Epoxy garage floor: the prep is 90% and the DIY kits skip it

The $120 big-box kits fail because the floor is not etched enough and the coating is thin. Do it properly: degrease, grind (rent a diamond grinder, $90/day; acid etch is second-best), vacuum, fill cracks with epoxy crack filler, test for moisture with a taped plastic sheet overnight. Then a 100% solids epoxy, not the water-based kit, two coats, with the flake broadcast to full rejection on the second and a polyaspartic or urethane topcoat.

Total for a two-car garage is about $600 and a long weekend. The result lasts ten years instead of peeling in one. Hot tires on a thin coating is what peels it.