# Car wash in winter at home [Need advice]



## radakob (4 mo ago)

I'm planning on setting up my garage to do car washes at home. 
Not sure what my requirements would be given that the winters here can be brutal. 
Additionally, what type of waterproofing would I need to do to the walls(bathroom paint) and or floors(epoxy)? 
Also, would the drain need to be outfitted with something special?

Any advice and/or pictures would be greatly appreciated from those of you that wash your cars at home in the winter.

P.S: I'm not planning on doing any type of rinseless car wash. 
I'm my opinion, those washes are very harsh on paint and a nightmare for scratches.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

@radakob, where are you located? I’m near Pittsburgh and wash my cars in the garage in the winter. I have a hose in my garage. I haven’t done any specific preparations, as I find I can wash them without splashing much, so there is no concern about walls. The concrete floors do take a beating, though, from all the salt. At some point I plan to do a floor rejuvenation, so would be interested what others have to say about that. An epoxy floor is of interest to me, but not sure how they hold up if assaulted with lots of salt.

So I do sometimes actually wash them with a hose as I mentioned, but that is usually when they have tons of salt. I also use Optimum No Rinse when there’s not as much grime. I know you said you are not interested in rinseless options, but I haven’t had any issues on my cars, which have ceramic coatings. I keep a 5 gallon bucket with a pre-made mixture of it.


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## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

Bigriver said:


> @radakob, where are you located? I’m near Pittsburgh and wash my cars in the garage in the winter. I have a hose in my garage. I haven’t done any specific preparations, as I find I can wash them without splashing much, so there is no concern about walls. The concrete floors do take a beating, though, from all the salt. At some point I plan to do a floor rejuvenation, so would be interested what others have to say about that. An epoxy floor is of interest to me, but not sure how they hold up if assaulted with lots of salt.
> 
> So I do sometimes actually wash them with a hose as I mentioned, but that is usually when they have tons of salt. I also use Optimum No Rinse when there’s not as much grime. I know you said you are not interested in rinseless options, but I haven’t had any issues on my cars, which have ceramic coatings. I keep a 5 gallon bucket with a pre-made mixture of it.


I got my floors epoxied a few years ago. Absolutely love the results and they’ve handled Chicago winters perfectly. I will add that they get VERY slippery when wet. It got so bad in the spring and winter (after snow melts) that we got a couple car mats from Costco. The mats sit under the cars and extend outside the garage door so that when I wash the cars in the garage the pitch of the garage floor coupled with the mats (which have a raised perimeter to keep water in) that it becomes a joy.


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## radakob (4 mo ago)

Bigriver said:


> @radakob, where are you located? I’m near Pittsburgh and wash my cars in the garage in the winter. I have a hose in my garage. I haven’t done any specific preparations, as I find I can wash them without splashing much, so there is no concern about walls. The concrete floors do take a beating, though, from all the salt. At some point I plan to do a floor rejuvenation, so would be interested what others have to say about that. An epoxy floor is of interest to me, but not sure how they hold up if assaulted with lots of salt.
> 
> So I do sometimes actually wash them with a hose as I mentioned, but that is usually when they have tons of salt. I also use Optimum No Rinse when there’s not as much grime. I know you said you are not interested in rinseless options, but I haven’t had any issues on my cars, which have ceramic coatings and car detailing annandale va. I keep a 5 gallon bucket with a pre-made mixture of it.


thank you for your response and suggestion


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