My brother-in-law from Boise said something about garage floors that got me thinking

He was helping me move a tool chest and pointed out how my old concrete floor had a bunch of hairline cracks. He said, 'You know, sealing that before you put down any epoxy would save you a ton of headaches later.' I'd always planned to just clean and coat it. Has anyone here actually sealed their floor first, and did it make a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lucas2d ago

My buddy Dave in Toledo skipped the sealer on his garage floor last year. He put the epoxy right over some small cracks like you mentioned. By winter, the whole coating had these white lines under it from moisture coming up. He had to grind it all off and start over, which cost him double the time and money. His contractor told him a basic acrylic sealer would have locked those cracks down. Now he swears by doing that step first, says it's cheap insurance.

leo_harris2d ago

Yeah, moisture coming up is the real killer. My neighbor did something like what the_lucas described, but with a shed floor. He used that roll-on rubber coating over concrete that felt a little damp. It bubbled up in patches within months, looked like a bad skin rash. He ended up pressure washing it off and just leaving the plain concrete.