Garage flooring: concrete floor: tiles? resin? leveling compound?

Hello,

my 54m² garage has a concrete floor and I would like to smooth and seal it so that meltwater does not destroy the concrete over the years in winter. I have attached two pictures of the current condition. There is a 2 cm gap up to the wall panels. There is no slope.

For the floor, I have the following requirements:
- long durability (loads: rolling jack, motorcycle stand, oil, gasoline)
- waterproof
- installation possible as DIY
- low cost
- preferably little work during installation
- preferably fast drying or installation time

What options are there?

Thanks!
Marius

Search for Wasserglas here in the forum, there are already threads about it…

I have come up with the following plan:
1. Cleaning and vacuuming
2. Priming with Tiefengrund (toom.de/p/tiefengrund-transparent-10-l/8211813)
3. Applying floor leveling compound (toom.de/p/bodenausgleichsmasse-20-kg/2350352)
4. Applying epoxy floor coating

Is that okay?

Hello Markus.
I completely agree with you on points 1-3.
However, for the processing of epoxy resins, basic knowledge as well as the appropriate tools (including basket mixer and spiked roller) are necessary.
From a cost perspective, this is not the cheapest solution. But the best, of course.
However, with EP resins, the yellowing effect (purely optical, but usually undesired) should be taken into account.
After the preliminary work according to 1-3, I would choose a concrete paint.
That sounds "cheap," but technically that is not the case!
Two coats with intermediate drying, use clean footwear, and apply the second coat within 24 hours.
That would definitely be a good alternative to the EP coating.
The resin currently costs around 120,--€ per small container, and it is questionable whether a large part would then have to be disposed of unused.
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Good luck: KlaRa

Sealing, yes, but done right. I was lucky that our neighbor is a professional painter specializing in underground garage coatings, so he stopped me from many bad ideas and coated our garage. Yes, sealing makes sense to prevent water from getting in. But: too smooth is also bad, especially in winter it quickly becomes too slippery! One of his clients had his garage simply sealed smooth, then drove his SUV in during winter and went right through the back wall. So: the coating must be rough but you still have to be able to wipe it. Likewise, the coating must stay on the floor and not stick to the tire when the car is parked for a longer period — unfortunately, this is a classic problem. First, the concrete must be absolutely dry. If the garage is brand new, that is usually not the case. To be safe, cover it with cling film and check if anything condenses. You can’t put joints on the left here, so search for "Sto Verkehrsflächenbeschichtung"; I used that in the garage with glass beads for slip resistance. Summer, winter, vintage car parked for a long time, accidentally spinning tires of the same car, saltwater, oil stains, wiping down, all perfect. In public underground garages, they use different grit, which is like sandpaper, but you don’t want that for private use.

Can you please write which product you specifically used? There are quite a few products from Sto for traffic areas…