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General => General discussion => Topic started by: king monkey on 11 April 2020, 21:57
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Ok, I know this isn’t really a gti question but wondered if anyone had any recommendations for a garage floor paint. My floor is a little even and I’ve tried a few over the years with little success. Any suggestions are welcome.
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did you mean uneven? If its not too uneven, have you considered the rubber interlocking floor tiles you can get?
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Whoops! Uneven yes. I did look at those mats but they seem quite expensive.
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Ok, I know this isn’t really a gti question but wondered if anyone had any recommendations for a garage floor paint. My floor is a little even and I’ve tried a few over the years with little success. Any suggestions are welcome.
I'd recommend Resincoat - after a lot of research, I did my floor in light grey and it has been brilliant.
https://www.resincoat.co.uk/en/paints/49-resincoat-hb-epoxy-garage-floor-paint.html
What impressed me about Resincoat was that they supply the paint in tins with sufficient capacity to mix the two components versus having to worry about finding a clean container to mix in. They've thought about the details and when I spoke to them, I ended up sending a variety of pictures of the surface (new concrete slab which was quite calcareous and I was worried about absorption) and they gave me excellent advice on sealing - not someone reading off a script but with actual working knowledge of the product and justification for their recommendation.
I had three bays to cover so wanted a decent size roller and to not be doing it on my hands and knees. I used a Purdy adjustable on a fibreglass extension pole. Pretty much this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324086844028 The Purdy is expensive but the fibreglass pole is light and strong so you can put some force into it which you'll need if you do it in warm temperatures. The epoxy starts to go off fast - I did it on a 20 degree day and was surprised at how hard I was having to work so with my time again, would work in cooler temperatures.
I'd recommend getting the rollers from Resincoat, they're a reasonable price and don't lose their pile in application. You don't have to but getting the pile right is key as is making sure they don't shed into the mixture, it will be a nightmare plucking out debris in epoxy that is going off.
Surface prep is critical - I swept, vacuumed and used a Metrovac blower (for drying the car) to get every bit of dust off the surface. You might need specific prep if you have oil stains or your surface isn't new as it'll corrupt the finish.
Hope this helps.
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That was really useful. Thanks. It’s good to hear firsthand experience of the product.
I’ve just been in the website and it has 50% off at the moment. Is this the kind of offer that’s on a lot or is it a more genuine offer if you know what I mean?
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I painted the garage floor with a proper floor paint when we bought the house, but it kept peeling off........
After spotting an advert on the bay for a local company selling off a job lot of carpet tiles I bought a hundred at 50p each and used them in the garage. Much better and if you need to lie down to do maintenance etc, very much more pleasant. I keep an old Hoover retired from house duties in the shed, and just hoover in there perhaps once a fortnight. It's all a bit extreme but it makes it more pleasant working on the cars and bikes.
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I painted the garage floor with a proper floor paint when we bought the house, but it kept peeling off........
After spotting an advert on the bay for a local company selling off a job lot of carpet tiles I bought a hundred at 50p each and used them in the garage. Much better and if you need to lie down to do maintenance etc, very much more pleasant. I keep an old Hoover retired from house duties in the shed, and just hoover in there perhaps once a fortnight. It's all a bit extreme but it makes it more pleasant working on the cars and bikes.
Now this is why I love this forum. Great ideas! I’ve been thinking of different alternatives and this is one I certainly hadn’t thought of! Thanks.
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I painted the garage floor with a proper floor paint when we bought the house, but it kept peeling off........
After spotting an advert on the bay for a local company selling off a job lot of carpet tiles I bought a hundred at 50p each and used them in the garage. Much better and if you need to lie down to do maintenance etc, very much more pleasant. I keep an old Hoover retired from house duties in the shed, and just hoover in there perhaps once a fortnight. It's all a bit extreme but it makes it more pleasant working on the cars and bikes.
Presumably that means that you can’t put your car in the garage if you’ve driven through snow and the car’s caked in slush, as that wouldn’t be good for the carpet tiles. Similarly if the car’s very wet?
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Presumably that means that you can’t put your car in the garage if you’ve driven through snow and the car’s caked in slush, as that wouldn’t be good for the carpet tiles. Similarly if the car’s very wet?
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I don't worry about them getting wet particularly, they appear to have a "rubbery" sort of backing and just dry out if they get wet. We don't always put the cars away in the garage every day. If the car came home covered in snow I could leave it outside, but TBH I can't really remember the last time we had any snow worth mentioning where I live.....
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That was really useful. Thanks. It’s good to hear firsthand experience of the product.
I’ve just been in the website and it has 50% off at the moment. Is this the kind of offer that’s on a lot or is it a more genuine offer if you know what I mean?
Ah yes, the permanently closing down sale discount. I know that they regularly do offers but don't recall getting 50%. Conceivable that they're trying to move product in the consumer market as the commercial / construction aspect of their business has presumably just dried up. I also think they offer discounts because the polymers and hardeners have a shelf life of 2-3 years if I recall so it would make sense that they'd price stock nearing that time window from manufacture. A question worth asking if they're offering deep discounts and you're not planning on doing the job immediately.
All surface coverings are going to have pros and cons and the success of whatever you apply is going to be determined by the substrate that you start with and how much preparation you put into it.
Only negative in day to day use for me is grip if you spill something like snow foam. I nearly did a cartoonish wheels up as I overfilled the bottle the other day. But that was a small patch of clear liquid on a light grey floor. One incident in five years.
This is what it looks like five years after application:
(https://i.ibb.co/zRS1vtt/Screenshot-2020-04-12-at-12-11-39.jpg)
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After trying various paints, I found that the paint would wear off no matter how meticulous the preparation, tyres would stick to the paint even after allowing time for them to cool down before putting the car away and the floor becomes very slippery when wet.
About 5 years ago I changed to carpet tiles, brought enough for £50 to cover a double garage and they are brilliant. I do put rubber mats under the wheels and use a board under the jack and axle stands. Apart from that I just run a hoover over them every couple of months and they are fine.
I also use carpet tiles to cover the bench top.
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@AGB. That looks amazing for 5 years! Do you keep your car in the garage too?
@Pretzel. Thanks for that. I’ve been looking at the rubber flooring too but will look into this as well. Like that it’s maintenance free.
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I'm following this thread closely.
I'm looking to do a very similar thing, my garage is very uneven though, with chips out of the concrete in several areas, so is quite rough. Should I be looking to level this out?
I had though about a self levelling compound but I'm undecided of this yet. I thought maybe just painting it as it is.
I won't be putting the car in the garage, there are too many tools, winter wheels and bikes to keep in it.
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Whatever you do, don't get the floor paint from B&Q, even the stuff they label as trade is rubbish. Mine is peeling up in great patches (I'm going to use my pressure washer to get it all up) and replace with something else.
As has been said, the paint that comes as a 2 part mix is loads better - if you go in the majority of Wickes stores, you'll see some strips across some of the floors between the tills. Some (obviously all the ones that still look good) of those will have been made by me fitting the security tag detection kit about 25 years ago, which has since been replaced again but I went in my local Wickes a good few months ago and the paint was still there.
And as has been said, preparation is the key!
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@AGB. That looks amazing for 5 years! Do you keep your car in the garage too?
Haha! You can see muddy tyre marks from the closest bay that have been tracked in. The garage is in use all the time - I have a pea shingle drive and stone gets caught from time to time and I thought it would scratch and damage the surface but there is hardly a mark. Road grime and water drips off the cars when they're put in from time to time and I just have a stiff short bristle broom and a bucket of suds which i use to clean it. That's it. That shot I took a few weeks back and the floor is covered in winter grime. Been cleaned properly now and it's gleaming.
If I had my time again, I reckon I'd just have the floor professionally tiled. I had my kitchen redone a couple of years ago and had a chat with the tiler who was a petrolhead as it happens. He pointed me in the direction of tiles as I mentioned that I had initially been looking at a self levelling screed. I was really surprised by how cost effectively you can do a job of that size for if you buy in a sale and are not too precious about colour choices.
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I spent about 80 quid on interlocking floor tiles, and they're brilliant!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aRFARg1faD5AhpgJ8
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They look great. Where did you get them from?
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The problem with interlocking floor tiles is water gets under them by getting through the joins. Lift them up after a year or so of having parking wet cars on them and the unbelievable smell of stagnate water.
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They look great. Where did you get them from?
B&Q
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The problem with interlocking floor tiles is water gets under them by getting through the joins. Lift them up after a year or so of having parking wet cars on them and the unbelievable smell of stagnate water.
Anything with a permeable surface is going to have this problem.
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True but its not something people tell you about when they start recommending these expensive bits of plastic.