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?

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700, 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?

I'd ask the local home handyman store people (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).
I'd also either get my car fixed or invest in a drip pan.

Hope This Helps!
Rich

In article ,
Rich Grise wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700, 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?

I'd ask the local home handyman store people (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).
I'd also either get my car fixed or invest in a drip pan.

Epoxy floor coatings are a great idea for the guy selling them. For the
end user, they are expensive, slippery, and hard to repair (it's a shop,
and no floor coating is going to take all possible abuse, though a
"coating" of end grain wood about an inch and a half thick does pretty
well and is easily repaired.) A properly selected floor paint is none of
these things. All of them need 30 days cure, minimum, before use.

White will help with the light level in the shop.

Oil is going to stain pretty much anything if you are going to leave it
there from constant drips. Lay out a sheet of plastic and cover it with
oil-dri.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

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 --

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?

They were quite the thing in Air Force shops while I was still in the
service. They do protect the concrete from absorbing oil but can be
slippery when wet or oily. The A.F. (I believe) came out with a policy
of walkways being painted with some sort of non-skid.

I was assigned to a machine shop at the time and we went to a lot of
trouble to acid treat the old concrete floor and paint it with epoxy
with non-skip areas around the machines. It lasted for years and did
keep the floor looking good.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

"stryped" wrote in message
...
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?

What works pretty good is to glue down a cheap vinyl floor covering for the
area you will park the car. Oil spills wipe right up and it lasts a lot
longer than one would expect.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Rich Grise wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700, 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?

I'd ask the local home handyman store people (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).
I'd also either get my car fixed or invest in a drip pan.

Epoxy floor coatings are a great idea for the guy selling them. For the
end user, they are expensive, slippery, and hard to repair (it's a shop,
and no floor coating is going to take all possible abuse, though a
"coating" of end grain wood about an inch and a half thick does pretty
well and is easily repaired.) A properly selected floor paint is none of
these things. All of them need 30 days cure, minimum, before use.

White will help with the light level in the shop.

Oil is going to stain pretty much anything if you are going to leave it
there from constant drips. Lay out a sheet of plastic and cover it with
oil-dri.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by


Not my experiance at all!
I epoxied my shop floor maybe 8 years ago. I love it, I wonder why I waited!
Sure it is a bit more slick than plain concrete, but not like you have to
worry about it. No oil stains, although I spilled some dirty laquer thinner
in a few spots and that stained the epoxy. Clean up is a breeze, wipe up any
bad messes and wash with a good degreaser and water. The shop looks
brighter, not so gloomy.
I am considering doing a re-coat, and as far as I know I will have to scuff
it with a sanding screen with a floor buffer, wash it good and re-coat.
As for waiting for use after aplying the epoxy, I think I waited 2-3 days
before rolling all my tools back in, and maybe a week before I drove the car
on it, after all it was a two part epoxy and the hardner does the work of
getting it to cure faster.
Greg O

On Jul 23, 9:08*pm, "Greg O" wrote:
"Ecnerwal" wrote in message

...





In article ,
Rich Grise wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700, 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?

I'd ask the local home handyman store people (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).
I'd also either get my car fixed or invest in a drip pan.

Epoxy floor coatings are a great idea for the guy selling them. For the
end user, they are expensive, slippery, and hard to repair (it's a shop,
and no floor coating is going to take all possible abuse, though a
"coating" of end grain wood about an inch and a half thick does pretty
well and is easily repaired.) A properly selected floor paint is none of
these things. All of them need 30 days cure, minimum, before use.

White will help with the light level in the shop.

Oil is going to stain pretty much anything if you are going to leave it
there from constant drips. Lay out a sheet of plastic and cover it with
oil-dri.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Not my experiance at all!
I epoxied my shop floor maybe 8 years ago. I love it, I wonder why I waited!
Sure it is a bit more slick than plain concrete, but not like you have to
worry about it. No oil stains, although I spilled some dirty laquer thinner
in a few spots and that stained the epoxy. Clean up is a breeze, wipe up any
bad messes and wash with a good degreaser and water. The shop looks
brighter, not so gloomy.
I am considering doing a re-coat, and as far as I know I will have to scuff
it with a sanding screen with a floor buffer, wash it good and re-coat.
As for waiting for use after aplying the epoxy, I think I waited 2-3 days
before rolling all my tools back in, and maybe a week before I drove the car
on it, after all it was a two part epoxy and the hardner does the work of
getting it to cure faster.
Greg O- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have a 1990 mustang that I rarely drive and it has a small reaer
main seal drip. Alot of headach to replace that thing.

I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?

Remember too guys, I dont have a machine shop like most of you. I have
2 welders a sand blast cabinet, a jointer, table saw, planer, hand
tools and will park two vehicles in this thing. I am not sure if the
floor will get as much a workout as most of you.

I would like to rebuild my old 8n though!

stryped fired this volley in news:55edf2be-b969-
:

I would like to rebuild my old 8n though!

Just re-paint it. It's amazing how much better 8N and 9N tractors run
after a proper paint job.

(think about it; you'll figure it out eventually)
G
LLoyd

You have to wait ~30 days after the concrete is poured before coating it
(with anything). Best to keep it damp/wet during this time to help the
cure. Plain old one-part floor paint for concrete has been on my floor
for 5-1/2 years now - since I used the "flat" version it is not (IME)
any more slippery than bare concrete, without the need for any
additives/sand/etc. Repainting any damage is as simple as scrub it
clean, let it dry, paint. Cost was less than 20% of the cost for epoxies.

DWYL.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:27:36 -0700 (PDT), stryped
wrote:

I have a 1990 mustang that I rarely drive and it has a small reaer
main seal drip. Alot of headach to replace that thing.

I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?

Don't use the color chips. use a nice sprinkling of fine silica
play sand for kids sand-boxes in the wet epoxy, spread with a flour
sifter or a coarse screen collander to get it even. That'll stop the
slips for people.

There are other traction additives like finely ground walnut shells,
but they might add color you don't want when used as a sprinkle, and
it's hard to get them spread evenly if they are mixed into the paint.
A good paint store that sells "magnesite" walk surface roof deck
paints will carry an assortment and know all the pros and cons...

For ramps, you might want to get a few scraps of indoor-outdoor
carpet to keep them from sliding. Or better, 1/8" tempered hardboard
(pegboard minus the holes) and a floor jack. Much cheaper to replace
the hardboard when it gets dented and oily than to refinish the floor.

-- Bruce --

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
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.

I was talking to a guy that collects the 4" diameter concrete test pieces
from construction sites. They crush these to make sure the concrete is up
to spec. They apparenly collect and crush test dirt from around
foundations as well.

He had some general concrete tips

- keep it wet as long as you can, like people here mention. He said spray
it down and cover it with plastic to keep it damp. He claims this prevents
the concrete from cracking in the future than if if dries out quickly.

- if you order concrete for a "small" project as in less than a truck
load, have them come in the morning. This makes sure you get fresh
concrete that wasn't rejected by a customer that tests the stuff and
rejects it for being too old. He said anything over an hour and a half old
from the cement mill (this is in Chicago) would be suspect, and you don't
want leftover batches that have been in a truck all day.

"Jordan" wrote in message
...
stryped wrote:

I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?


The no-buck solution to making a no-slip surface on boats was to mix some
sand in with the paint. Possibly a bit rough for your garage floor, but
might warrant some experiment with say ground glass? The size of particles
should be greater than the paint film, or they'd just sink to the bottom
and wouldn't do anything useful.

Jordan

I would not put sand in the mix ever, not in the epoxy, or spread it on
afterwards! Sand in the finish makes the floor terrible to clean. I have
done floors with sand, and without, never again will I use sand! If you have
a traffic area that you are concerned with straction, buy a floor mat for
that area. Insde the door, by the work bench, but for God's sake, do not put
any sand on the floor!!

I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?

You could try tying a length of rope to the front of the ramp so the car
drives over it first. If you still had problems I guess you could make the
rope long enough so its under the back wheels when the front wheels hit the
ramp.

"stu" no where just yet wrote in message
...

I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?

You could try tying a length of rope to the front of the ramp so the car
drives over it first. If you still had problems I guess you could make the
rope long enough so its under the back wheels when the front wheels hit
the ramp.



Ditch the ramps and buy a floor jack and jack stands.
Greg

stryped wrote:
....
I am guesssing the floor will be slicker so I will have a harder time
using my ramps on the mustang to change the oil. Any ideas on that?
....

I have a hard time on my uncoated floor. I put a couple of holes in the
floor to hold the ramps.

Bob