On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700 (PDT), stryped
wrote:

I am building a small 30x30 garage /shop. The concrete has just been
poured. is an epoxy floor coating a good idea and what is a good type
out there that wont be staine dby the small oil leaks in my car?

First things first, you will need to wait a while for the concrete
to finish curing - around 30 days minimum. RTFM for the waiting
period.

And the concrete slab always cures better if you keep it well
hydrated till full cure. If they didn't apply a curing sealer after
pouring and finishing the floor, get in there and hose out the garage
every day for a week or two.

The epoxy coatings work - but DO NOT apply the fancy "Color Flakes"
they put in the kit for appearance, stay with a solid color. The main
reason is because you are using it as shop space.

When you drop that little nut or spring or screw and it bounces off
to parts unknown... Now you have to pick out that little part in the
random scatter pattern of all those flakes. Not Easy.

Then you go for the pick-up magnet... The part is stainless.

The secondary reason being if you do have to patch the color coat
later you'll play hell duplicating the scatter pattern on the patches
- it's like a car with metallic paint, you have to respray the whole
panel to make it match properly.

Or you run out of color flakes and go off to get more, only to find
out they discontinued that line/color three years ago. Which is a
good argument for stocking up on an extra can of flakes now if you are
going to use them.


* * * * * * * *

Oh, for anyone who has that little warning stamp molded into the
concrete in the corner of the garage, the one that reads "WARNING Post
Tensioned Slab - Do Not Cut Or Drill" do NOT try to fill in the
lettering on that with too much epoxy, and by all means skip the color
flakes in that area.

That HAS to stay legible for the health and well-being of yourself
and any future owners of the house. Cut one of those tensioning
cables with a saw or drill bit, and you might as well be staring at
the business end of a Claymore Mine as someone hits the switch.

You want to make any holes in a Post Tensioned slab structure (even
little ones) you have to get the slab X-rayed first to mark the clear
areas. Been there, Dealt with that.

-- Bruce --