Garage floor coating

[CLASSICPW]

I'm looking for ways to expand my services and one idea I have is laying down the epoxy garage floor coatings. Does anyone have any experience in this? What's involved?

[CLASSICPW]

Oh yeah, what do you charge? Or if you haven't done it before what do you think you'd charge. From what I understand It's a 3 coat process that would probably take 3 separate days.

[Craig]

I do coatings. Talk to Brandon at Concrete Coatings Inc.

www.concretecoatingsinc.com
1-800-443-2871

Your bread and butter will be the modified acrylic cements though for patio, pool deck, driveway, entryways etc.

We charge 4/ft (starting) for acrylics and 5/ft (starting) for epoxies. Then you have crack repair, grinding, buildup, general prep charges etc.

[CLASSICPW]

Thanks Craig

[bforbis]

Craig,
CPW, hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of ???

That looks like a great opportunity! I saw on another post where you had done some work and it looked really good.
I had a customer ask me a few months ago about this very thing and was not sure, but had heard some info about these coatings.

Do you do a lot of this?

How would this hold up to repeated pressure washing/monthly? (ie restaurants, high traffic areas??) I know it would vary

[Jim Carroll]

[IMG][/IMG]this is one that was really bad when we started

[Craig]

Brent,

It's the perfect solution and makes you a well rounded company. A contractor's license may be needed in your area. Here in CA, laws are very stiff and you really need to know your stuff.

Like I said above, contact CCI. The school is minimal and you can see first hand what's involved.

[tropical wave]

Craig, or anybody else that would know, how would the coatings for patios and walks hold up and would the longevity be same up here in the frozen tundra...???

could expirement on my own first......when the snow and ice melt, Ill grab some pics of my 1 year old cement patio and the horrible condition of the much much older driveway

[Craig]

Ours are supposed to handle the freeze/thaw cycles very well.

[tropical wave]

outstanding.....!! if I can save our driveway, it may be another direction to go into also......i tlooks like someone "skim coated" the surface years ago and its busting up on the surface and I can see the rough "stone" underneath, if that makes any sense...? I may have to look into this, (fixing and sealing) as opposed to having the whole drive replaced....

thanks

[Lou Noble]

Hello There,

I am new to this place and thought i would just put in my thoughts(for what it is worth)

Coatings are overrated... if you really want to set yourself aside from the competitors, get into concrete polishing!! The coatings will wear off due to heavy traffic and such, the polishing of concrete will not only look better but last years longer and climate is not even an issue. Nothing wrong with coatings if that is what your customer wants, but give them the option, of a polish. when they see what can be done 99% of them will want the polish!!!

[Jim Carroll]

The only problem with polishing is 1. the cost to customer, 2. cost of equipment, 3. not good for driveways 4. not all concrete is polishable. Polished concrete is great for a garage. I have a friend that I work together with occasionally that polishes concrete and it looks great if the concrete is hard enough. the coatings that craig and myself are using would have to be on a freeway to wear off. I have some at a supply house that constantly has fork lift traffic and vehicular traffic on it and it has no wear marks on it and it has been down for 2 years.

You can put down coatings with little start up cost unlike buying a polisher and all of the diamonds it takes to do a good job.

[Lou Noble]

Hey Jim,
Here are some facts that are good to know when it comes to concrete. I have been in the stone restoration industry for about 8 years, you would be surprised what can be done.

1)If your customer is too cheap to pay for your service do you really want to be working for that person, they tend to be hard to collect from in general.

2)Most of the guys here have truck mounts that are worth thousands and can only clean a floor, most of you already have swing machines too, all you need is a set of diamonds that pay for themselves after the first couple of uses.

3)Polishing is perfect for driveways(makes the driveway harder so that oil and other stains are easier to clean)

4)You can polish any concrete surface, what kind of concrete are you refering to.

I think one of the problems is that alot of people just dont know all of the things that are possible with concrete. I have worked with granite, marble,travertine,limestone,terrazzo, pavers, brick and all of the other natural and man made stones you can think of!! I have polished concrete floors in my house, i love them they are the best.

Lou

[Craig]

Let's see the pics. I've seen some pretty cool things with the polishing as well. Also engrave-a-crete looks interesting. I'm not here to say one is better than the other, and really I don't care. What I do care about is offering a solution to a customer's problem. Options are good.

Post the pics.

Craig

[JFife]

LOU--

I'd also like to see some more info, whether it be pics of your jobs or a link to distributors/classes for such.

Some of us in the middle of the country are always the last to get into the latest craze, so it is nice to keep abreast of what is out there. Frankly, I've never even heard of concret polishing. Sounds interesting. Don't hear you guys saying much about acid staining?? Is that not popular?? That is the look I like, I've seen it in several restraunts.