This weekend I applied the Legacy Industrial DeltaDye (Mahogany color) and topped it off with two thin coats of the SEC sealer. Below you I will give you the steps I took and this evening I will post the pictures when I get back from the river house 
1. I swept the bare concrete floor with a broom then I did it again...and again. The details are in the prepwork and I didn't want to have problems with the finished product due to being lazy.
2. I used sulfiric acid to etch the floor. It took 24 oz of the granular acid mixed in 2 gal of warm water. Make sure you use warm water to make sure the product disolves.
3. I used a shop vac to gather the left over water and small concrete particles left over from the acid etching. Then I used a leaf blower to make sure the floor was clean. Again the details are in the prepwork.
4. Using blue painters tape I went around the edge of my walls and around anything else touching the slab. (Wood stairs and garage sink as well as to have a demarcation line at the garage door)
5. After the floor is completly dry I poured the DeltaDye into a $5 garden sprayer from Home Depot. This is the only thing I had help with. My 17 year old son shook the dye for 10 minutes for me. I took my time applying the dye to ensure complete coverage but when the first coat dried I could see lines where I applied the dye. No big deal as this was the first coat. Legacy Industrial supplied me 3 gallons of dye which ended up being perfect for my use.
6. Man the dye dries really quick. As soon as I finished the last of the garage the first part was ready to be dyed again and I made sure to fill in a little heavier on the light areas. I repeated this again but instead of a misting action I used more of a stream and just stood back and shot it.
7. A little over an hour later I applied the first coat of SEC Sealer. I had 4 gallons of sealer for 575 sq ft of floor. I applied it with a 3/8" NAP roller attatched to a junk Home Depot extendable broom handle which I broke in the first 30 minutes.
While applying the sealer I got nervous because I was a little over half way done with the first coat when I noticed I was running out of my first batch of sealer. Then I noticed I still had product left in the can and another gallon from the first box!!!! I was able to get 80% of the floor done with the first gallon then mix up the second to complete the first application. That left me with a bunch of left over product from the first 2 gallons.
8. Be patient....... it was now close to 1200am and I was ready to apply the second coat but to be honest I should have waited another hour or so. I wore no shoes but an old pair of socks and it was still a bit tacky. I applied the second coat and had a bunch of product left over. It hurt to throw away that much sealer but after joking with Legacy Industrial over Instagram I decided to follow the directions (imagine that)
So what does it look like now? It looks great. I've already had people sneaking a peak and they want me to do their floor and even offered to pay me three times the cost of the material. Instead I told them where to buy it and that I would help them with the installation.
What is there to take away from this long post? PREP WORK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT and then FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.
Use a drill with a mixing paddle to make sure the sealer is well mixed and start early so you aren't up until 1am.
Pictures to be posted this evening......
1. I swept the bare concrete floor with a broom then I did it again...and again. The details are in the prepwork and I didn't want to have problems with the finished product due to being lazy.
2. I used sulfiric acid to etch the floor. It took 24 oz of the granular acid mixed in 2 gal of warm water. Make sure you use warm water to make sure the product disolves.
3. I used a shop vac to gather the left over water and small concrete particles left over from the acid etching. Then I used a leaf blower to make sure the floor was clean. Again the details are in the prepwork.
4. Using blue painters tape I went around the edge of my walls and around anything else touching the slab. (Wood stairs and garage sink as well as to have a demarcation line at the garage door)
5. After the floor is completly dry I poured the DeltaDye into a $5 garden sprayer from Home Depot. This is the only thing I had help with. My 17 year old son shook the dye for 10 minutes for me. I took my time applying the dye to ensure complete coverage but when the first coat dried I could see lines where I applied the dye. No big deal as this was the first coat. Legacy Industrial supplied me 3 gallons of dye which ended up being perfect for my use.
6. Man the dye dries really quick. As soon as I finished the last of the garage the first part was ready to be dyed again and I made sure to fill in a little heavier on the light areas. I repeated this again but instead of a misting action I used more of a stream and just stood back and shot it.
7. A little over an hour later I applied the first coat of SEC Sealer. I had 4 gallons of sealer for 575 sq ft of floor. I applied it with a 3/8" NAP roller attatched to a junk Home Depot extendable broom handle which I broke in the first 30 minutes.
While applying the sealer I got nervous because I was a little over half way done with the first coat when I noticed I was running out of my first batch of sealer. Then I noticed I still had product left in the can and another gallon from the first box!!!! I was able to get 80% of the floor done with the first gallon then mix up the second to complete the first application. That left me with a bunch of left over product from the first 2 gallons.
8. Be patient....... it was now close to 1200am and I was ready to apply the second coat but to be honest I should have waited another hour or so. I wore no shoes but an old pair of socks and it was still a bit tacky. I applied the second coat and had a bunch of product left over. It hurt to throw away that much sealer but after joking with Legacy Industrial over Instagram I decided to follow the directions (imagine that)
So what does it look like now? It looks great. I've already had people sneaking a peak and they want me to do their floor and even offered to pay me three times the cost of the material. Instead I told them where to buy it and that I would help them with the installation.
What is there to take away from this long post? PREP WORK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT and then FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.
Use a drill with a mixing paddle to make sure the sealer is well mixed and start early so you aren't up until 1am.
Pictures to be posted this evening......
