Epoxy Resin Workshop Floor

In this instructable you can learn how to cover your workshop or garage with a durable epoxy resin coat. Hopefully this provides a good starting point so you can renew your own floor.

Stuff you need:

• Durable Epoxy Resin I used Easyground, but of course this tutorial also works for any other resin.
• 1 Big and 1 Small Paint Roller or Brush
• Masking Tape (For areas you don´t want to paint)
• Sealing Safety Glasses (Sealing is better than those normal glasses.)
• At least 10 pairs of gloves.
• Paint Stirer (Essential for mixing a lot o fEpoxy)
• Paint Roller Extension
  

Household stuff you should keep nearby:

• Kitchen wipes.
• Soapy Water

Step 1: Make a Plan.

How big is the area you need to cover?

The resin supplier will tell you how much material you will need according to your surface area. This number should always be rounded up since manufacturers tend to exaggerate their coverage.

What surface do you have?

Epoxy bonds well on pretty much anything except silicone and old paint. This stuff should be removed. Get an epoxy that is recommended for your floor. My floor was tiled and the epoxy could be poured straight on top. If your tiles are glossy, you should sand them first, or remove them all together.

Is your floor even?

Any cracks should be filled with crack filler.

Step 2: Clean Up the Mess!

My workshop floor was abused for 8 years. It got covered in paint, epoxy, oil and sawdust. For the epoxy to stick well to the floor, it needs to be absolutley clean!

1. Sweep the floor to get rid of the loose dust and debris.
2. Pressure wash or scrub it with a stiff wire brush to remove paint drips and other stains.
3. Clean with soapy biodegradable water to remove any oil residues.
4. Let it dry for at least a day. You don´t want to trap any water.

I had some epoxy pudles leftover that I removed with an old chissel and a hammer. My hope was that the epoxy coat would hide those crimes, and it did!

Step 3: Paint Your Walls Before You Paint the Floor.

Painting the walls created a lot of fresh paint drops that made the floor even worse. It is a good idea to paint the walls first and the floor later.

Step 4: How to Mix the Epoxy.

Mixing the Epoxy right is crucial!

Epoxy or Polyester Resins are thermosetting polymers. That means that they are formed by mixing two components and curing them with heat. It is absolutley crucial to get the ratios of both components right. Every molecule in Part A needs to find matching partners from Part B. If they don´t, the resin will stay soft, or become very brittle. So when mixing and epoxy, it is absolutley important that you mix them up all the way.

Our Epoxy came inside 2 buckets with Part A and part B. We mixed them together and stirred them for about 2 minutes with a cordless drill and a paint stirer. Mix until you think its enough and then mix some more.

Make sure to scrap the sides really good. Unmixed resin will ruin your day. We didn´t scrap out the buckets to avoid any unmixed resin.

Step 5: Base Layer - a Thin Application for Good Adhesion

Make sure you have plenty of time and all the right tools. This only took 2 hours, but working with epoxy sucks if you are in a rush.

We quickly went around the edges of the room and covered the details with paint. This is a thinned down mix according to the manufacturers instructions. Is gets applied lightly and is only there to seal any pores and to get adhesion with the entire surface.

This layer is then cured for 12-24 hours and then the main layer is applied.

Step 6: Adding the Thick Main Layer.

I came back 12 hours later to add the final layer. You cannot wait to long with this because fully cured epoxy needs to be sanded before you can add more expoy.

This is the main layer that gets applied quite thick. I started with the edges again and a small brush. Then I poured all the epoxy on the floor. It is a good idea to pour all the epoxy in one go to evenly spread it around the room. Once everything is dumped, you can spread it out evenly with the big roller and the extension. As long as you are careful not stepping into any puddles, you can get away with clean shoes.

Step 7: Colour Chips

My epoxy manufacturer also sells these colour chips that add a nice texture. They are mainly there to hide any dirt later on.

I used the leaf blower to spread them out, which worked, but there were far more at the entrance than the back. Next time, I would just step onto the fresh paint and start spreading the stuff at the back. Then I would move towards the entrance, remove my footprints and cover them also with the chips. So that way you cover the room step by step and remove your foot prints.

At this step you could also distribute fine silicate sand, but then you need to add a third layer to cover the sand.

Step 8: Admire Your Work.

If you did everything right, you should end up with a clean and beautiful floor that will decades.

Comments

[PeterM520]

Can you please try to describe what this feels like? (Is it rubbery? Does it yield at all, meaning does it feel softer to walk on than, say, cement or tile?) Thanks!

[Max Maker]

This is completeley hard. No give at all. The rubbery texture only happened after 12 hours. 24 hours later, it was very hard. Not like stone, but maybe like a very hard plasitc.

[Cheese Queen]

There is no "give" to an epoxy coating; its hard and durable and that's the reason for using it on floors and other abused surfaces..

[Lord yLordy]

Your link takes us to the website which is only in German unfortunately and my German reading isn't that good. Could you give me a link to the kit please?

[Max Maker]

Well, the company I used only seems to be selling in Germany.

[trickman777]

At this step you could also distribute fine silicate sand, but then you need to add a third layer to cover the sand.
What do mean when you are saying "add a third layer" a?

[Max Maker]

A third layer of sand. If you want to have this textured, you go like this:
1. Thin Base coat.
2. Regular coat. + Sand
3. Brush out excess Sand.
4. Third thin coat of epoxy.

[Oldbear]

We have used this "paint" in our old garage (which was my shop for 6 years), our laundry room, our hallway and the kids playroom (spare room). Prep is key or it can peel. If you have moisture issues before painting - you'll have peeling/flaking. I spent 3 days of prep plus dry times to get the floor ready. It is not indestructible - but neither is the cement floor underneath. I welded in my shop (but not on the floor), every workbench/welding table is on wheels and gets rolled around. I dropped red-hot metal on the floor and split brake fluid - it's my shop - the floor has stood up.

My kids run and slide in the hallway, our dog does the frantic slip run around the corner, remote control cars powerslide and the dog drools and drops wet food on the floor - it still looks good.

None of it is still perfect, but I'm not about to redo it. I wouldn't use the redisental products in a commerical setting - but with the 90% prep work and 10% painting, it should last for years.

[PhantasticOne]

I did this to one bay of my former garage (about equivalent to a 1-car garage floor). I did all of the prep work involved with a used and abused garage floor and applied Rust-O-Leum brand epoxy floor coating. For just this one bay, it ended up costing me almost $1,200. This included a floor sander, sanding rolls, acid wash, and the epoxy system. It took my son and I just short of a week to do with drying times included. It looked great when we finished, HOWEVER..........What they don't tell you is that if you damage the floor (you know floor jacks, dropped parts, etc.) there is NO way to repair it. According to the folks at Rust-O-Leum, if it gets damaged, you can't just apply another coat of clear. You must remove the entire coating and start over!! I'm not knocking this post, but BEWARE if you plan on using this in an auto bay. There are many other better solutions. Even just plain old concrete paint is better as it can just be re-coated.

[dlebryk]

This will work (essentially no floor prep), if this is for light duty use - no cars or heavy equipment.

Anybody thinking of this for a garage floor, the prep is much longer, much harder to get it right. And there are cheap epoxies (read the kind you up at a home improvement center) no matter how you prep a garage, will eventually lift.

Garage floor requires all oil be removed and the floor etched either with acid or bead blasting. A lot of work to get right.

[Lord yLordy]

I found out that there are special shoes that you get to fix onto your normal footwear for walking on painted floors when they are wet if you plan to do a lot of them or you could use the blue plastic overshoes contractors wear so as not to get dirt in peoples homes.
I am very interested in this product as it would save me a lot of problems laying laminated flooring in a bathroom.

[dlebryk]

Golf shoes. The spikes work perfectly, even the new version. Epoxy will flow back around the slight gaps after you walk on the wet floor.

Booties don’t work, they smear the paint or epoxy too much.