Garage floors - tiles or epoxy?

JonW

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3,259
All,

I'm looking for practical advice based on experience.

I've got a double garage (8m by 5.2m) where the floor is currently unsealed concrete, which means it's really dusty and a pain in the ****.

I can't decide whether to buy some of the plastic tiles (have read the other thread on this) or to get it covered with an epoxy coating.

What do you have on your garage floor and what would you recommend?

Thanks, Jon
 

redsonnylee

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I went for epoxy as not confident laying tiles plus the ground is not perfectly even. Nice and easy to keep clean now with no dust.
 

JonW

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I went for epoxy as not confident laying tiles plus the ground is not perfectly even. Nice and easy to keep clean now with no dust.

Tony - did you DIY it, or use someone? I think you're fairly local to me...
 

MrPea

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I went for laying down a Persian rug as a joke for my mother who'd asked if I'd put a red carpet in the garage for my car. Probably not the most helpful answer.
 

JonW

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I went for laying down a Persian rug as a joke for my mother who'd asked if I'd put a red carpet in the garage for my car. Probably not the most helpful answer.

Not helpful, no, but very fitting for an Italian exotic!
 

redsonnylee

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Tony - did you DIY it, or use someone? I think you're fairly local to me...

Did it myself after a few YouTube videos, prior to that I had carpet which is really bad when it gets wet and started to come apart. I bought the epoxy from screwfix which was the cheapest at the time.
 

rockits

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9,167
I might go epoxy the same. Did some work for Ecotile many moons ago & was hard work getting paid so they aren't getting my cash!

Did you do one pour?
 

JonW

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Have also been swapping messages with the builder that was the main contractor on our house refurbishment, and he is recommending Watco epoxy floor paint...
 

MRichards

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278
I used two coats of paving paint about six years ago & it's been fine. Paving paint is resistant to oil,petrol & hydraulic fluid,comes in various colours,I used a dark green. I didn't use epoxy because it is more expensive and the traffic over my floor doesn't require an extra tough finish.
 

Ewan

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6,756
If anyone wants garage floor epoxy we usually have loads in stock (as we use it as a primer on commercial ships and super-yachts). We are the UK agents for 3M epoxies in the marine market so get all the products at distributor rates. Happy to help anyone that wants some.
 

redsonnylee

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OK, thanks. Useful to know. What kind of cost were the materials & how much did you use?

I used about 7.5litres however the first coast used up more than half, this covers 15m2 per 2.5l £117.00 on offer day, you really need a long handled roller and a good quality one which was £30.00, plus I used a cheap brush to help fill in where it was uneven. I would say the job was fine as I did it myself. A lot cheaper than the £500.00 to get someone in so its the labour that really costs as you need two coats.
I did it about two years ago and all is fine so far, btw I didn't use the garage for a week and had the back door open to make sure it dried right through.
 

conaero

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34,593
I used about 7.5litres however the first coast used up more than half, this covers 15m2 per 2.5l £117.00 on offer day, you really need a long handled roller and a good quality one which was £30.00, plus I used a cheap brush to help fill in where it was uneven. I would say the job was fine as I did it myself. A lot cheaper than the £500.00 to get someone in so its the labour that really costs as you need two coats.
I did it about two years ago and all is fine so far, btw I didn't use the garage for a week and had the back door open to make sure it dried right through.

Out of interest, other than hover out all the loose debris, do you need to seal the floor with a PVA first or is it just straight down with a primer?
 

Ebenezer

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I have a dusty concrete floor which rough. Can this stuff be used for sealing this? I guess the surface area will be greater and therefore need more stuff
Eb
 

Ewan

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6,756
You will need to brush away as much of the dust as possible, as the epoxy needs to bond with the floor (not the dust on top of the floor!). You shouldn't need an additional primer - the epoxy is designed to go straight on to the concrete. But two coats are likely to be required. Price, from memory, is about £150 for 5 litres. This will fully treat about 15m2 (about the area of a single garage/space) with two good coats.
 

rockits

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9,167
If anyone wants garage floor epoxy we usually have loads in stock (as we use it as a primer on commercial ships and super-yachts). We are the UK agents for 3M epoxies in the marine market so get all the products at distributor rates. Happy to help anyone that wants some.
Thanks Ewan. I might take you up on that once I get a builder to do the work I need on my garage. Proving more difficult than I expected.
 

Trev Latter

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1,213
I did an epoxy floor for a customer last year as part of a garage/gym conversion. The company who supplied the epoxy recommended to use an epoxy sealer/primer as his floor was especially dusty/ cracked before work commenced. Went down a treat with one coat sealer, two coats epoxy. I plan to do mine at some point in the future, but that will likely be part of knocking down the existing garage and building a bigger one (height mainly, so I can install a vehicle lift).