Getting ready to pour garage floors in my new house/garages. I am a home builder and always trying to experiment (within reason) on my personal homes with new ideas. I'm going to COLOR THE CONCRETE and seal it vs. doing epoxy. 1. because even at my cost epoxy is fortune, especially for the footage I'm doing and 2. because I'm pretty hard on my floors, welding, hammering, dragging jacks around, brake cleaner, sitting on stools, drinking beer, etc.

Anyway, I'm stuck right in the middle of doing a brighter gray/pewter color OR a tan/buff. I can work color wise with either...just looking for some feedback either way or reasons not to do a certain color.

 

Did a dark brown & wish I'd left it alone. When I drop something (like a bolt) it disappears.

Lighter would have been better.

 

Yeah, the lighter the better -- also for the sake of bouncing light.

 

Thanks. Yes, whatever I end up doing will be lighter a color. Leaning towards the light gray at this point. I can always put an enhancing sealer on it if it's too light.

Side note regarding light... We just finished a custom home this summer for a car guy, has a couple of classic vettes. He did a handful of can lights with a switch near the door for every day use as kids will leave them on constantly. And then switched his very bright fluorescent instant on show lights on a separate switch well away from the door!

 

I did my old garage in a light tan color and ended up loving it. Provided much better ambient lighting than gray.

 

Thanks. Ya, I thought doing a "tan" would look a little more upgraded or like I did something to the floor vs. just really clean concrete gray.

 

Wouldn't light gray look a lot like... concrete?

 

Yes and no. Typical garage flatwork ends up having a fair amount of variation from the curing and sealing. The liquid coloring we use should help it even out and brighten it up some.

 

some kind of stain with varied shades or dark and light would be best, it will hide oil stains, dirt etc much better than a solid color

 

Agreed, a mottled finish would be the most practical. You can do this with post curing stain very easily.