Best, Moderately Priced, Garage Floor Treatment?

I'm moving along with my home renovation project. Soon, the garage interior will receive a fresh coating of paint.

The concrete slab was painted previously, but is in sad shape and needs to be refreshed. It also has a few cracks that I doubt I will try to fix.

I do not need anything fancy, just suggestions on how to prep and what paint product to use. Color will most likely be a light gray.

TIA.

 

Simple green, water and a stiff bristle brush. To prep.

old formula motorex brake cleaner for oil and tough stains but finding that stuff is next to impossible.

 

Short of grinding it, nothing non-commercial will last more than a year or 2.

 

Xylol and Xylene will break that old paint away, wear a respirator. Then degrease it. A solid color concrete stain will last much longer than paint. I would at least try caulking the cracks, that black shadow line makes it look nasty. Lowes and HD sell Sika brand caulks and sealants for masonry/concrete now. The stain will cover the caulk. If you clean it and you're happy with the floor's texture, then stain it, if you don't like the surface you can grind it but that grinding will show in the stain. You can polish away any marks but that's a lot more work. You can topcoat it $$

You can get creative if you like, a different colored border, checkers, 6' wide Chevy bowtie emblems right inside each of your 4 doors!

 

15 years ago I coated my shop using TNEMEC, other than the spot where I dropped a vice it still looks great. There’s probably only one dealership per state. If you need help locating one let me know. They mostly deal in paint for water tanks.

 

Plus, no matter what is already there, the results will only be as good as the previous guys prep. If you aren't going to bother doing it right, then don't bother at all.

 

IMHO, just get it grinded down to remove all the old stuff and then seal the concrete.

I'm as perfectionist as they come, but for some reason a garage floor looking like more like it belongs in a hospital operating room just doesn't sit well with me.....it needs to have character.....and "memories."

 

Like the others said above,
Clean it up, scuff it and just re-paint with a garage/floor paint. It wont last too long.
Do the above and coat with box store epoxy kits...maybe a little better than paint
Grind it off and do it right.

 

If you grind/polish to a flat smooth surface, add some anti slip like Sharksgrip. It's invisible and will last as long as the stain/paint, and cheap.

 

Sorry my man. If you’re going to do it, do it right. I did the box store Rustoleum epoxy shit when we first bought our house. It didn’t last for shit. Finally pulled the trigger last year on getting it professionally done and there is just ZERO comparison between the two. Worth every damn penny.

 

Fuck Paint... Fuck Stain.. And the real Epoxy is too friggin much... Polish the concrete and be done....

 

Rick You can rent a concrete grinder for maybe ~$200-250 for a day. A normal 2car garage will take a few hours to grind off crappy paint. then you can start fresh with whatever you want. A decent 2k epoxy or aspartic is ~$100-150/gallon. If you dont do a full chip, or any chips, you dont need a topcoat so you save money there. So 3-4 gallons for a 2 car garage is maybe $400-500 in coating. Add in another $100 in misc supplies, rollers, gloves, brushes etc and you can remove the old paint, prep the concrete and coat with a good 2K for less than a $1,000 and a weekends worth of work.