Farmhouse Project 1: Rustoleum Garage Paint Results

Rustoleum Garage Paint Epoxy

I have always wanted a nice painted garage floor, but our garage seemed to always be full. So finally with this new house, I have the chance to make the floor look wonderful. I really didn't want to start this big project with the garage because I wanted to use it as my "workshop" as I remodel the house, but since my wife could not bear the smell of smoke (the previous owner smoked in the garage), it couldn't wait.

First step was to make some drywall repairs from past roof leaks, paint the walls and ceiling with 5 gallons of Kilz primer, then 5 gallons of Behr ultra white semi-gloss. 

OK, Now the garage now smells like fresh paint and we can move on to the floor...

So I purchased the "2 1/2 Car Rustoleum Kit" from Home Depot for $99.00 which seemed like a great idea since I have a two-car garage which means I would have plenty. Etching the concrete seemed a bit intimidating because of the harsh chemical which seemed inevitably messy and hard to clean up. However, it was not that difficult and the product lathered easily. While I was at home depot picking up the kit, I picked up a wooden scrub brush for less than $5.00 and used one of my paint extension poles for a scrubber.

Since the concrete was already divided into 4 sections, I worked each section at a time. 

This is the garage after all of the cleaning/etching. You can see I have a few minor cracks and the etching seemed to grab better in some spots more than others. 

It was now time for the Epoxy..Just to set the scene, this was about 10pm on a hot summer evening in the desert, probably still about 85 to 90 degrees outside. I knew that this meant I had to work faster than usual. I mixed the two products together then immediately started on my footing wall around the perimeter with a brush. I later learn that the product MUST sit for 45 min in order to properly integrate. (It kind of did because it took a while to apply the paint on the footing wall.  

I worked in about 4' sections and then applied the flakes. We first tried sprinkling the flakes on, but my wife and I were not very good at making it look consistent. I then found that when I threw it down in a side motion (like pitching a baseball). I would get a more consistent look. As I finished my first 1/4 of the concrete, I noticed some overlapping lines from my roller. It seemed that it was drying a little too fast, but I couldn't quite tell.  No big deal I thought. The paint is not completely dry and it will look better in the morning...

I had just enough paint to finish the garage including the little footing wall around the perimeter. The instructions stated that it only needed one coat so I was happy. 

Since we have a lot of bugs and cockroaches, I decided to put a piece of tape upside down at the doorway which proved to be a very effective method to keep the bugs from coming in. 

Well....Here is what it looked the next morning. I was very disappointed. I had thin spots (flashing in the painting world) all over and it looked terrible.

You can see where the paint took better in some places than others. It may be attributed to how the etching grabbed better in some placed than others. 

Up close it didn't look bad. 

Well, for sure, it looked like the floor really actually needed a 2nd coat. So I called the Rustoleum phone number on the box and explained my situation. After 15 min of assuring the rep that I did follow all of the instructions (she kept insisting that I did not let the product "sit" long enough to bond together before starting). She offered for me to purchase additional paint. So I did the process again.

The 2nd coat looked great! The floor looked consistent (other than imperfections in the concrete itselft). I am happy that Rustoleum would perform great business ethics.