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I epoxy coated my 1100 sf garage by myself. It was a fun project, saving THOUSANDS of dollars. The geometric design is appropriate for the house, which is very modern & geometric as well.
Thinking of doing this myself. Just had new concrete poured last May. I got a quote of 2200 which wasn't bad. I wouldn't be adding any shapes-just grey with chips in it. Did you do it all at once or piece it together? I was thinking of doing one side first and then the other side
YouTube has helped me with some tasks that I had no clue how to do that ended up being easy like replacing my shower head. It’s nice not having to pay for small easy tasks. My bathroom vanity that I sanded, painted and put new knobs on turned out great as well as the caulking.
I am shocked today at what restaurants charge for a simple meal. Lunch today for 2 was $150 all-in (fancy restaurant in Florida).
I could have made the meal and cocktails for $20 easily, maybe two hours of prep/ cooking. Nothing was complex. Easily replicated.
We are paying people too much for simple tasks.
Sure.............
Did you consider everyone in the building has to make $20 an hour or more? The rent, utilities usually exceeds $1000 a day?
Lets start with cocktails, I'd bet you can't buy a small bottle of Vodka for less than $20. Maybe a few mini bottles could keep you under $20.
2 hours of prep? What's your labor rate? $20 minimum you would be at $40.
So we are already at $60 for a bottle/2 hours labor and now we need the food. Even if the ingredients are simple (chicken breasts), lets imagine you get them for $9. Some type of veggie sides $5-6. But what about the butter/spices/salt/pepper whatever. So we have rounded the corner on $75 without spices etc.
What are you going to serve this on? Plates/silverware/napkins (remember this is a fancy place) so no paper napkins/paper plates/plastic silverware. Even buying a cheap set, you will probably spend $20+
So we are rounding the corner on $100 with nothing allocated for your cost your space where you serve this wonderful lunch.
While I agree cooking at home will be cheaper, I can't see your point of picking apart an expensive meal because you think you can do it at home for $20. That is simply not true.
I eat at Joes Stone Crab every year. I have been there on the same day every year, I used to joke that it was my $400 lunch. Last year it was over $700 (for 4 people, light on alcohol/no bottles of wine or anything). https://joesstonecrab.com/
Its become a tradition, yes its expensive but its a really legendary place. I specifically go for lunch, then kill the rest of the day in the area. I can order it to be delivered anywhere in the world, it will still be expensive but it wouldn't be the same.
Frugal no, but its a great time and very memorable........
Thinking of doing this myself. Just had new concrete poured last May. I got a quote of 2200 which wasn't bad. I wouldn't be adding any shapes-just grey with chips in it. Did you do it all at once or piece it together? I was thinking of doing one side first and then the other side
How many square feet is your garage? If it were me, I'd do the entire slab at once, even if I had to rent a storage pod to put all my garage stuff into for safe keeping during the process. Watch a couple YouTube videos and maybe read & ask some questions on this forum (MODERATORS: the following forum is not a competitor to C-D): https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forums/flooring.20/
Note that pro installers frequently do not actually use epoxy; they use a very fast curing polyaspartic (not the domain of DIYers) so they can complete the entire job in a single day.
Step 1: prepare the entire surface by power washing, degreasing, power washing more, then either (a)acid etching or (b) grinding the surface, followed by more power washing and then letting it thoroughly dry for about a week. The purpose of acid etching or grinding is to remove the concrete laitance. Concrete laitance is a weak, thin layer of cement dust, lime, and sand fines that forms on the surface of freshly placed concrete. It is about the thickness of a couple sheets of standard printer paper. You remove this so the epoxy can adhere to the strong underlying substrate.
Step 2: repair any cracks in the slab by using a specialty "V" shaped concrete grinding wheel and "chasing" the cracks. Blow out all the dust. Fill cracks with an epoxy repair paste (different from the liquid epoxy coatings) that is self leveling and then use a tool to "shave off" any extra that is higher than the slab.
Step 2: put down a primer coat in the evening. Wait until the next evening for the body coat.
Step 3: put down the body coat in the evening. In my case I did each color on a separate night. Optional but recommended: scatter paint chips. It adds some texture and helps to cover up visual flaws in the "flatness" of the concrete. After fully cured, knock down any chips that are sticking up. Wait a day for the top coat.
Step 4. Put down a clear top coat. Usually for a garage slab this is not a true epoxy but rather a clear polyurethane. The top coat should be engineered with a UV light inhibitor to prevent UV light from penetrating down to the base layers. Epoxies will "yellow" when exposed to UV light. Mix into the top coat a friction enhancer such as Shark Grip so that it is not slippery when wet.
Step 5. Wait a week for the layers of epoxy & polyurethane to fully cure. You can walk on it in bare socks (next day) or in shoes (thereafter) but do not put anything heavy on it and do not put your car inside until fully cured.
Note that epoxy "cures" via combination of the resin and hardener; it does not "dry" via evaporation of moisture. Garage epoxies typically are engineered to chemically bond to the calcium in the slab. A chemical bond is many orders of magnitude stronger than a mere mechanical bond formed when normal paint is applied to concrete. (Normal paint will flake off over time).
I always use 100% solids epoxy. Never use a "water based" epoxy. Some epoxies for garage floors are high solids but not 100% solids - they might be, say, 70% solids/30% VOC (volatile organic compounds). I've done that once, and it turned out very well - but you really need to use a respirator with charcoal filters to remove VOC vapors while you are applying it.
The downside of 100% solids epoxy is it has a very short "pot life." You mix A and B components together, and you have 15 minutes to get it fully applied before it cures. So, you mix it, pour it on the concrete slab in a ribbon, then go over it with a notched squeegee to spread it around, then an 18" roller with long vertical "stripes" overlapping by a fraction of an inch, and then it self-levels and you wait. You do not "criss-cross" the roller strokes. You have to work fast and you probably want a helper or two. The upside is it is the most durable.
The downside of the VOC containing epoxies is those vapors. The upside is a long pot life of maybe 45 minutes or an hour or so, giving you ample time to spread it around. It lasts a long time but is not technically as durable as 100% solids. Unless you are welding in your garage, you won't notice the difference.
There are many other details, like first performing a moisture test by taping a sheet of plastic to the slab (about 3 feet by 3 feet) and letting it sit for a day to see if any moisture is trapped, and making sure the ambient air temperature and slab temperature are within spec, etc.
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Also spend a few minutes looking at alternatives such as Race Deck and Porcelain Tile.
Last edited by moguldreamer; 04-24-2024 at 10:15 AM..
I epoxy coated my 1100 sf garage by myself. It was a fun project, saving THOUSANDS of dollars. The geometric design is appropriate for the house, which is very modern & geometric as well.
That's beautiful! That's a floor I'd eat off of. Can't give you a point.
Lets start with cocktails, I'd bet you can't buy a small bottle of Vodka for less than $20. Maybe a few mini bottles could keep you under $20.
2 hours of prep? What's your labor rate? $20 minimum you would be at $40.
So we are already at $60 for a bottle/2 hours labor and now we need the food. Even if the ingredients are simple (chicken breasts), lets imagine you get them for $9. Some type of veggie sides $5-6. But what about the butter/spices/salt/pepper whatever. So we have rounded the corner on $75 without spices etc.
What are you going to serve this on? Plates/silverware/napkins (remember this is a fancy place) so no paper napkins/paper plates/plastic silverware. Even buying a cheap set, you will probably spend $20+
So we are rounding the corner on $100 with nothing allocated for your cost your space where you serve this wonderful lunch.
Most of the things mentioned (except labor) are single-time expenses. Restaurants do not buy plates/ silverware/ cloth napkins for each use. They are used hundreds of times. Yes, laundry and depreciation (wear-and-tear) cost something, but a tiny fraction of the original capex outlay for the item.
Same with liquor. If I make someone a gin martini, do I consider the unit cost to be a whole bottle of gin plus a bottle of vermouth? No. It's a fraction of it. Plus some tiny depreciated amount for the shaker, the ice machine, etc.
Labor is a reasonable cost. I'll accept your suggestion of $20 as a loaded hourly cost for a worker in a white-tablecloth restaurant. And I could prep more than one lunch in these two hours (probably four, but we will take two as a goalpost).
So my "effective" cost -- $20 of labor; $20 of ingredients; $10 of liquor/ portions of wine. A few bucks for depreciated items. Ten bucks for the $15,000 monthly utilities + equipment + rent (one of fifty paid tables during one of thirty days). We are at $63 total cost. Actual cost was $125 before tax and tip. So someone (the owner) is marking it up by a factor of two.
This fancy meal at a restaurant is underwriting a significant profit margin -- that is one big reason why it is much cheaper to eat at home.
YouTube has helped me with some tasks that I had no clue how to do that ended up being easy like replacing my shower head. It’s nice not having to pay for small easy tasks. My bathroom vanity that I sanded, painted and put new knobs on turned out great as well as the caulking.
A great use for Youtube. Also, finding parts on the Internet is a godsend. My washing machine started leaking from the hot water valve. In the olden days, I wouldn't have known where to start. Now? Enter the model number in the magic machine, order $35 part, check a video for installation instructions, done. Biggest challenge was moving the damn thing around, why did I put it in a corner?
I am shocked today at what restaurants charge for a simple meal. Lunch today for 2 was $150 all-in (fancy restaurant in Florida).
I could have made the meal and cocktails for $20 easily, maybe two hours of prep/ cooking. Nothing was complex. Easily replicated.
We are paying people too much for simple tasks.
Fancy restaurants means paying for the experience as well.
When I lived in Hamburg, there was a great Persian restaurant with two entrances. One was the waiters-and-tablecloths experience, zithar music in the background, dipping sauces and small dishes with appetizers appearing like magic. On the other side of the building - food to go in cardboard containers, a refrigerator with bottled drinks, extra charge for cutlery, three small stand-up tables.
I am shocked today at what restaurants charge for a simple meal. Lunch today for 2 was $150 all-in (fancy restaurant in Florida).
I could have made the meal and cocktails for $20 easily, maybe two hours of prep/ cooking. Nothing was complex. Easily replicated.
We are paying people too much for simple tasks.
The menue should show prices. So where did the shock come in?
You opted to go and eat there. So consider everything next time you go out to eat.
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Can't give you a point.