1 (edited by gumert 2016-10-21 05:40 PM)

Topic: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

My garage looks like a mechanical murder scene. The worst part is that it's due to my riding lawn mower, which decided to eat its PTO oil seal, as opposed to a car.

What are my methods of recourse? I would like to paint/epoxy the floor, so that future messes are more easy to deal with, but I imagine that I need to do something about the current state of the cement first.

Any suggestions for products, treatments, etc are welcome.

2 (edited by the shaolin 2016-10-22 05:23 AM)

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

Cheap kitty litter is cheaper than oil dry, and sometimes seems like the particle size is actually better for cleaning up spills.

After this, blow the dust out and acid etch the floor.  (Muriatic maybe?  It's been a while)  This will leave the floor super clean for whatever epoxy you decide to use. 

I forget the name of the stuff, but I've used the 3 step process (grey epoxy, colored traction flakes, clear + sand) in a plant environment before, would probably be pretty great in a garage.

-Nathan - Team Captain, Priority Fail Racing
1997 Golf GTI VR6 Mid Engine

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

After the kitty litter as mentioned above and BEFORE the muriatic acid clean with TSP. That will remove more oil from the concrete.

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

My house's previous owner liked to deep fry turkeys in the garage, so that led to a mess that the leaky lemon isn't helping any. I'd like to do the same - clean then coat.

I heard it stinks like all hell - so when is the best season to do it? Is there a min cure temp? Does cool mean less odor carry? Is it irrelevant?

-Robert, Party Sheep Racing
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Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

SwarlesInCharge wrote:

My house's previous owner liked to deep fry turkeys in the garage, so that led to a mess that the leaky lemon isn't helping any. I'd like to do the same - clean then coat.

I heard it stinks like all hell - so when is the best season to do it? Is there a min cure temp? Does cool mean less odor carry? Is it irrelevant?

Think about it like auto paint.  Odor is the solvents evaporating.  Same amount evaporates warm or cold...just a question of how much at any given moment.

The water based stuff is a much lower odor but VERY finicky about surface prep and application temp.  The first 4 hours the concrete temperature has to be a minimum of X (normally 60f) and a maximum of Y (78f).  Keep in mind, your pot life and working time go down as temp goes up.

So there are all kind of variables and your best bet is to read instructions then check various forums about it.

On a different not, I costed the floor of our enclosed trailer with the cheap Rustoleum garage epoxy and lets just say it works like a charm.  I overdid the antiskid sand so it is near impossible to sweep or mop but I did pressure wash it once...no worse for wear.

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

gumert wrote:

I would like to paint/epoxy the floor, so that future messes are more easy to deal with, but I imagine that I need to do something about the current state of the cement first.

Any suggestions for products, treatments, etc are welcome.

I epoxied the floor in my garage just before we moved into our house. This was not an easy job and took a little over a week; most of the work was prep. Overall, I've been pretty happy.


Prep: I rented concrete floor grinder from Home Depot and worked for about 5 days to remove old sealant and expose clean concrete.

Epoxy: I used Sikagard 62 because it was available locally. If I remember correctly, it took about 8 gallons for ~1000 square feet. Not cheap, but has held up reasonable well. It took two days of application, one coat on each day. The odor was reasonable.

Clear top coat: I made a mistake on this and used some goofball coating based on forum wisdom. I'm sure it's actually a fine product, it was just a poor choice for this application. I don't think it was truly compatible with the epoxy substrate, so it's been peeling off over time. It also stuck the house up for months. It only took about an hour to apply on day three of application.

Outcome: The epoxy has help up well, but it's definitely lost its luster in the main work area. Of course, it's frequently covered with gritty grime, which is then ground into the floor by our shoes. So, I guess I need to cover the floor covering? I don't think other products would withstand that any better as I suspect the grit will probably wear most any epoxy. I can say, however, the epoxy itself hasn't lifted at all anywhere.


Lessons learned for next time:
- Use a grinder that has some sort of dust collection or control built in. The dust was really out of control.
- Use a Sikafloor product, which provides for broadcasting flakes and covering with an appropriate (read as compatible and durable), clear top-coat.

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

Just use Tide to clean the oil/grease off.  Wet the floor, spread the tide over it, give it a minute or two, then agitate with a good push broom.  Works like a charm.

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Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

racinrob wrote:

Just use Tide to clean the oil/grease off.  Wet the floor, spread the tide over it, give it a minute or two, then agitate with a good push broom.  Works like a charm.

This  and cleaning sooner vs later mentality.  I will be doing my floor in rust bullet this spring when temps come back up, it offers resistances to stains.

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

I did my basement floor last fall. Used a combo etching / degreasing product.

I had a large spill of Red Wing Boot Oil in the middle of the floor that the degreaser couldn't pull up.

I alternated hitting it with Simple Green and a steamer, then squeegeeing away the excess. I did that until water didn't show any rainbows when poured on that spot.

Rolled on the store brand HomeDept floor paint, it seems to be holding up to foot traffic so far.

That guy that likes the Oldsmobile Diesel for some reason.

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

OnkelUdo wrote:

Odor is the solvents evaporating.  Same amount evaporates warm or cold...just a question of how much at any given moment.

Keep in mind, your pot life and working time go down as temp goes up.

Cool - just checking what I thought might be true (time rate might be important in avoiding overwhelming fumes).

And yep - need to be careful on timing it right it seems and planning well.

Thanks!

-Robert, Party Sheep Racing
The Jerry Lundegaard GMAC Financing Award, Joliet 2013 [Cutlass Ciera w/ Iron Duke]
Eta E30: IL Fall '15, MI Spring '16, IL Summer '16, MI Spring '17, KY '17, MI Summer '21, KY '21, MI Summer '21, MI Fall '22

Re: Garage floor cleanup + epoxy/paint

Thanks all for the feedback. It seems like my attack order will be (in order of severity):
fine kitty litter (already have this in stock)
shop vac garage
simple green
powdered tide
Trisodium Phosphate
muriatic acid
grinding

I also need to do something about are a couple of areas with some light spalling and pitting. Does anyone have any suggestions? I could skim them with a polymer-modified cement, use epoxy concrete patch, use something like SAKRETE's Flo-coat, or just use a 1/8" layer of portland cement?