Floor Epoxay

[speedsport]

I have come to the point in my new shop building to finish the floor. I am going to use 2 part epoxy w/ color chips. I have planned all along to clean the floor with muratic acid but am open to other alternatives. Has anybody here used the cleaner/etcher solution sold at Home Depot, Lowes etc. and if so do you recommend it over muratic acid?, I am not looking forward to breathing the acid fumes. Thanks

[agrip]

Speed
I do occasional work in an aircraft hanger, where they put a really nice two part floor down.

They rented a shot/ sand blaster rig to travel over the floor to clean and scarify, after they used a HOT purple whiz detergent and floor scrubbers on a warm day.

The coating is sticking well a year and a half later.

The problem they had was the floor was slicker than Owlxxxt when it got wet. Its kinda funny watching mechanics trying to remember walking on wet glare ice when all they wanted was to step over to the tool box.

Even dry, the tugs couldn't steer when pulling a load.

Suggest you investigate your traction needs before you start. You can add stuff for traction or not where you choose.

Ag

[ptjw7uk]

Please be very carefull with the epoxy on your floor, Read - re-read the instructions as it sometimes will not set!!
Where I worked in the eighties they decided on an epoxy floor in a new 150 ft square shop, after 4 days it had not cured so they had to grind the floor to get all traces up.. They then used normal floor paint!! Apparently the floor was to new and they should have used a primer!!
So I guess someone had not read the tin!!
Peter

[rockrat]

I watched a show on one of them DYI channels and they had some color chips that were thrown down after the paint was down but before it set. These chips had a rubber base to them so that they added traction to the epoxy paint. As for the specifics, as normal, they didnt give much other than to say "Billy-Joe-Bob here is a professional and we hired him to do this".

I have painted a basement floor with floor paint and then threw traction sand on it. Worked well but, I didnt like to mop it up after. It seemed that the sand held dirt very well. And the sponge type mops would get abraided away while cleaning. Only the cotton wig looking types seemed to work.

But, I could have been doing it wrong. I dont mop that much, just look at my garage floor.

Let us know what you decide. I will have to finish my garage floor when it is finished here soon.

rock

[pcarpenter]

I labored over putting on a floor coating when I built my shop building and finally gave up on the idea. Today I am glad I did not do it.

Coated floors sweep up nicely...but I can't tell you how many times I have said to myself..."self....aren't you glad you didn't paint it" when I would slide something in a fashion that would surely have taken off paint. I don't want to spend the rest of my days cringing every time it happens.

These episodes involve everything from skidding a piece of machinery sideways with a long bar to the chirp I hear every time I go to drive onto a pair of ramps to work on one of the vehicles. They *always* scoot just a bit and leave a mark on the concrete and a loud noise even though I have the luxury of 4WD to help me get up on them. If I had paint chips each time, I might have one more thing to throw a wrench over every time I work on a car Not to mention that ramps would be even more apt to slide on a painted floor. Nothing slicker than paint except paint with water or grease on it.

Even if you buy the sales pitch from the coating companies on how hard their finish is, remember it is never harder than the concrete substrate to which it is adhered....and concrete does chip when you drop something heavy.

Paul

[Techtchr]

WAIT!!!! My school finished the floor in our lab with this material. Even with the flakes in it, it is VERY slippery when a light dusting of sawdust is on it. Although I get on them when they do it, the kids can "ice skate" in sneakers on this floor when there is a little dust on it. More than once I've almost fallen on may rear when walking to fast past the table saw when their was some dust left on the floor. May not be a problem wth a metal shop, but if you do wood it could be. I don't know what my first choice for a shop floor would be, but I know if I had a choice it wouldn't be what we got...epoxy with flakes.

Matt

[alsinaj]

Expoxy Paint

I did half of the brand-new concrete floor with epoxy paint, half with conventional floor paint. The conventional paint is holding up just as well as the epoxy. I did my whole garage (again, brand new concrete) with epoxy, carefully following the instructions for etching, rinsing, drying, etc. Four years later it is peeling seriously. I vote for conventional floor paint. It is cheaper, easier to apply, and easier to repair.

[darryl]

Another vote for ordinary floor paint. I found some in the home when I bought it, and used it to cover some areas that became bare after a remodel. Going on 14 yrs now, no problems. I have dragged things around on it, and while you can scuff it, it doesn't take on an instantly ****ty look. This floor is old, though, about 40 yrs old at that time. Looks like somebody did a decent job of surface cementing as well. That has to make some difference when it comes to the final coating.

[speedsport]

Slippery?

I too was concerned about the epoxy being slick, so I purchased a container of non-skid additive and mixed up a sample of the epoxy with the additive in it and rolled out a sample. Trust me, with the non-skid additive you don't need to worry about secure footing, I poured some 10-30 motor oil on it and tried to slide my foor, not slick at all, feels like about 80 grit sandpaper, but still nice and glossy and sweeps up easily. The original question was has anybody used the cleaner etcher, no answers on that yet.

[kendall]

my old garage

The floor was a very slick concrete, looked very nice and was real easy to keep clean, a squeegee would leave it perfectly dry, but antifreeze or oil was dangerous. I used some old quality farm and fleet implement paint, with hardener to spray the floor, and sand box sand as a non-slip

my sand applicator was just a 2 liter pop bottle with the bottom cut out, a hole in the cap screwed to a 1/4 pipe tee, with a ball valve hooked to an air hose.
spray the floor, let it sit, spray the sand out, use another air hose to make sure it was spread out nice

when paint was dry, vacuumed up the extra sand, redid any thin spots, then sprayed another coat on it.
don't need grain to grain contact coverage, five or six grains per inch is fine for non-slip

We used to use the QF&F implement paint on 4x4's because it was so hard it would hold up to belly sliding over rocks and stumps when offroading, very impressive stuff for $21 a gallon, was only $11/gallon when I first started using it.

Ken