Garage Floor Sealer / Epoxy- need advice

Situation- Tore out and replaced cracked, severely spalled and in general, worn out looking garage floor in attached double garage. Also added new third stall.

Cement was left unsealed over winter since project was finished late fall. I was told concrete should cure before sealing, and would be too cold to seal after that 30 day cure period.

Was planning on a quality DIY sealer, but found out many can be slippery and that most “off the shelf sealers” are not high in “solids”…IE- not great quality, compared with what the pros use / have access to…Think Menards floor.

That started the ball rolling into looking at Epoxy…expensive! But lasts the longest and won’t be slippery.

I want to know if a professionally installed Epoxy floor is worth the money…from those that have / had them. I will not do a DIY Epoxy. Or, should I just go with original plan to DIY some H&C Floor Sealer (or similar product), throw some grit in it, and redo every couple years??

This is first project I’ve “researched” that I’ve wound up being more confused after researching than before I started! Early Thanks!

This was one of the projects that I was going to tackle now that I am retired and was wondering what the best Garage Floor Sealer was best. I will be interested in replies too from those with experience with this.

With installing an epoxy floor on a few projects now I’ve learned a few things from talking with the companies. The biggest thing with putting any finish down on concrete is floor prep and majority of the time that involves shot blasting with a low chance of just a concrete grind. With heavily spalled and cracked concrete you’re better off calling the pro’s to ensure those spots don’t cause you issues later down the road. Right now I’m dealing with a 10K issue due to moisture in an epoxy floor that I hope I don’t have to eat.
I would recommend either giving Jason with Garage Floor Coatings (New Hope)or Chad with Swedebro (Andover) a call. I would trust these guys with my own garage and trust them with commercial epoxy floors all the time.

Check out Polytek for a garage floor coating, its polyurea. Four times stronger the epoxy, doesn’t crack or peel and its not slippery.

Polyurea hands down THE BEST. It’s fantastic and is tough as nails. If you need a dealer, drop me a PM

From what I’ve heard, it all depends on your budget. The gold plated solution is to go the pro route.

My parents were going to go the pro route…until they got the estimates.

Since they didn’t have any major issues like oil spots, concrete issues, etc, dad decided that he had nothing to lose by going the DIY route and seeing how it went.

They used the Rustoleum product. Surface prep is key and every step needs to be followed to the letter.

Theirs looks great and for the price I can’t fault it at all. My father said he’s since heard that if you had an oil-leaker car in your garage, forget DIY as several people have told him that any significant oil spots will produce problems regardless of how much you try to clean them up.

I don’t find it slippery at all. Their garage floor was smoother than I would have ever made it, so it was already very slippery and the product only made it more grippy, not less. Obviously, if you have a fairly rough surface, I can see where it would be more slippery after sealing.

Grouse

Garage floor of mn has the best IMO setup. Great warranty any many options cost isn’t to bad. A few bucks a sq/ft. Great customer service.

Line-x does garage floors

get pro and grind it same as most stores are doing hold up well and not that much more than epoxy

Call it about $8 a square foot for commercial epoxy. You do the math. I have a commercial grade epoxy on my garage and love it. Only complaint is if I don’t heat the garage all the time the floor sweats like a pop can because the water has no place to go since it is sealed up so good.

interesting post… might want to snoop around some hot rod boards to see what they do… nice chance here to do a nice colored/ flake floor… my friend has a maroon floor with silver gold chips… did it himself…
My thought lately on this is a black white checkered board garage floor, maybe tiles…

Thanks fellas…still not 100% sure, but seriously leaning towards having it professionally done. Had couple company’s out…Garage Floor Coating of MN one of them….very impressed…more expensive than others, but I’ve seen DIY epoxy jobs…unless you just walk on or use your garage for a living room, they don’t hold up. also not really interested in redoing a acrylic every 2-4 years…I;m not after a showy, WOW! garage….just want something easy to maintain, protect cement from salt, and not have to worry about it again….thanks for advice!