Preventing Red Clay Stains, and epoxy prep

[CastleSeven]

I've got a brand new slab poured for my detached garage. I had the concrete guys skip sealing the slab because I plan to epoxy the floor once the building is up.

The problem is the massive amounts of red clay around the build site. The framers and roofers will be tracking that all over my brand new concrete, and I was told that red clay + unsealed concrete means major staining.

I bought enough 6mil plastic to cover the entire floor with plenty of overlap. Would this be a smart move to mitigate staining, or will it just get in the framers way, get torn, and end up being a waste of $70 worth of plastic?

Am I overreacting to the stains if I'm just going to end up epoxying it? Will minor pressure washing take care of it?

I'm trying to gauge if the ounce prevention in the form of the plastic covering will be worth it, or if it's just as easy to clean up the mess afterwards.

Thanks!

 

[GDPossehl]

The plastic will tear too easily. I would get the heavy duty rolled paper and overlap that with masking tape seams.

 

[egdede]

This will not hold up:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IN9DUBQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

This will (and can be reused to protect your epoxy). But, it is spendy:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FSMGP4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

This looks good and is 1/2 the cost. But, I've never used it:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FSMFFK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[moosey]

On job sites we use 6 mil plastic covered with a layer of 5/8" Sheetrock. Expensive but I have never had an issue with a a garage slab being damaged or stained.

 

[shaun oriold1]

IF you're putting down epoxy, then you're hopefully going to grind the floor. The grinding will remove any surface stains. Any staining will be only on the surface of the concrete. Grinding will remove it to fresh concrete.

IF you're looking for a cheap way to cover the floor, find a decent size cabinet shop in your area. The wood they buy will come in a bundle, which has a top and bottom cover sheet to protect the good material from fork lift damage. The guys who do my cabinets have a stack 50 sheets high of scrap wood. They'll happily give them away. They're a mix of 5/8, and 3/4" thick, and 4'x8' Its just a hassle to dispose of it afterwards.

HEre are pics of a lift of wood- http://www.brownfilmfacedplywood.co...rd_veneered_mdf_sheets_with_5_12_moisture.jpg

 

[Garage Flooring]

I have been in the building industry a long time. When this product came out, ProBuild could not keep enough of it in stock http://www.ramboard.com/RamBoard.php

Our customers loved it and it worked great. Unfortunately I do not sell it. Another idea would be using a Drymate Max garage mat (speaking of products we can't get enough of)

 

[Garage Flooring]

Not sure where you are located but it appears thy guys in orange have it in stock http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ram-Boar...rary-Floor-Protection-Roll-RB-38x50/202823781

 

[larry_g]

When I did some stained and stamped concrete for the patio I went with a color that matched the red clay in this country. Sometimes its better to go with it than fight it. What you gonna do when the red clay stains after the epoxy is down?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[CastleSeven]

IF you're putting down epoxy, then you're hopefully going to grind the floor. The grinding will remove any surface stains. Any staining will be only on the surface of the concrete. Grinding will remove it to fresh concrete.

Thanks for the advice. Is grinding still necessary if a) stains are minimized via covering and b) they never sealed it in the first place?

I'm far from a concrete expert, but unless some kind of undesirable layer forms on the top of the concrete while it's covered, I didn't think grinding would be necessary. I'm more than happy to be corrected of that assumption though.

 

[CastleSeven]

Not sure where you are located but it appears thy guys in orange have it in stock http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ram-Boar...rary-Floor-Protection-Roll-RB-38x50/202823781

Unfortunately, I would need about 10 of those rolls. $300 for something temporary is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[CastleSeven]

When I did some stained and stamped concrete for the patio I went with a color that matched the red clay in this country. Sometimes its better to go with it than fight it. What you gonna do when the red clay stains after the epoxy is down?

lg
no neat sig line

I was under the assumption that with several layers of epoxy, the red clay wouldn't really seep through to the concrete underneath. Sure, maybe in the non-finished parts. Am I wrong there?

 

[CastleSeven]

The plastic will tear too easily. I would get the heavy duty rolled paper and overlap that with masking tape seams.

In the meantime I ended up starting to tape down the plastic covering. It seems pretty durable for as inexpensive it was.

However, now I'm scared of the tape itself. Will masking tape or duct tape leave a nasty residue on the fresh concrete that will be worse than the clay stains I'm trying to prevent?

What about the non-porous nature of the plastic? Will I get stains from moisture issues while the plastic is down?

 

[Jim B]

You're going to etch or grind the floor before applying the epoxy even on a new floor. The idea is to get a rough profile on the concrete so epoxy will adhere. In that light I don't think they can drag enough dirt in to affect the finished floor. Be sure to use a primer before the epoxy and a quality polyurethane top coat and you won't have any staining problem. Search this site for epoxy installation. You will get a better idea as to the steps required for a durable floor.

 

[CastleSeven]

In that light I don't think they can drag enough dirt in to affect the finished floor.

Perfect, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Just wanted to make sure that if I bypassed the plastic I could undo whatever was done to the concrete by the rest of the construction crews.