DIY Epoxy Flake Garage Floor Coatings (What Most People Don't Tell You)

#EverythingAboutConcrete #MikeDayConcrete
This is an epoxy flake garage floor coating we're installing for a customer.
The customer wanted 1/8" flake called "White Granite".
The first thing we do is prep the floor by grinding it. Most people on YouTube tell you to wash and etch the floor with some type of etching solution.
As a professional epoxy flake coating contractor, I'm telling you that's not what we do. EVER!
Acid etching the concrete will not create the proper surface profile for epoxy to adhere to long term. It might look good for a short while, but it will start to peel off the concrete, especially where you drive in and out every day (under the tires).
I'm showing you in the video the proper way to prep your concrete so the epoxy flooring will bond and last for a long time.
It's not quite as easy as it looks on most of the videos you see on YT.
There's some hard work to do this right and you need to know the proper sequence. There's some steps we do on all our epoxy garage floors that has worked for us and given us really good success.
I outlined all the steps in an easy to follow video training course below for those of you who want to ensure you're doing this right.
You can follow us on 3 different epoxy flake garage floor coatings as I break down each step, showing you what and how to do it.
I also tell you what products, tools, and equipment to use for the best results. Check out the course below!

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[Aerospace_Education]

The real challenge is finding crews as professional as you guys. You can tell you have a lot of pride in the work.

[Thepriest]

I did my garage floor 19 years ago. I acid etched it, primer-ed it, and epoxied it with box store products. I have severely abused it and it has held up great. I do agree that prep is key to any project. Not everything in this world has to be "Contractor" grade. I think that is an overused word. A lot of box store products are great for the home owner.

[ridgeberkman]

From somebody who does resinous flooring for a living in everything from factory’s, plants, hospitals, universities, and sometimes garages. It’s great to see someone explain to people the reason why a good floor cost what it cost. The proper surface preparation and proper products used are the most important aspect of a quality long lasting epoxy floor.

[fishgutz]

Every time I watch a DIY garage floor video I become more convinced to just pay an expert to do it. It will get done right and in less time than it would take me to do it.

[JohnSmith-codw]

It's amazing all the great products for protecting concrete. Overlays. Coatings. You name it, but one thing that doesn't change is a good prep.
You are top notch.💯

[joeschlotthauer]

I wanted to see a close-up of the finished floor...

[Ralph]

Looks great, would have loved a close up when finished. Thanks for the video!

[dr.curious]

I could have went to Home Depot to do the heap DIY stuff that fails, but I didn’t I called in a professional, I have a 4 car garage and it wasn’t cheap but 5 years later it looks as good as the day they installed it. Get a professional is all I can recommend, my floor is a full broadcast with a clear coat, I think they used around 175 pounds of flake on mine, then two coats of clear …. They floor is thick. The product on mine is a poly as well. This is a great video to show the process and it seemed like a real good job.

[Asphaltaperider]

Prep is where it's at. Guys doing it right. Good job. Great work doesn't cost, it pays.

[billprezioso]

I don’t know I’m a pro painter and I just got a look the floor of a two car garage I did 12 years ago with Rustoleum epoxy and a clear top coat and etched it with muriatic acid while the top coat lost some of its sheen the floor as a whole it looks great no hot tire pickup. I wouldn’t put down big box store products cause it’s all about the prep the products are not that different.

[ChipLinck]

Wear a respirator! Anyone watching this will get the impression that it's perfectly safe to grind concrete and breath in the dust. Silicosis is incurable and 100% fatal.

[davem]

Concrete floor solutions has the most detailed epoxy floor videos I’ve seen.

[keylorlaporta]

Thank you Mike I just had someone ask me if i did this kinda work and I knew if I watched one of your videos I would understand better thank you for spreading your knowledge you don't realize how valuable this is thank you

[adamhotrod]

This convinced me that I really don't want to do mine by myself. I'm getting a decent firm in to do it for me!

[geraldarcuri]

I installed mine with Rustoleum's over the counter kit fifteen years ago on a floor that was already ten years old. The floor has been used heavily, including parking two cars and doing a lot of car maintenance with floor jacks, carpentry, etc. So, I spent $200, plus three days of my hard work and it lasted 15 years. No topcoat. Never yellowed. Garage faces south, and I live in sunny Southern California. I did not grind the floor, though I agree that's ideal. I am about to re-do the floor. The cost of product has gone up, but so have my skills. I expect that, with a top coat this time, my re-epoxied garage floor will outlast me. I can't afford to pay big bucks for someone else to do it, but I don't mind a bit of hard work.

[thegrinch]

I did one concrete floor as an apprentice painter and decorator and even before I started I could tell there wasn’t enough so thank lord I had the presence of mind to not go past where one concrete section. Ended and the next one began, anyhoo nice work lads and lady

[plasmar]

funny thing about life is I was thinking about epoxying my garage floor, ended up finding 2 boxes of rock solid on discount, and a neighbour threw out an industrial floor buffer(working)... it's like do I even have a choice at this point?

[KLFaber]

I approve of this video. Of course, you are a pro and I'm a DIY'er but I can tell the folks your methods are sound. I'm not sure why you use so much fleck, but to each his own. I glad to see that you throw the fleck up in the air instead of dropping it on the floor. I tell people "think happy New Year" when flecking, not "feed the chickens.

The easiest way to tell if a pro did the work or a DIY'er did the work is look whether the fleck pattern looks random or has steaks and spots. Of course, the other way is to see how it holds up if there are adhesion problems then you are looking at a DIY job.

I've done 5 garage floors and two basement rooms and I've never had a tire peel up the epoxy. I use the Sherwin Williams epoxy kits - wait for their 40% off sales and yes figure no more than 200 sq ft per kit and buy one more kit than you think you'll need and take it back if you don't need it.

[nv]

This is why a good durable floor is worth the cost of a pro, especially that initial prep. Ours is 15 yrs old and still looks new.