Garage epoxy paint

In our old house I had wanted to put down epoxy flooring in the garage for awhile. My '66 Beetle likes to mark its territory (as they all do), so we were getting a good oil spot collection going. Epoxy also looks more inviting, thus encouraging you to waste time in the garage instead of other rooms. Alas, this is a difficult task when you have a garage full of crap and nowhere to stash it for a couple weeks. So once we decided to move to Round Rock, we made sure to do this before moving said crap over.

Once I priced professional epoxy jobs (and picked my jaw up off the floor), the cheapskate in me decided we would use the do-it-yourself Rustoleum epoxy kits instead. It was clear after reading misc garage forums (note: the Latin language is rolling in its grave) that the most important step in this job is the preparation. So we decided to do the following as part of our preparation:

• Initial cleaning with stiff broom and gas blower
• Use crack filler on a few minor spots
• Scrape off old paint and other crud
  
• Power wash with concrete detergent
• Acid wash, scrub, squeegee
• Let concrete air dry for a week (naturally it was raining and super humid at this point .. you should only need a few days)
  
• Final cleaning with stiff broom

This picture shows the garage after all this had been completed (fyi - shelling out for the rubber boots was a great ROI). Each kit can handle around 250 sq ft, so we picked up three kits for our 700 sq ft garage. Per normal painting conventions, we mixed the three base cans together to avoid color mismatches.

After mixing the first kit thoroughly, Kelly began doing the actual painting whilst I took on the more difficult task of spreading the chips. Besides nerding out and dividing up the chips in equal parts, I just imitated the old lady from the instructional tape. In hindsight I've decided the old lady's technique is a sham, and that spreading the chips evenly is impossible (BTW - Kelly nerded out as well by marking off the entire garage in 4' x 4' sections).

Here are a few pics of our work along the way:

Overall this turned out well and was an inexpensive ($250 vs $3000) way to get a floor that looks nice and cleans easily. Four months later, we haven't had any issues with tire peeling or streaking. The only complaint so far is with the color chips. Besides almost running out at the end, they didn't all stick well to the paint. So for awhile after application, your feet and driveway are covered with chips that have blown off. In any case, it's still better than having plain concrete.