One of the pipedream projects I have on my list is epoxy the garage floor. In a perfect world, I'd have a cool design, like maybe the Bears logo or just a cool color combo. In reality, I would go with a simple tan color for this garage since it isn't likely to be our forever house.
I might have missed the window to do it this year, but I'm slightly hopeful now that an opportunity has presented itself. Nightingale has to go visit her sister for a family project and that means her car will be gone all weekend. It would have been better last weekend weatherwise, but then again who wants to paint a garage floor when the weather is so beautiful.
There are two things that I need to figure out first to see if it is worth doing. First, I have a crack to fill. There are lots of small cracks that the epoxy will mask, but the bigger ones do require patching.
Second, I have this strange residue in one corner. It looks like something spilled and then someone left a cardboard box on it for years and then finally ripped up the cardboard with just a thin layer of paper left behind. Over the years I half heartedly tried to remove it with varying degrees of luck. I swear I found something once that dissolved it but had to get going to work, forgot about it and now it's gone from my memory of what I used.
If I cannot get the majority of it off, it doesn't make sense to paint because the epoxy won't adhere properly. I have been making progress with paint spirits and elbow grease so we shall see. I'm hoping I can get it to a point where a good power washing will remove all the the microscopic remains.
The typical process is more or less the following:
- empty garage (easiest to do when at least one car is out of the picture)
- power wash it (might hire pro for that)
- patch any holes or cracks in the foundation
- clean with degreaser
- etch
- paint
All with a not insignificant amount of time in between. Since this is a first go and not our forever home, I've given myself permission to do only a decent job i.e. not F it up for the next owner. So I won't be doing two coats of epoxy and no clear coat.
Today's I'm going to patch the cracks and let it set for two days. According to the instructions, you typically patch and then as soon as the patch has set, you clean, etch and paint. But I want to see how much one container of patching compound gets me so that I can decide if I need to order more or not.
If the patching looks good and the strange residue is removed, I'll empty the garage on Thursday after Nightingale leaves for work. I can have a crew come and power wash it. That means I can do the degreasing and maybe the etching on Friday. Unfortuantely, Moose and Squirrel are home from school on Friday, but luckily, they are friends with the kids down the street so I can send them there for a few hours.
That means I should be able to start painting on Saturday. It's typically 24 hours before you can walk on it and 72 before you can put things back including your car. Nightingale gets back Sunday afternoon evening but a day or two in the driveway won't kill us.
On another note: On this day 6 years ago, I sold my condo. And they money that went to that mortgage started going to daycare.
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