The Garage Floor You’ve Dreamt Of

It’s easier than you think…

When we moved into this home, the entire thing needed updated- including the smelly, moldy, oil stained garage floor. While our list of projects was long and wide, after many days of having to enter and exit my house via this smell, dingy, unhappy space, I couldn’t take it anymore. The garage floor had to get a makeover.

We bought this house sight unseen, and knew there’d be some things we didn’t love about it, but nothing that was a deal breaker. One of those things that I was truly bummed this house did not have though was a mudroom. After many minutes sitting and staring at this old garage, I decided it was time for a refresh and to create a space that was clean and fresh in addition to functional as our mudroom. While our garage mudroom build out is a blog post for a later day, creating a beautiful foundation to build out on was our first order of business.

Enter: Operation Garage Floor Epoxy.

Now I had looked into services that do this and in the midst of us formulating a garage floor plan, my sister actually had hers professionally epoxied for approximately $5K. Knowing we had an entire house to remodel, but also having a desire to DIY almost anything we could, we knew we could epoxy our garage floor and for a lot less. Besides, there really wasn’t any risk, considering the terrible condition the garage floor currently was in. Whatever result we got, it was going to be better than what was there and WOW! It exceeded all expectations!

Let the research begin…

After doing some research on DIY epoxy floor kits, we landed on the Rust-Oleum Rocksolid Polycuramine Garage Floor Coating in the high gloss, modern greige color. We chose this kit because the Polycuramine formula is touted for being significantly more durable than the EpoxyShield. I will say, one kit did not cover the square footage it states, so we did end up using two kits. (worth it in my opinion) While it wasn’t ideal, we wanted the stronger finish and $500 on an epoxied garage floor was still very affordable! While a little pricier, I am very happy that we chose this kit. It gave the high end finished look that we wanted on our garage floor.

Let’s Begin!

To start, we needed to clear out the entire garage and give the garage floor a good power wash. It was a pretty dark and dingy space, so even just getting it cleared out and washing the floor made a massive difference. We have a Ryobi Electric Power Washer that we’ve used for other projects and absolutely love it. It’s small, light weight and not terribly loud like the gas powered ones can be-HIGHLY recommend!

Once we got the floor cleaned, we had to let the floor dry really well. ANY sort of moisture can cause the epoxy to not cure correctly, so this was a VERY important step.

The Concrete Saver

You may not have to do this step if your concrete is in good condition. For us, we had spots where the concrete was spalling, which just means it was deteriorating. To fix this, we used Quickrete fast Setting Concrete mix, which worked great. It was easy to mix and settled nicely for us to be able to finish it with the epoxy. Later on, I discovered a Rust-Oleum Concrete saver for spalling. If I did this again, I would probably use this to keep the product brand cohesive.

Alright, concrete repaired, floor cleaned- let the party begin! Honestly, for me, it was really fun applying this kit. I have always wanted a nice garage and this was a major step in creating a beautiful space.

The next step is etching. The kit supplied the etching kit. This is a VERY important step as this is what prepares the concrete and creates a surface that the epoxy will stick to like glue. Using the concrete etch provided, I mixed it with water in a watering can and made sure it was mixed really well. Working in 4 quadrants, I applied the etch to our garage floor. Using a garage shop brush, I then scrubbed the heck out of that floor; I was determined to have a garage floor that looked professionally applied. After a good scrub- we made sure everything got a good rinse and used a squeegee to remove any pooling and excess water.

Once the floor was dry from the etching, it was time for the fun part. The directions are very straightforward and easy to understand, something I appreciated and loved about this Rust-Oleum kit. Something else I really appreciate about this kit, was the ease and messless setup. When epoxying, it requires a base and an activator to be mixed. Many kits have these in separate containers, which you then have to mix. In this kit though, both paints are in the same pouch and all you have to do is give the burst pouch a squeeze and a good shake- all nicely contained in its pouch- no mess and no mixing required.

Using this mixed pouch, we poured it into a roller tray. Using a paint brush, Joe cut in the edges as I followed him, rolling the epoxy onto the garage floor the same way you would roll on paint. Working in about 4×4 sections, we would roll on the epoxy and then sprinkle the colored chips onto the freshly rolled surface. **DO NOT GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF! It’s easy to get excited and go to town rolling. However, this will make it impossible to evenly distribute the paint chips. Once you finish applying the epoxy and chips, you should wait 1-3 days before driving on it.

The Final Verdict

All in all, this process was VERY easy and I would absolutely do it again. We did this entire project in a weekend and it was very doable for all skill levels. With just a few supplies, we were able to transform our garage into a beautiful space for $600. Two years later, there’s no wear or tear—this Rust-Oleum Rocksolid floor has handled snow, salt, and even dropped hammers. We absolutely love it!

What We Used to Transform Our Garage

• Rust-Oleum Rocksolid Garage Floor Kit
• Ryobi Electric Power Washer
• Quikrete Fast Setting Concrete Mix
• Garage Shop Brush
• Garage Floor Squeegee

Want a quick step-by-step guide to DIY your own garage floor epoxy?
Click here for our easy tutorial.

Affiliate Disclosure:
Fauxtalian Living is reader-supported. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links — at no extra cost to you. As always, I only share products I truly love and would use in my own home.