans on to speed up the process.
Priming and Preparing the Surface
Once the patchwork was complete and the floor was dry and clean I used Seal-Krete Interior/Exterior Primer to prime the floor and get it ready for the epoxy. I found a lot of resources online that highly recommended this product because it not only helped the epoxy bond to the surface but that it would also dramatically reduce the risk of hot tire transfer and damage to the finished epoxy. The afternoon that I applied the primer it was somewhat humid and it took the primer a little longer to adhere and dry than I had anticipated so I left it drying and returned to the project early the next morning to apply the final stage, the epoxy.
Final Step, Epoxy Coating
I’m a big fan of the solid color tan floor so that’s the kit that I purchased. Inside the kit there’s the option of dropping flakes into the floor before the epoxy dries to give it a flaked appearance. I’m not a fan of this look so I left my flakes out and just went w/ the solid coating. The kit that I purchased was Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield 2-part Tan Gloss Concrete and Garage Floor Paint Kit. I purchased the 2 gallon package which gives you enough product to actually cover 2.5 car garage. Applying the epoxy once it’s mixed is sort of a stressful thing because you only have a certain amount of time to get everything applied before the product starts curing out. I initially outlined the entire garage area w/ a smaller brush and then jumped on the roller and covered everything uniformly. The color initially goes on a little dark at first but once it starts drying it immediately turns the tan color indicated on the box kit.
Photos of Finished Project…
Here are a few photos of the finished project…
Please Drop Your Questions or Comments