I would like to do an epoxy floor in my garage but have some concerns about winter weather. I'm looking for other people's experiences that have a similar situation as me: a garage floor with no slope and no drain who live in an area that gets snow. Currently in the winter before I enter the garage, I try to get as much snow off the vehicle as I can. Whatever is left is absorbed by the unsealed concrete (which has started to pit from salt/age (1970's home)) Sometimes there is a lot of water and I try to broom it out after it melts off the car to give the drying up time a head start. So I'm assuming once the floor has epoxy on it, the water is just going to pool, having no where to go until I squeegee it out of the garage door. What do other people do in this situation? What are my options?
epoxy-no drain, no slope, and snow
- Thread starter jlaird
- Start date
nate379
Banned
How much water are you ending up with? Unless I went playing out in the woods in my Jeep and it's a ice cube, I don't end up with more than a small puddle.
I try to keep my stuff parked outside though.
Cold/hot and then hot/cold and all that snow melting off all the time is a recipe for rust more than just leaving the snow build up a bit. If it's getting cold where I'm not sure my stuff will start (-40ish) then I pull it in though.
I try to keep my stuff parked outside though.
Cold/hot and then hot/cold and all that snow melting off all the time is a recipe for rust more than just leaving the snow build up a bit. If it's getting cold where I'm not sure my stuff will start (-40ish) then I pull it in though.
Well its a two car garage. Only one car goes in the garage and that's my wifes. So most of one side of the garage is covered with melted snow. I am going to try to "encourage" her to get all the snow off she can but I think we all know how that goes.
I live in the Northeast, enough said. The snow and ice from the wheel wells, chunks and then fall off the car on to the floor. The floor drain never could deal with the mess.
Brushing and sweeping out the mess is necessary to having a clean floor regardless of what you do, Duh!
An epoxy coating will protect the floor, however it has been my experience that this is only a 3 year solution. There is a big difference in the quality of the floor coatings and this is one of those cases where price does matter. I have coated more times than a sane person would, and just went with a different solution.
Living in the Northeast means dealing with ice, snow, cold, leaves, and temperature changes.
Brushing and sweeping out the mess is necessary to having a clean floor regardless of what you do, Duh!
An epoxy coating will protect the floor, however it has been my experience that this is only a 3 year solution. There is a big difference in the quality of the floor coatings and this is one of those cases where price does matter. I have coated more times than a sane person would, and just went with a different solution.
Living in the Northeast means dealing with ice, snow, cold, leaves, and temperature changes.
gewb
Active member
I solved that by using a wet-dry vac to **** the muck up - I should have started that years ago BEFORE the salt started to pit the floor!
Regards,
GEWB
Regards,
GEWB
5Cent
Well-known member
I am in the same boat. Just did the floor last October and the wife's explorer holds alot of snow/ice above the running boards and rear bumper.
Once a week or every few days I would squeege the floor and try to rinse it out. The salt/dirt had no affect on the epoxy, but I would just get tired of the dirt. I also noticed that alot would fall into the cracks which I imagine drained to the stone below or evaporated.
Now having a finished garage and no isulation is another problem.........condensation......that reminds me, winter is not far off, time to get some up there in that attic
Once a week or every few days I would squeege the floor and try to rinse it out. The salt/dirt had no affect on the epoxy, but I would just get tired of the dirt. I also noticed that alot would fall into the cracks which I imagine drained to the stone below or evaporated.
Now having a finished garage and no isulation is another problem.........condensation......that reminds me, winter is not far off, time to get some up there in that attic
beartoothweb
Well-known member
A CarPad will solve it for you. I use one here to just keep all of the **** off teh floor. Supposedly, it'll hold 55gallons of water. You can find them on amazon. The part where you drive over it wears pretty quickly, but it seems to do the job. I replaced the hose it comes with for the "frame" and used 1/2" pvc.
Well worth the money IMHO.
Well worth the money IMHO.
It is evident that there are some who prefer the approach of using expoxy as the primary solution to protecting a garage floor. As I have mentioned much depends on the climate and the use of the floor e.g. daily traffic versus park and store.
After taking care of the flaking and peeling from my 3 year old expoxy floor, done right with the best material and installed properly, I decided on a different approach. I cleaned, scraped, washed, sanded, washed the floor (3 times) and recoated it with a reasonably good epoxy. After letting it cure for a good 30 days, I then covered the entire floor with G-Floor car mats as a final overlay.
I am on my second year, have lifted the floor mats once just curious to see how the epoxy was holding up, zero problems. The epoxy floor has not seen direct traffic or the light of day with the mats dealing with the traffic and snow, rain and ice abuse.
For my application it was a great solution.
After taking care of the flaking and peeling from my 3 year old expoxy floor, done right with the best material and installed properly, I decided on a different approach. I cleaned, scraped, washed, sanded, washed the floor (3 times) and recoated it with a reasonably good epoxy. After letting it cure for a good 30 days, I then covered the entire floor with G-Floor car mats as a final overlay.
I am on my second year, have lifted the floor mats once just curious to see how the epoxy was holding up, zero problems. The epoxy floor has not seen direct traffic or the light of day with the mats dealing with the traffic and snow, rain and ice abuse.
For my application it was a great solution.
AlphaGarage
Well-known member
No offense intended... but if a 3 year old epoxy floor is peeling it was either not done right, or the best products were not used, or there was a combination of bad product and bad installation.
nate379
Banned
Yeah for sure! There a few people on here with 5-6 years on the stuff Lowe's/HD carries and it still looks nice.
The floor was prepared properly and quality material applied. I took a chance that the snow, heat, cold, salt would not cause a failure of adhesion, micro cracking after 3 years but that was not the cas.
If anyone believes that any epoxy coating will "always" last or will not fail based on certain conditions they are not being candid. The conditions of exposure absolutely will affect the durability of the coating and that is a fact. Perhaps in 60-70% of the locations a epoxy coating will not peel or crack BUT failure can occur and it is not the result of improper installation or the failure to use "some" vendors product.
If anyone believes that any epoxy coating will "always" last or will not fail based on certain conditions they are not being candid. The conditions of exposure absolutely will affect the durability of the coating and that is a fact. Perhaps in 60-70% of the locations a epoxy coating will not peel or crack BUT failure can occur and it is not the result of improper installation or the failure to use "some" vendors product.
beartoothweb
Well-known member
This is well said. The overall "mix" of the original pour can be a factor. I was amazed when we poured our floor (ourselves) that even between the 2 batches, there were differences.
Glad you got the new stuff working. I just laid down my rustoleum 1200' floor, and it looks fine to me, and about a 10th of the cost of having someone come do it for me. Granted, the more expensive one would look perfect and probably hold up a little better, but man, $300 vs. $4000+, no question for me.
nate379
Banned
I agree. For $4000 I could almost bust out my slab and repour a new one!
one of your only options is to cap your existing slab so it slopes to the door. this is fairly easily accomplished w/lightweight or pea gravel concrete. so the back portion of the garage needs to be raised 5to6 inches. then sloping out towards the door untill its an inch and a half thick. after that you need to fill in the rest w/apolymer repair mortar that can be feathered down to to 0. cracking could be a problem but if you seal it correctly the only problem you'll have is a few hairline cracks. hope this helps and contact me if ya want. this could be accomplished probably for under 2000. depending on labor costs and concrete costs
Falcon67
Well-known member
Apparently. The cheap stuff I used from Lowes has been on the floor 12 years already. Even hot, stick 10 1/2" wide slicks can't pull it up.
FWIW - I had a floor that was perfectly flat. Asked for it that way. It didn't stay that way, and spills now drain to the east wall "naturally"
beartoothweb
Well-known member
Apparently. The cheap stuff I used from Lowes has been on the floor 12 years already. Even hot, stick 10 1/2" wide slicks can't pull it up.
FWIW - I had a floor that was perfectly flat. Asked for it that way. It didn't stay that way, and spills now drain to the east wall "naturally"
I have those kinds of spots...and a $15 squeegee is a heck of a lot cheaper than raising the floor! ;->