Yep, you finally read it. Click on the MAA link and browse the site. You can post questions there. Not sure how long it will be to get a response tho.
How many square feet is your garage?
Generally for unpainted/coated/sealed concrete, all you really have to do is etch it with muriatic acid, then rinse it off and dry it. It's a crappy process, and it get's worse. If it's already been sealed/coated, then you can grit blast it. Not sure if you can rent the gizmo, but your floor would only need an acid etching. The dust you are getting indicates it's not sealed.
Don't look at the big box stores for your epoxy, they won't have it. Around West MI you can get really good epoxy from Applied Industrial, Repcolite or Sherwin Williams Industrial Coatings.
My preference is Sherwin Williams Tile Clad. You mix this 50/50 and have to sweat it in properly. That means, once you dump the 2 components together you have to stir this on a regular basis for a time period. When I instruct a newbie on the sweating in process, I go at least an hour (temp/humidity dependent) with a thorough mixing every 5 minutes.
What has happened here is you have thoroughly incorporated the components together. Chemical reactions are well under way and now you have some happy epoxy. Trust me, you want happy epoxy.
Well, this stuff is in the process of curing, right? How much time do I have? Oh, plenty of time. It's on it's way to setting up in your mixing container, but if you notice, only the top side of the container is exposed to atmosphere. You can seal this off and come back tomorrow.
Now that it's mixed and happy, you think you may want to start laying it down, right? Wait a minute, we have one more step here.
It's kinda thick at the moment and you want this to fill in a porous surface such as concrete, small pores?
If you didn't get a buzz from the sweating in process, you will now. You'll have to cut this... thin it out to be more fluid. You can spray epoxy from a cheap spray gun and end up with a really nice finish. Depending on the epoxy, you will use a Xylene or Xylol, which is some nasty stuff.
What this does, and you have to mix it in really, really well. It kinda separates, get's in between the epoxy that is setting up to make it more fluid. Once this is mixed in, you will want to apply it. The Xylene will evaporate out and the epoxy will continue to cure, it never stopped curing, just slowed down a bit.
Once you roller it in well, and you will want to roller apply on concrete. Let the first coat cure for a day or so and apply a second if needed, but you should be able to get it in one shot.
Allow full cure time, very important! This will be dependent on temp and humidity. Generally expect up to two weeks for full cure, but if you did this correctly, should probably be able to walk on it in the next day or so. I would just block it off until the cure is set.
I have a shed on my property in Bridgeton (Fremont). Only 8' x 12' by my garden area. External siding is 7/16" OSB
I had a some epoxy primer left over from a job, and rolled that on. Then rolled some eggshell appliance white epoxy over that. It's been out back for 6 years and looks like new.
The point is, you can do it correctly and make it last, or go with the flow...
I really like Zep's floor.
