Hi, I really need your help. I'm doing some painting in my backroom, in my basement, on the floor. In looking up prices on painting the backroom floor, in the basement. It's about $0.50 to $1 per sqft from what I can see. It's about 100sqft with some odd shapes and the area equipment removed from the sum (eg water heater, sump pump, hvac). My nephew had to learn how to do this for this job, which meant I had to learn too, step by step talking to each manufacturer, store personnel etc as he was with me listening as I asked the questions, we both listened. So essentially I had to instruct him even after this pretty much exactly what to do and over see much of this. He is in late 20's. So far we are 1/2 through it. He has etched it, and the next step is painting it. The first part took 5 hours buying and 4.5 hours to etch using acid to make the concrete porous. The next step is two costs of paint. on the floor, It's already bought. My nephew will have to do the trim and then roll the paint, and then do another coat. He has experience in painting so that part should not take that much time, maybe 3 hours then some dry time and then the last coat and then clean up. So I look at this as a learning experience but I want to be fair paying. Any guidance? hp

I just looked at my friends garage - he used the Quickreet. Looked great. The only thing I did not like is that he went light on the sprinkles and it showed the imperfections in the concrete finish. I am going to use heavier sprinkles. I decided to go with the Behr 2 part expoxy product - you can find that in HD. I just finished the etching - paint will go down tomorrow. I picked it because there is no wait time after mixing and the kit has everything you need to apply the paint - pan, roller and brush. It is about 10 bucks more than the Rustoleum kit. It does not include gloves rated for chemicals - you need to buy those seperately. The Quickrete 2 part product must be mixed - then wait for 30 minutes before applying. One thing to keep in mind - if the prodcut package says it will cover 200 to 250 square feet use the lower number when figuring how many packages you will need. If you plan on painting the exterior part of the garage floor - make sure that your product is rated for exterior. The Behr 2 part expoxy is interior only - so I need to use the 1 part acrylic product to deal with those exterior areas. I also plan to use a Behr concrete primer just on the exterior area since it will be exposed to the elements. The etcher/clear is acid so my guess is that it will burn the sealer you have on the driveway. It is nasty stuff - make sure you wear long pants and long sleves, use chemical rated gloves and wear eye protection. Use shoes that can be trashed. Wear long socks and a hat. Good luck.

Hi Everyone, I have a question regarding the floor of my garage. I am in the process of re-painting it with Behr 1-Part Epoxy Acrylic Concrete and Garage Floor Paint. What I would like to do is once the painting is complete put down a rubber floor tile and cover the entire floor. My question is should I put down some sort of vapor barrier between the concrete and the rubber tiles ? During the summer on humid days the garage floor will tend to get humid and I have noticed condensation on the floor. I do not want to have mold develop underneath the tiles. The goal is to have this become an office/workshop/recording studio. It is a two car garage and I will also be parking 1 car in the space. any advice would be extremely helpful. Thanks

Thanks for the responses! @live_wire_oak, I think I can safely be classified as a masochistic gloss floor lover! It's not the least bit unusual here for people to remove their shoes upon entering a home and that would definitely be my rule. I have a dining room and an eat in kitchen where all glops will be relegated to. Neither of those rooms will have the glossy wood floors. If it gets a glossy as I want, I will wear a bib to handle my drooling. I will check out a flooring store for that piano finished flooring, though! @JFCWood, that is an excellent point about the wood expanding and contracting. I hadn't thought of that. Is there an oil-modified poly that you would recommend? @gregmills, the sample idea is another good one! What I think I'm going to do is buy a sample of a couple of the recommended ones, buy some salvaged flooring and have at it to see what it looks like in person. It was also suggested that I look into whatever marine products are used on boat decks so I will investigate that as well.