garage resurfacing

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generally speaking, decent size double garage floor resurfacing runs about $ 2.00 sf in atl & 2 guys are done in less than a day,,, only 300sf ? make it $ 2.50-$ 2.75sf - in & out,,, its rare the good stuff is avail to diy'ers @ the apron/vest stores &, usually, diy'ers won't look beyond them,,, that just diy'ers - if the apron/vest stores don't sell it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you can finish the rest
 
Dang! Shld have called you guys to do it.i spent close to 500 bucks without counting gas, and tire wear. !
 
not to mention being harassed :beer: by us :clap: learning is a life-long process especially IF you live long enough
 
So just for my own future knowledge, the product (LevelQuik) sold at home depot and intended for underlayment between sub flooring and carpet,tile, wood flooring and such is also a good product to finish a garage floor with subjected to heavy vehicles and such and can be covered in epoxy coat and stand the test of time?
Also that is a preferred to the only other DIY product I could find (Rapid Set Cement All) for skim coating?

The reason being the Cement All has sand in it and leaves a sandy surface. ????

To Stadry above post that DIYers won’t look beyond the products they can readily buy at apron stores. I don’t quite agree I often look beyond what they sell but in most cases it is all but imposable to buy the commercial grade product unless you know someone in that trade that will do you a favor or buy a massive amount of the product. It’s not that I don’t know I’m getting ripped off buying at the apron store on some of this stuff but a homeowner DIYer is limited in how to get the product and most of the cost is having the apron store carry the inventory for when I need a small amount of it.

This is a DIY forum and everyone appreciates the pros that offer their time here helping but giving suggestions for products that can’t be had doesn’t help anyone.

Laurentj23 I’m not quite seeing that much improvement in the before and after photos of your floor. I’m still seeing a lot of tool marks for a self-leveling product. Did you mix it to be very thin and pour it out and leave it or was it thicker and troweled on or did you tool it after it was setting up? I’m not critiquing your work just trying to understand your process.
 
i wouldn't use ANY product from the apron/vest store IF i wanted good results,,, diy'er or pro, nobody can earn pro results UNLESS they use PRO materials,,, this doesn't include pro handyman stuff from the apron/vest stores

IF you're looking for tru PRO MATERIALS, you need to shop where true PRO MATERIALS are sold - not just stop in @ the nearest apron/vest stores

Cement All has fine aggregate but shouldn't leave a sandy surface IF its properly mixed, placed, & finished,,, IF diy'ers & semi-pro's can't take the time to locate the right material suppliers, how in hell could they ever expect pro results ? yes, some materials are proprietary & only sold to those who are licensed to use them,,, that doesn't mean there aren't others of equal performance but 1 must search for them -NOT take the fastest path of ease

remember gary player ? the south african golfer ? someone once remarked to him ' i wish i had your golf swing. ' player replied ' you won't because you won't hit 1,000 balls til your hands bleed, tape up your hands, & hit another 1,000 ! ' i heard him say it - so did nicklaus & palmer. those 2 nodded & i smiled. he said it at the 64 masters' practice range which arnie won.

i guess the point is this: IF you buy where the diy'ers buy just because its local, easier, & not far from the job, you'll always get those results,,, we don't even buy tools in there UNLESS we consider them throw-aways - i can't afford tools that quit,,, even in atl, IF we can't get the mtls we want, we'll order the RIGHT mtls in & pay the freight,,, that doesn't happen often tho, maybe 1 or 2x a month
 
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I work in a large industrial complex and have access to every type of numerical controlled machine tools for metal working including lasers, water jet, wire EDM, etc. I also have access to almost every product finishing process paint, powder coat and all types of plating processes. I have heavy and light fabrication equipment and every type of welding you could think of. I can build a custom surface mounted circuit board if I wanted to.
On occasion have used it all.

But on a DIY home improvement forum I’m not about to suggest someone cut out their ceramic tiles using a half million dollar CNC water jet machine just because I have access to one. Or polish their project to a micro finish on a extrude hone polishing machine. Or thousand other similar commercial processes they don’t have access to. And I wouldn’t advise that it’s not worth doing without such equipment or materials.

I didn’t think I would ever be defending an apron store as I grew up in the days of neighborhood hardware stores and handy man shops that would fix things. But in defense of the apron stores. I know they have more than their share of knuckleheads working there stocking shelves and greeting people coming in and checking people out. But around here they hire quite a few retired trade people. I wasn’t that familiar with PEX plumbing a couple years ago and at our home depot I met a guy named Bo that had 40 plus years as a plumber. I don’t know if he needs the money or he just likes using what he knows, but he is my go to guy for plumbing and he spent hours with me helping me with plumbing related questions. The guy in the kitchen area is also great and worked his whole life as a kitchen designer and installer. I also get my fair share of people I’m pretty sure I know way more about what I need than they do and I have even helped other shopper when it looked like they were being given bad advice. Last year I was given very bad advice from an older “expert” on the best way to apply poly to some hardwood floors and ended up with a mess. There are knuckleheads running around calling themselves professional contractors also. They are not all located at the apron stores.

My point has been all along anyone offering advice here needs to do it as complete as they can. If that advice is the best product you need is something you can’t buy or install so I suggest you hire a pro. Then that is solid good advice. It could then be followed up with if you insist on DIY here is the best you can do by going here and buying this and here is how to do it.

I answered a post the other day where a person had a whole house electrical failure. Some others were advising on how to trouble shoot the problem and my suggestion was turn off the main and call the power company and tell them it is an emergency. As it turned out the supply to the house was holding by a thread and it was nothing any DIY should be messing with.

Gary Player gave some good advice to that guy, but he didn’t know for sure maybe the guy did go back and hit 1000’s of balls and turn pro.
I had the privilege of following Arnie around his 2004 Friday round at the Masters and was part of the Army on the 18th green. That was his last Masters round. Also Jack’s but he didn’t make any big deal out of it and let Arnie take the spotlight.

Getting back on topic I still don’t know if floor leveler is going to work a week, month or 50 years as a garage floor?
 
typically slc's ( self-leveling cements ) are not a final finish floor surface but, rather, good support for that selected final surface - engineered wood, tile, etc

our local apron/vest stores sell stuff that's appealing to their customers in general - there's always a good inventory of basic stuff,,, when it comes to needing mtls they don't stock, 1 has to do some investigating of probably sources,,, in my experience, that extra effort's largely lacking from the typical diy'er

we don't disagree :beer:
 
So just for my own future knowledge, the product (LevelQuik) sold at home depot and intended for underlayment between sub flooring and carpet,tile, wood flooring and such is also a good product to finish a garage floor with subjected to heavy vehicles and such and can be covered in epoxy coat and stand the test of time?
Also that is a preferred to the only other DIY product I could find (Rapid Set Cement All) for skim coating?

The reason being the Cement All has sand in it and leaves a sandy surface. ????

To Stadry above post that DIYers won’t look beyond the products they can readily buy at apron stores. I don’t quite agree I often look beyond what they sell but in most cases it is all but imposable to buy the commercial grade product unless you know someone in that trade that will do you a favor or buy a massive amount of the product. It’s not that I don’t know I’m getting ripped off buying at the apron store on some of this stuff but a homeowner DIYer is limited in how to get the product and most of the cost is having the apron store carry the inventory for when I need a small amount of it.

This is a DIY forum and everyone appreciates the pros that offer their time here helping but giving suggestions for products that can’t be had doesn’t help anyone.

Laurentj23 I’m not quite seeing that much improvement in the before and after photos of your floor. I’m still seeing a lot of tool marks for a self-leveling product. Did you mix it to be very thin and pour it out and leave it or was it thicker and troweled on or did you tool it after it was setting up? I’m not critiquing your work just trying to understand your process.

The tool marks is because of the cement all that I used prior to the leveling kit. It makes the surface rougher and uneven. At this time I've spent a lot of time and money to get a concrete grinder and grind it again. So what I did was just lay the leveling kit on top of it. Overall Im satisfied and learnt a lot. I ask another guy, who build houses on his day off, and he also suggested leveling kit.

As far as durability goes, Im not sure. I haven't driven my car in there yet. Epoxy suggested to wait 2 weeks before putting the car in. Stadry is a pro, he might know where to get the materials. But all I know is, they are not a cheap products. I didn't expect to spend 500 bucks. So make an account of that prior to starting yours.

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Cement All has fine aggregate but shouldn't leave a sandy surface IF its properly mixed, placed, & finished,,,

OK. Just to clarify which products are you referring to?
This is the one I use that cause the sandy surface
http://www.ctscement.com/rapid-set-cement-all-2/. If this is the one you are referring to, than how do you mix it, placed it and finished it properly? I followed the instructions to the dot.
Or you're referring to this product which HD don't carry http://www.ctscement.com/levelflor/
You're in ATL right? maybe you can refer me to a place to get the right materials since Im bat 1 hr NW of you.
 
And for those of you who want to DIY here's what I did from start to end. 2 weeks roughly.

1. Watch a lot of youtube videos. Learnt from it and of course go to this forum and ask the pro for advice.
2. Pressure wash the floor with concrete cleaner. Min of 3200 psi. $78 to rent and $12 for cleaner at HD.
3. My surface is uneven since they are bult right from the slab, so I used a concrete grinder $ 128 from HD. Let it dry for 2 days.
4.I bought 4 different type of surfacer. A) regular concrete the cheapest one $4 B)Quikrete resurfacer from Lowes $30~. C) Cement all from HD $20. D)Levelquik From HD $30X 6 bags
5. Use a squeeze and level the surface out and let it dry for 2 days
6. I made a mistake and bought the epoxy kit 2.5 garage floor $99. It didn't cover my whole 2 car garage. Just buy the epoxy paint from Behr and be done with it. $35 a can. I ended have to buy another 1 car garage kit to match the same color. Epoxy seal don't sell it individually. $78.
7. Read and watch the instruction video and start painting.

Total cost abt $500. Should have called sta dry and let the pro do it as it cost abt the same and probably a bit more with painting.
 
I'm curious to know if the Levelquik was the right stuff for the job. After all, if it's supposed to level the floor, then the rough surface should have been no problem. Do you think the product worked poorly or do you think the application wasn't thick enough, or what??
 
I'm guessing not thick enough. I've used that product with good results and mine was a pretty thin skim over a couple thousand square feet in a restaurant that we acid stained, turned out pretty good and has held up great for a few years now.
 
when resurfacing, we use brooms, magic trowels, & 4' squeegees for finishing than regular trowels,,, resurfacer's $45b & covers 200+sf @ 1/8",,, naturally it can be feather-edged & color pigment added,,, we don't use wtr-based epoxies UNLESS someone specs them which occasionally happens,,, owners often think they're smarter than artisans who do the work,,, this affliction also affects some engineers but more often architects,,, don't ask about h/o's
 
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I'm curious to know if the Levelquik was the right stuff for the job. After all, if it's supposed to level the floor, then the rough surface should have been no problem. Do you think the product worked poorly or do you think the application wasn't thick enough, or what??

The reason it's is rough is because I laid the cement all product and lay on top of it. I don't feel like renting a concrete grinder to take that cement all product. At this point, I'm ready to be done. And yes. It's pretty thick.

And the next project will be painting the driveway and seal it with blacktop . Any recommended materials? Before I spent more money and it don't work?
 
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we don't use wtr-based epoxies UNLESS someone specs them which occasionally happens,,, owners often think they're smarter than artisans who do the work,,, this affliction also affects some engineers but more often architects,,, don't ask about h/o's

Are there any reasons for not using water based epoxies?
 
to us, 1 good reason is their low abrasion resistance which translates into short service life & less traction mainly caused by the thinness at which they ' lie '

ps - paint a driveway THEN seal it ? what're you smoking ? we all need to speak the same language - what're you talkin' about ?
 
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