Garage Epoxy

Finally got some quotes on epoxy flooring for my 450 sqft garage and got some interesting information.

Premier Garage in Lake Forest quoted $1700-$1750 excluding stem walls.

Vision Garage Flooring quoted $1445 for the floor + $245 for the stem walls for $1690 total. Installation takes 4 days.

RoomToPark.com (who someone else recommended for upper garage storage, but also does flooring) quoted $1732 including stem walls and, here's the strange part, says installation will be completed in 1 day. I asked why it wouldn't need at least a day to dry and the guy said, "That's old school," and that the product they use is 3 layers and dries in hours. I won't use them just because of that.

I'm guessing I'll go with Vision because they do the flooring for all of IP, they seem to do a pretty good job, and the price seems pretty average for the quality.
 
I went with Premier Garage.  My garage was 435 sq ft and he gave it to me for $1400 including stem walls.  All quotes came in around the 1400 ish except Vision who refused to come below his 1625.  Vision seemed like he could care less about my business that he had enough to go around, and I've dealt with guys like that in the past and I never had a good experience.  Obviously you had a better experience with him than I did.

I tried Concrete Creations and something about him and how he tried to sell me didn't give me a good feeling.  Felt like he tried to over complicate the process to make it sound like he was doing something more than sanding my floor and putting a paint like substance that makes my concrete not porous. 

I picked Premier because he seemed to be the most straight forward with me and price was reasonable.
 
broda said:
I went with Premier Garage.  My garage was 435 sq ft and he gave it to me for $1400 including stem walls.  All quotes came in around the 1400 ish except Vision who refused to come below his 1625.  Vision seemed like he could care less about my business that he had enough to go around, and I've dealt with guys like that in the past and I never had a good experience.  Obviously you had a better experience with him than I did.

I tried Concrete Creations and something about him and how he tried to sell me didn't give me a good feeling.  Felt like he tried to over complicate the process to make it sound like he was doing something more than sanding my floor and putting a paint like substance that makes my concrete not porous. 

I picked Premier because he seemed to be the most straight forward with me and price was reasonable.
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I'm surprised at your price with Premier. I can't imagine why they'd charge hundreds more without even including the stem walls. Go figure. Maybe it's the season or something. Or perhaps you caught them when they were running low on business.

When did you have yours done?
 
last week...and he seemed pretty open on his schedule.  They all started at 1600 ish...but you haggle a little bit and they'll come down a few within reason.  I really wanted 1300, but he wouldn't bite.
 
Long time lurker ...

Has anyone here gone with a company that uses polyurea/polyaspartic instead of the regular epoxy? Seems like there are a few companies now using this new fangled polyaspartic compound that dries/bonds in one day. I guess the catch is that they have to test your concrete to how much moisture your concrete holds/breathes from the soil below.

I've read that regular epoxy is slippery if it gets wet, and after a couple years it peels badly. Both my cars use high performance summer tires (ie: super soft/sticky), and I notice after I go out for a drive on the weekends, when I pull in to the garage, the hot tires pickup a lot of dust/crap/gravel/small rocks just from the driveway. I can only imagine what it'll do to the epoxy over time. Curious to see real life experience of anyone who has had epoxy stuff after several years.

 
Any of the better company uses compounds better than your standard epoxy.  They will all get slippery when wet since the floor is no longer porous.  The flakes or paint chips they put in the mixture helps give it texture so it's not as slippery.  I'm sure you can talk to the company to put some more texture in there to help with the floor being slippery.
 
Morbo said:
Long time lurker ...

Has anyone here gone with a company that uses polyurea/polyaspartic instead of the regular epoxy? Seems like there are a few companies now using this new fangled polyaspartic compound that dries/bonds in one day. I guess the catch is that they have to test your concrete to how much moisture your concrete holds/breathes from the soil below.

I've read that regular epoxy is slippery if it gets wet, and after a couple years it peels badly. Both my cars use high performance summer tires (ie: super soft/sticky), and I notice after I go out for a drive on the weekends, when I pull in to the garage, the hot tires pickup a lot of dust/crap/gravel/small rocks just from the driveway. I can only imagine what it'll do to the epoxy over time. Curious to see real life experience of anyone who has had epoxy stuff after several years.
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We put epoxy on the garage floor of our last home after it was just built. We were there nearly 5 years. We have never used high performance tires, but after all those years with our normal tires the floor seemed as durable as when it was first installed. And when wet, it never seemed any more slippery than wet concrete.
 
I don't really get the epoxy desire... I understand it looks nice and all but it's just the garage floor.

Has anyone considered garage mats? Either the roll out kind or the interlocking tile type? Is that cheaper? And I think it provides more sound insulation, temperature retention and "cushion".

In our first home, the owners had carpeted the garage... it was strange at first but we liked how it made the garage less industrial. Our realtor at the time liked it so much, he carpeted his own garage when he bought a new home.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I don't really get the epoxy desire... I understand it looks nice and all but it's just the garage floor.

Has anyone considered garage mats? Either the roll out kind or the interlocking tile type? Is that cheaper? And I think it provides more sound insulation, temperature retention and "cushion".

In our first home, the owners had carpeted the garage... it was strange at first but we liked how it made the garage less industrial. Our realtor at the time liked it so much, he carpeted his own garage when he bought a new home.
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After having an epoxy floor for 5 years and now being in a rental without it, I am vehemently in favor of having it. A standard concrete floor is a filthy atrocity with oil, grease, and paint stains everywhere. It just looks and feels filthy. With epoxy your garage becomes more like an extended indoor room instead of a mechanic's cave. You can back the cars out, easily wash it clean with a hose, and use it as a big play area for your kids.

I'm surprised myself about how important I feel it is now. Before I had it I just thought it would be a pretty upgrade good for resell value.
 
Being a car guy and wrenching on my own cars, my garage has become an extension of my home.  I want it to look as nice and be as clean like the inside of my house.  I even protect my epoxy by driving onto mats from HF.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I don't really get the epoxy desire... I understand it looks nice and all but it's just the garage floor.

Has anyone considered garage mats? Either the roll out kind or the interlocking tile type? Is that cheaper? And I think it provides more sound insulation, temperature retention and "cushion".

In our first home, the owners had carpeted the garage... it was strange at first but we liked how it made the garage less industrial. Our realtor at the time liked it so much, he carpeted his own garage when he bought a new home.
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same reason you seal your grout, or seal your counter tops...spill anything on concrete and it absorbs and stains.  I also change my own oil and stuff...so the ability to just wipe up the oil without having to get some cleaner to get the the stains out is worth it for me.  and it makes the garage look prettier.
 
I don't change my oil nor work on my car in the garage. Our cars are usually newer and the last one that leaked was taken care of with cardboard.

I guess because most of the time, when we are home, the car(s) are parked in the garage, even if the floor was stained, we wouldn't see it.

Garage mats provide the same stain protection and you can clean them without getting the interior of the garage all wet.

Something like roll mats like this:

autogeek_2259_64393678


Or you can get them interlocking tiles and you can even make patterns with them:

2608.jpg


At $2/sft, that's much less than epoxy and you can take it with you (if you are a renter or like me... a serial house buyer).

Just trying to suggest practical alternatives.

Edit: Typos.
 
interlocking mats still can have oil seep into the cracks where they connect. You'd have to pull it all up to clean up the mess.  I understand you wouldn't see it, but it would bother me knowing that it's there. I've never been a fan of mats but i definitely do agree it's much cheaper and if epoxy wasn't being offered the way it is today, I would go that route.

I told my wife...for all the upgrades she got to overrule me on for the house, this is my unconditional upgrade she does not get to question me on.
 
broda said:
interlocking mats still can have oil seep into the cracks where they connect.
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You could get the roll out ones... no cracks.
You'd have to pull it all up to clean up the mess.
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Just the ones that are leaked on... it would be 4 at the most right?
I understand you wouldn't see it, but it would bother me knowing that it's there. I've never been a fan of mats but i definitely do agree it's much cheaper and if epoxy wasn't being offered the way it is today, I would go that route.

I told my wife...for all the upgrades she got to overrule me on for the house, this is my unconditional upgrade she does not get to question me on.
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I understand... not trying to give you a hard time... I just didn't know that epoxy was so expensive. For $1700, I'd rather buy a 70" TV and put that in the garage to distract me from looking at the oil stains.
 
yeah i could not convince my wife to do the epoxy.  her reaction was similar to IHOs, it is the garage floor.  it does look nicer though.
 
I thought I was the only one who doesn't get the appeal of an epoxy floor. I like Iho's mat or interlocking tile suggestion better. At least with tiles, you can always take out any that get damaged and replace with new ones.

When I paint, I open the cans and stir on the garage floor then pour it into the pans. It is messy business. I also use the garage to paint and stain furniture including spray paint at times. It gets on the floor but better that than, say, my patio. I don't know how dried paint spills would come off epoxy. Seems more like it's meant for a garage to look at but not use.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
broda said:
interlocking mats still can have oil seep into the cracks where they connect.
Click to expand...
You could get the roll out ones... no cracks.
You'd have to pull it all up to clean up the mess.
Click to expand...
Just the ones that are leaked on... it would be 4 at the most right?
I understand you wouldn't see it, but it would bother me knowing that it's there. I've never been a fan of mats but i definitely do agree it's much cheaper and if epoxy wasn't being offered the way it is today, I would go that route.

I told my wife...for all the upgrades she got to overrule me on for the house, this is my unconditional upgrade she does not get to question me on.
Click to expand...
I understand... not trying to give you a hard time... I just didn't know that epoxy was so expensive. For $1700, I'd rather buy a 70" TV and put that in the garage to distract me from looking at the oil stains.
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I want the 65 inch Sony XBR which is $4K.  The accountant/wife denied that one.  $1400 is a small chunk of change to give me one feature I want.

SoCal said:
I thought I was the only one who doesn't get the appeal of an epoxy floor. I like Iho's mat or interlocking tile suggestion better. At least with tiles, you can always take out any that get damaged and replace with new ones.

When I paint, I open the cans and stir on the garage floor then pour it into the pans. It is messy business. I also use the garage to paint and stain furniture including spray paint at times. It gets on the floor but better that than, say, my patio. I don't know how dried paint spills would come off epoxy. Seems more like it's meant for a garage to look at but not use.
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Probably in your situation it wouldn't make sense, but to clean up car fluid spills...it works great.  And yes it's makes the garage look pretty too. 
 
Having epoxy on the garage floor is basically like having a glazed tile surface, i.e. non-porous, so spills don't penetrate or leave any significant residue.  Dried paint would be removed quite easily with a plastic scraper.

Here's a tip, when you mix paint or do any kind of potentially messy job, put down a layer of newspaper/junk mail supermarket circulars.  You were going to throw it out anyway.
 
I had a disastrous spill of car tire shine on my epoxy floor last month.  It made the occasionally slippery epoxy as slick as an ice rink!  I don't know what the effect would have been though if it was just concrete,  but I was able to simply towel off a great amount , which was helpful.
 
These epoxy guys are making a killing charging 1500+ for the job.  DIY using quality epoxy + clear polyurethane top coat = 500.00 (less if you forgo the clear coat) and a weekend of your time.  It's not that hard.  The pros probably buy the epoxy and poly by the drum, so probably only cost them 250.00 per job in materials.
 
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