Garage Flooring Resurfacing: Fix a Pitted Garage Floor

Special concrete resurfacers will brand a physical flooring look like new

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Time

Multiple Days

Complication

Beginner

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

Restore a pitted physical garage floor with an easy-to-utilize resurfacing production. Information technology'll make the flooring look fresh and new again at a modest price.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Concrete cleaner
  • Concrete crevice sealer
  • Resurfacer

Projection step-by-pace (10)

Step ane

Results to expect

If your slab is suffering from low self-esteem considering of pits, craters or cracks, you can cover upward those scars. Concrete "resurfacer" is a cement-based coating that forms a smooth, new surface right over the quondam concrete. The cost of resurfacer for a ii-car garage is typically less than $200. You'll also need to buy or rent some special tools, then wait your total cost to be virtually $300 for this how to resurface concrete project.

Cleaning and resurfacing the floor ordinarily takes i twenty-four hours (on the other hand, clearing out your garage so y'all tin work may have weeks!). Spreading the resurfacer smoothly is the trickiest part of the project, so information technology helps to have some experience with physical or drywall finishing. Absurd weather condition, with temps in the 60s, too helps. Warmer atmospheric condition makes resurfacer harden faster, reducing the time you have to finish the surface.

Every bit a first-timer, you might achieve a perfectly smooth, flat stop. Or y'all might terminate up with a few rough spots and pocket-sized ridges. But even if your work is far from flawless, you'll still make a bad floor wait much better. And recall this: If y'all brand some major mistakes, you tin add together a 2nd coat—this time with the benefit of experience.

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Footstep 2

Purchase the materials

Resurfacer

We used Quikrete Concrete Resurfacer (about $20 for 40 lbs.). Similar products, such every bit Sakrete Flo-Coat, are available. Buy enough to resurface the whole floor. To estimate the amount yous demand, cheque the label and then buy two or three extra containers. Better to return some than to run out earlier the task's done.

Plastic sheeting

Plastic

Protect walls with a band at least iii ft. high. Nosotros used half dozen-mil plastic, but lighter stuff will work too.

Brush and push broom

broom

A stiff brush designed for stripping decks and mounted on a handle (shown) volition keep yous off your knees ($ten). So will a push broom; go a button broom with the stiffest bristles y'all can observe.

Squeegee

Squeegee

Become a beefy version designed for floors, not a lightweight window-cleaning tool. A quality squeegee will requite y'all ameliorate results and is worth the price ($30 to $45).

Mixing equipment

A powerful 1/2-in. drill and a mixing attachment ($12) are the but way to get. Mixing by hand is too slow.

Protective gear

gear

Rubber boots and gloves protect your skin against the degreaser and resurfacer (which tin burn down skin). You'll also demand centre and hearing protection. Yous'll demand a pressure level washer, concrete cleaner (such as Quikrete Concrete & Stucco Wash No. 8601-fifteen; at home centers), a castor, push broom and a floor squeegee. Buy plenty concrete resurfacer material (such as Quikrete Concrete Resurfacer; 40-lb. bags) to coat the entire floor. Refer to the coverage specs on the bag to decide how many bags you lot need.

Everything you lot'll need for this project is bachelor at dwelling house centers. Aside from basic tools like a hammer and chisel, buckets and a steel trowel, you'll need:

    • Resurfacer
    • Plastic sheeting
    • Concrete cleaner
    • Stiff, long-handle brush or push broom
    • Pressure washer
    • Duster
    • Mixing equipment
    • Protective gear

Footstep 3

Make clean the slab and fill deep holes and cracks

Outset with a clean floor

Scrub with a concrete degreaser and a strong brush, and then follow upwardly with a force per unit area washer. Rinse twice to remove all residue.

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Step v

Remove the loose stuff

Chisel away any loose fragments along cracks or craters; there's no demand to bust away physical that'south firmly attached.

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Stride 6

Concrete Floor Patch: Fill cracks, craters, divots and pits

Mix upwardly a stiff batch of resurfacer, using just plenty water for a workable consistency. Scrape off the excess then repairs are flush with the surrounding floor.

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Footstep 7

Create a dam

dam

Glue weather strip to the floor exactly where the garage door rests. This will stop resurfacer from flowing onto the driveway. The cleaner the concrete, the better the resurfacer will stick. First with a thorough sweeping. If y'all take oil spots to clean, scrub them with a deck castor and physical cleaner. Once yous've removed the stains, apply cleaner to the whole slab with the castor. Then fire up the pressure washer (Photo one). First in the back of the garage and work your way to the front, forcing the excess h2o out the overhead doorway.

Important: If yous notice that the cleaner doesn't soak into the concrete just just beads up into droplets on the surface, you have a sealer over the concrete that you'll need to remove. In that instance, apply a stripper first to remove the sealer, then clean.

When the slab is clean, observe and mark the deep (1/iv in. or deeper) pits and divots (Photo 2). Look for any pieces of concrete that the sprayer may have loosened. Scrap these abroad (Photo three) and collect the droppings every bit you go, sweeping it into a dustpan with an erstwhile paintbrush. Now'due south the time to make full these cracks, divots and pits. Mix some resurfacer to a mashed potato-like consistency and push the mix into the cracks. Smoothen information technology with a cement trowel flush with the surrounding surface (Photo four).

If you have expansion joints cut into the existing slab, push a weather strip into the joint. This will maintain the joint and give you a convenient time to stop and take a interruption. Apply and smooth no more than 150 sq. ft. of resurfacer at a time for the best results. You can glue a length of conditions strip to the slab to define a stopping point if you don't accept a control joint and so continue from that edge once you've smoothed the first section.

For a nice-looking finished edge under the overhead door, we applied a heavy-duty vinyl weather strip (Photo v) that nosotros picked up at a local dwelling center. Only be sure to dry out the slab along the location with a hairdryer so your adhesive will piece of work properly.

Step 8

Mix and spread the resurfacer

Mix similar mad

Mix

Recruit a helper to mix the resurfacer while you spread it. The material begins to stiffen speedily, so the faster you lot go it all mixed and applied, the improve your results.

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Pace 9

Spread it smoothen, and then permit information technology prepare

Spread

Spread from the heart of the pool. Button the squeegee forward under moderate pressure to work the resurfacer into the physical and forcefulness information technology into pores and pits. So elevate information technology back to eliminate edge ridges and to smooth the coating. Continue spreading until you get even coverage. Aim for a thickness of 1/eight in. When you've covered the whole floor, let it cure for 24 hours before you drive on it. This is the time to recruit a helper. You'll need ane person to mix and some other to spread resurfacer. Take 2 minutes to read the directions before mixing. The key to a polish, lump-gratis mix is to let the resurfacer 'slake,' that is, sit in the bucket for a few minutes after the initial mixing. And then mix a flake more than (Photo 6). It's likewise good to have a slat of woods on hand to scrape the sides of the bucket as you mix.

Saturate the concrete with water so employ a broom to push out any puddles from the pitted areas or low spots. The physical should be damp when you apply the resurfacer, but not moisture to the impact. Pour the mix into a pool on the slab and immediately spread it (Photo 7). Piece of work quickly and carefully, blending each stroke into the previous one until you lot go a nice, compatible look. Smooth the resurfacer along the side walls by pulling the squeegee toward you. As yous accomplish the edge of the door atmospheric condition strip, use your steel trowel to gently blend the resurfacer against the atmospheric condition strip. You can remove the excess with the trowel and drop it into a bucket.

To apply a nonslip texture, lightly drag a clean button broom in one direction beyond the still-wet material (allow no more than five minutes of setting time earlier applying the broom finish).

With the slab finished, permit the mix ready up. In hot, dry weather, it's a skilful idea to mist the hardened surface; keeping information technology damp longer will allow the resurfacer to fully harden. After several hours, the finish volition support pes traffic. If the pits yet show, allow the textile prepare and apply a second coat later in the day. But you can stop with i coat if information technology provides proficient coverage.

Depending on the weather, wait at to the lowest degree 24 hours before driving on your newly finished slab. Follow the manufacturer'due south directions for additional hot-weather misting procedures or extra drying time for cool weather. Afterwards a few days of curing, you can utilise a sealer if you'd similar to protect the slab from oil and other stains.

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Step 10

Erase your mistakes

If you lot end up with ridges, shallow craters or squeegee marks, you don't have to alive with them forever. Go to a rental store and hire a physical grinder for about $125 a day. It looks like a flooring polisher, but it grinds downward the surface, removing virtually 1/xvi in. with each wearisome pass. It's a dusty job that might accept all day, just you'll get a much smoother, flatter surface—perfect if y'all want to apply a finish like epoxy paint.

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Originally Published: February 22, 2022