as you who have seen the shop area before, it is now much expanded, we are waiting for another lift to be installed and then will refinish the floor, we are between epoxy and concrete polishing. Please does anyone have an opinion on either method?Click to view attachment

We have polished and stained concrete throughout the lower level of our house, including the garage. We love the look but in the garage, I have acid damage and oil staining because the acrylic sealer that was recommended to us by the contractor was not durable enough to protect the concrete. There must be good clear epoxy sealers out there but I've been pretty disappointed following the advice of our local "pros". It's hard to beat the look of stained concrete if you can protect it.

thank you very much for the feedback Brent

From the looks of your picture you will need to shot bead the floor to remove the old epoxy. If you go with the concrete polishing they will grind the floor and may charge a premium because the epoxy could clog there grinding stones. I like the epoxy floors because of more light reflecting and a cleaner look. Plus when you drop a small part or screw you find it faster. Not sure about how the floor will hold up with welding splatter. I'll ask my epoxy guy and the guys we use for the Five Below stores we build.

I will say epoxy does not hold up to welding. No idea how I would know

We have at least 32 shops in our environment we are in transition from epoxy to polished concrete. Why, because epoxy starts to look like crap after a few months of the heavy use we give it. We would repaint the epoxy floors every summer during shut down.

I do love the look of clean epoxy floors.

Floor in my shop, epoxy 20 years, I have thousands of little burn marks all over it, some places more than others. It looks like crap, and I find myself wanting to clean it all the time. Especially if I get a bit of brake fluid, or some sort of cleaner on a spot. Rest of the floor looks like crap. The clean spot stands out like a magnesium fire in a cloud covered lunar eclipse field.

My old shop was polished concrete with a super good sealer. Only issue I had in it, and my garage at the house is when I drop something heavy on it, it will chip the surface. Heavy is like a big piece of plate steel. Or I did weld some heavy plate in one spot, and popped the surface, due to the heat load. That is not a sealer or epoxy issue, that is a concrete reaction to loads of heat. If you just lightly drop out of your car or a tool off the ladder, the tool takes more abuse than the floor coating. I would go back to sealed concrete in a heart beat if I could.

Dropped hardware? My epoxy is so dirty with burn marks you have lost that ability, I take a flash light, shine the beam across the floor, and lost hardware will cast a shadow. Found it, done.

Great looking shop for your collector cars, interesting, I would come visit if close but am far. How about just giving the floor a real good cleaning every year or two?

thank all of you for your advice

Do you happen to know what that sealer was? I have hopes of building a proper shop and would still like to go with concrete if I know I have a good sealer.

If you are pouring a new concrete floor and you want durable go with a higher strength mix not your residential 3000 PSI. Go with a 4000 mix and don’t have the guys add a shit load of water to make it easier to move around. Also make sure it’s a steel trowel what they call a burn finish. There are also additives and coatings when finishing to give a stronger wearable surface. Chipping etc is because of lower strength concrete or surface water during finishing.

I work in garage facilities that are mostly epoxy. Epoxy Holds up fine but does need spot maintenance about every 4 years or so from large heavy objects that drop on it and chip it. Sealer still chips but isn’t as noticeable.

My personal garage floor was done 23 years ago with 2 part epoxy and still is decent but I’d love to redo it if it didn’t involve moving everything out 1st.

No coating is going to hold up to a drop of 2700F drop of molten metal so I wouldn’t use that as a basis for decision. Clear sealer may show the burn less but it will be there.

Hi George. It looks like things are going well. When was the last time you took a vacation?

Epoxy looks great, cleans up nicely, and is easy to move things around on. But it can be scratched or gouged, and burns easily with weld or grind splatter. And without material added to make it rough, it is slippery as hell when wet.

After several less than satisfied experiences with epoxy, I decided to try a penetrating sealer (PS101) on my latest garage. It was easy to apply, and has performed great: true seal so spills clean up and do not stain, no burns from welding, as hard as the concrete itself (maybe harder), and not slippery. It does not have the sexy look of epoxy but I am past that.

Likely not legal for a commercial shop and/or recommended use, but I have a couple friends who have ceramic tile floors.
They bought the tile on sale and both bought a couple extra boxes in case they break a tile.

Please what is a "vacation"?

When one is surrounded by these many 914s and 914 parts and 914 repairs and "fixuips" every day is a vacation here for me! (of course my dear wife does not understand it at all and asks if I am ever going to retire, like other people my age and "enjoy life"! LOL

I actually think that the mercedes dealer here has a ceramic floor. The epoxy just has never, like everyone says, lasted, and starts to look like hell after is chips a few times. I see all of the grocery stores not polishing the concrete, that is why I was thinking bout doing it.

Why would tile be illegal? I’ve seen it in some high end shops. Ferrari has their own special tile that’s used on the factory floor.

I think it’s commercial grade porcelain that is the really tough stuff.

Slip hazard?

Here they don't recommend it due to freeze cracking. I've thought about doing it in my shop but I'm way too hard on my floor.

The right porcelain tile is harder than concrete and slip resistant. Its not at Home Depot but definitely available.

good to know, I THINK that for sure the mercedes dealership around the corner has tile. I am going to go over there monday and look at it in the flesh, would certainly be an easier solution than grinding all of this old paint off

I’m no flooring expert but I bet you need to grind off the paint no matter what you install.