Garage Floors

I am looking at puttinga black/white checkerboard on my floor, has anyone done anything liek this?

 

My dad did in his old shop. The white got really dirty and it ended up not looking very good after a few years. He had it professionally done too.

 

It would cost a lot to do that also. I coat floors and it would be a bitch to have to tap all of the off and and white would get nasty after a while. even if you add a coat of poly over the top. It will look nice for a while tho.

 

so what are people doin for floors, if you see products, let me know, was also thinking maybe just linoluem, so i can replace some if they get messed up

 

It depends on the budget really. A lot of people like this "Granite" look which is where you throw a ton of flake down and then it has a granite look to it. and then some people like a plain solid color epoxy with a high gloss shine. And then some really like acid staining the concrete. It gives it a leathery look and I personally really like it. I was going to acid stain my garage floor but I did the granite look epoxy instead.

EDIT: Here is a pic of a granite look. This is a light tan look.

 

is that smooth or rough finish...looks great.. i reall ylike it
whats that cost for average 2 car garage

 

It is not smooth as glass but it still is smooth because it has Polyurethane over the top to protect the flake from coming off. Price just all depends on companies. since I do it as a side job and there is only two of us I can charge a lot less because I don't have the overhead. I charge $2.75 - $3.00 a square foot for that because it is a lot more work and a lot more materials. Like for my garage (a lil over 450 sqft) I had to get 55 lbs of flake to cover it.

But average from what I've seen around here is from $3.50 - $5.00 a sqft for that look. sometimes for might get a deal but it just depends.

 

if you want to do checkerboard look at racedeck or VCT times. VCT will be the cheapest. I went with a floor coating.

 

that does look good, how does it hold up? what did it cost ya

 

i had it professionally done and it comes with a warranty. It cost me 2k. After i weighed all the options this worked best for me.

 

I used Garage Deck in mine, $2/ sq ft...

 

Nice bike

 

where can i get the acid stain materials? is it easy to do? i have been thinking of doing this for a long time.

 

Call around to places that carry specialty paints and coatings they will have the pigment and then you need to buy a bunch of pool acid. You mix the two and pour it on you mop it on and let it set then you go back and neutralize the acid so it doesn't eat the concrete. The one thing to know about acid staining is that you can't be 100% that it will turn out the color you want it. It all depends on the mix on the concrete and then also if there is anything on the concrete. even though you can't see stuff some times there will be something on it and then you have a spot that will not change. Also you would need to seal it also to help keep it long lasting. Acid staining looks awesome and its really cheap but its just hit or miss on color.

 

Thanks Alex, will be doing this soon. How much do you think it will cost in materials?

 

I've been thinking about doing this. I know that Lowes and Home Depot have the little epoxy kits, think they are like $50. Anybody used these? What is "Garage Deck"? Looks just like tile to me.

 

I painted my basement with supercoat. You can get it at samsclub.com Your whole garage for under 300 bucks!

http://www.supercoat.us/pc-182-45-supercoat-super-kit.aspx

the kit comes with cleaner, flakes, epoxy paint (rolls right on easy), glaze, and sand for the glaze. remeber to spread the flakes as you go. you can easily spread the flakes an arms distance evenly. If you paint the whole floor without stopping to spread the flakes.....You have to walk on it to flake it. Footprints don't look so nice.

22 x 18 room, needed two kits, but only used half of the second one. It looks great. The key is cleaning the cement first. Gotta get all the dirt off.

 

I'm not sure. It depends on a lot of things.
How big your floor is
How much dye costs
How much dye to acid ratio there is and if you have to thin it out with water.
Pool acid is cheap, Like $10 for two gallons.

I can't even ball park it for you because the last time I did Acid staining it was for Columns on a house. And every brand has a different mixture. I can tell you its a lot cheaper then pro grade epoxy coating though. (Not Home Depot and Lowes stuff)