Garage Flooring options

[freakshow]

What are some good sites that describe the different options for garage flooring?
Just bought a new house, and I'm looking at what I can do to the garage floor, which is now just bare concrete.

From the little i've read, it looks like laying down an epoxy coating would be best?
I'm just not sure how that compares in terms of quality and pricing to buying a garage mat, or plastic tiles that clip together..

any thoughts?

[Hondaracer]

imo bare concrete is the best

we've looked into the roll out epoxies etc. but the thing is, when that stuff starts to peel up or flake it looks like complete garbage and you need to basically redo the entire thing, and then if you want to take it off completely, thats a totally different story

the tiles look good but are not very cost effective at all

personally i dont have a problem with the bare concrete as its easy to clean up oil/other stuff and it generally keeps pretty clean, although we usually dont have cars constantly coming and going in ours

[aznrsx1979]

I'd say go with just the natural concrete floor with a good concrete sealer.

On occasion, you can find the heavy duty tiles on sale and those look good. I remember when I worked at Home Depot, they had a clearance on them...I think they worked out to be about 1.50 per sf.

[MindBomber]

A nice epoxy floor looks sick if you have a nice garage, I've been in a number of homes that have them and its a really elevates the space to feel much more like living space. They're also pretty inexpensive and easier to keep clean than bare concrete.

The important thing is that you need to prep the floor extremely well, because if you don't you'll have the flaking that Hondaracer mentioned.

[aznrsx1979]

If you're going with just a concrete floor, you could go with an acid stain concrete floor. There's some that are done extremely nicely. I remember years ago the architecture firm I was working for had a lunch and learn with a company called Skookum Floors. The only local flooring same they had done was the Duek on Marine Drive...it was a gorgeous blue floor. Here's some other sites with concrete floors.

http://www.concreteideas.com/
http://www.concrete-design.com/

[freakshow]

I'm not a fan of the bare concrete, had that for many years.

So I think I figured that I'll go with one of two options:
Premier Spaces who uses a product called PrimierNX by Sika
or
Global Garage Flooring who uses a product called HP Spartacote

Does anyone know which product is superior? Or does anyone have experience with either company?

[Walperstyle]

shag carpet

For good reviews, you should search youtube. (but not shag carpet, I was joking)

[pingu81]

Don't leave it as bare concrete. Home depot has a kit that comes with the prep acid wash, epoxy, and optional flakes. $100 for the kit and it's enough to do 1 bay so buy accordingly. Optionally, you can add clear on top but it's not necessary. This should not peel or come off in the future if done properly.

[IMASA]

I was going to go Epoxy, but heard people had problems with it flaking off or developing hot spots from the tires. Plus you have to make sure we have a stretch of hot days so the stuff can dry properly after you apply it.

I ended up getting garage mats from Costco. 2 yrs later, they're still holding up great, though they are dirty. I haul them out once a year to powerwash them.

This is how it looked when new.

[freakshow]

Those garage mats are great. I use the same ones at my parents place after getting sick of the concrete, gives a much warmer feel.

However, with my place, I still wanted to try and do something more industrial, like a resin-based floor, like the two I listed.
They charge between $6-7 per sqft for material and installation, so it ends up being much pricier, but, i'm hoping, a much more finished look.

[shantz]

I'll be doing mine with EpoxyCoat

you can find tonnes of reviews on different coatings on www.garagejournal.com

[freakshow]

^I've looked on Garage Journal. There isn't a single thread with a detailed review of HP Spartacote. There's even less mention of Sika, never mind a comparison between the two.