RUST BULLETfor Concrete - Metallic Gray - 1 Quart - High-Performance, Easy-To-Apply Concrete Paint for Garages, Basements, Porches, and Patios

This paint works great on my garage floor. It's a water vapor-curing polyurethane, not epoxy. It's smooth, is easy to sweep and has a pleasing gray sheen.Rust Bullet was developed originally to attach to rust chemically for application to very large projects like bridges and ships. Someone must have spilled some on a concrete floor and found it was impossible to remove.It has superior adhesion and a much higher heat capacity. Hot tires will not lift the film off the concrete. Also, you don't have to etch or grind to concrete like you have with epoxy.The urethane hardens by combining with water in the air. For that reason, you cannot apply if it's raining or if the humidity and temperature are too high.I rolled the paint onto my garage floor in approximately 7-1/2 foot squares using the expansion joints as borders. You must apply at least two coats and you cannot let the first coat fully cure before applying the second coat because the urethane cures to such a hard smooth surface that the second coat won't adhere and you need to sand it to rough it up a bit.So the technique is to apply the first coat and wait about two hours, then apply the second coat. If you can walk on the slightly tacky first coat in socks without picking up any paint, it's ready to apply the second coat.Application:I used a 9" roller with a 3/8" nap, but applied way too much product at first. Roll it on very thin. The product does not "level" itself. If it's rough when you apply, it will cure rough. Do not cross roll left and right on the final stroke. On the final pass before moving to the next square, stroke the entire area in one direction. To do this, pick up the roller, drop it at the top of your work square and pull the roller gently and slowly to you. Pick up the roller, move three quarters of a roller to the right, drop it at the top and pull it back to yourself. Do not push the roller away or you will see a different sheen. There is aluminum powder in the formula and if you mess up your technique, you will definitely see a pattern difference. The manufacturers call the technique "backrolling." Don't overfill the roller so you don't apply too much.By the time I got to the front of the garage my technique was down and the job came out smooth and even. The back of the garage, where I started, is stippled and quite rough. Fortunately, it's not easily seen as the areas by the big door, so I'm putting up with it for now. I'm planning on sand it smooth and applying a third coat someday.Spraying the material would lay the ideal surface down, but be aware you need to wear a respirator and open the doors for ventilation even if you roll it. Spraying it would put even more into the air. A really good high volume/low pressure gun or the proper airless would probably work, but the stuff needs special thinner to clean up, so I opted for a roller I could simply throw away.You need to stir often as the powdered aluminum starts to sink to the bottom. Give yourself plenty of time. I started too late in the afternoon and with my careful rolling taking much longer than I anticipated and adding the 90-120 minute wait time between coats, I didn't finish until about 2 AM.I applied the Rust Bullet to virgin concrete in a new home. The concrete had cured about a year and was very clean -- not oily or even driven on much. I ran a strip of 2" masking tape around the base of the walls. It was high enough that no paint got on the wall.After researching many floor options -- including interlocking squares, floating plastic, peel and stick vinyl, 12" vinyl commercial floor tile and others -- Rust Bullet was the least expensive and easiest to apply. It also allows for the expansion joints.I filled the joints after the Rust Bullet cured with  Sika Corporation 106711 Self Leveling Sealant, 29-Ounce, Gray , after stuffing some 1/4" backer rod (  1/4" Closed Cell Backer Rod - 100 ft Roll  ) into the crack so the Sika would not run down into the crack. The Sika is very adhesive and expandable so the joints can move but debris does not fall into the joints. I overfilled the joints, let it dry, then shaved it level to the finished floor with a scraper holding a single edge razor blade.I can now sweep the floor very easily using a commercial dust mop. The floor is beautiful and gets great comments.

To be clear, the final coat just dried. I can't YET speak to it's durability but I can share my initial product thoughts. A little background: I painted my basement 350 sqft wood shop's concrete floor. The manufacturer states there is no need to sand or etch the concrete before application, which was a huge selling point for me, but with all the glue drips and paint splatters I decided to sand the entire floor anyway. I used an orbital sander with 60 grit paper and a shopvac. Took maybe two hours but I hope it will pay off.I ordered eight quarts to cover two coats of about 350 sqft. I only used less than six, and I wasn't stingy on my application. I may have enough for a third coat. The eight quarts showed up in two GIANT Amazon boxes with a tiny piece of bubble wrap in each. Needless to say all eight quarts were badly damaged. Luckily nothing leaked due to the tiny clips holding the lids on.There is a unique metallic look to this paint, both in the wet and dry stages. No amount of stirring will help. I was worried that the first coat looked pretty bad but the second coat made all the difference. Using a brush to cut in the edges and a roller for the rest, I applied the second coat in the opposite direction from the first. Despite all my efforts not to leave any streaks, there are still some streaks after the second coat dried. I'm pretty sure that has more to do with "pooling" of the Rustoleum anti-skid additive I added to the second coat than the paint.I can tell you there is a VERY strong odor. Similar to the 2-part epoxy I used in the garage. I used a respirator with a small window open and a fan, and the house still smells like solvent. A small price to pay for what I hope is a durable floor.

I have a 550 Sq ft garage and, due to a significant amount of pitting in the concrete, it took 2 gallons to do one coat. I prefilled some of the pitting with epoxy, but a fair amount was left unfilled. I had to order another gallon to do the 2nd coat. The photo is one coat, not yet fully dried.It went on nice & smooth and looks good so far.

Excellent product. I am using it to coat my basement floor. I did a lot of prep work before choosing this coating--grinding or chemically removing all of the various coatings, cleaning, applying a penetrating sealer, cleaning, and more cleaning. I had also installed a perimeter sump pump drainage system covering the entire basement perimeter. I checked the concrete floor for dampness in several places. There was none so I proceeded with the Rust Bullet coating.This is an industrial coating that is not for the faint of heart. I made sure all pilot lights were off and set up cross ventilation with open windows and fans. I also donned gloves, eye protection, and a respirator (very smelly stuff). I thoroughly mixed the product (and this takes a while); used a disposable brush to cut in an area; poured the product on the floor and rolled it on with a disposable roller for rough surfaces. If the floor was not sticky when I touched it with a glove, I applied the second coat. I also planned to leave my house while the air circulated--it is very smelly.I purchased quarts because I had read how hard it was to reseal a can. So I did a section for each quart and applied the 2nd coat over this section. Then I moved on. This actually worked fairly well since I could not completely empty the basement without extraordinary effort. After a 10 day drying time, I moved stuff into the newly coated section and continued on.The portions I have done seem to have really "stuck" to the concrete, unlike other floor finishes I attempted in the past. There also seems to be a high degree of scratch resistance. I like the silvery gray color as the final flooring in the workshop and storage areas.If my review changes in any way, I will update.