Floor failure - any ideas?

[jrj3rd]

Hoping one of our flooring gurus can help me out. I put down a Wolverine Epoxy floor about 8 years ago and had issues show up this year. Enclosed garage. We had a very cold stretch this winter and I found about a half dozen spots that had curled up and cracked. Picture attached shows one spot (about 1 x 2 feet) that cracked and came up. Edge is about 3 inches off the floor and epoxy is hard. Figure it will have to cut it out and grind it down to fix, but wonder if anyone has any ideas of root cause. Surprised after 8 years to see this.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I can see raw concrete showing with nothing attached to it.
It likely was never attached well and perhaps the tough cold season exposed it's lack of attachment.

Can you snap a piece off and let us see underneath?
Did you apply a penetrating primer prior to the solids epoxy?

There is always a reason, coatings don't pop "just because".

 

[jrj3rd]

Well, went out an snapped up a piece and think we have an answer. Piece I pulled up is about 8x10 and has concrete firmly attached to the underside. layer of concrete is more than twice the thickness of the epoxy. Primer was used. Looks like concrete failure. Surprised after 8 years but extreme cold can do things. Guess I should have kept the heater on to keep inside temps above freezing.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Well, went out an snapped up a piece and think we have an answer. Piece I pulled up is about 8x10 and has concrete firmly attached to the underside. layer of concrete is more than twice the thickness of the epoxy. Primer was used. Looks like concrete failure. Surprised after 8 years but extreme cold can do things. Guess I should have kept the heater on to keep inside temps above freezing.

That is typically caused by a weak cap. A good diamond grind should chew through this weakness.

Did you grind it or etch?

A weak cap can be caused by excessive bleed water during the pour or a mason who gave you a butter job, or both.


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[ConCretin]

As Legacy said, looks like a classic case of delamination. Sorry to see. Hopefully it is an isolated area.

This usually occurs in hot, windy conditions when the surface sets up too quickly. Air and bleed water want to migrate to the surface and actually pool under the surface creating a void. The surface often stays put until something breaks it loose. Delamination is especially problematic with air entrained concrete. I realize this doesn't do you any good at this point - the damage is done.

If you drag a chain across the surface, you can hear the change in tone when you hit delaminated surface although I kinda doubt this will work with epoxy already on.

We've repaired a lot of parking deck with traffic bearing waterproofing that had this problem. Mechanically remove the weak concrete, level with a compatible product and re-coat. I'm sure Legacy or others can recommend the products.

Good luck.

 

[jrj3rd]

I will have to move some things out and evaluate how bad this is. Sounds like a summer project.

Do you think the extremely cold weather caused shrinkage of epoxy that resulted in tearing these spots open? All happened in same week this winter.

Also if I go to repair these can I just use a couple of coats of epoxy (with primer) to build in the void?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I will have to move some things out and evaluate how bad this is. Sounds like a summer project.



Do you think the extremely cold weather caused shrinkage of epoxy that resulted in tearing these spots open? All happened in same week this winter.



Also if I go to repair these can I just use a couple of coats of epoxy (with primer) to build in the void?

After making sure you are on solid concrete, busting the edges back to solid material, you can then get to work.

Yes, probably take a few shots to level using a coating, although 100% solids epoxy can be placed up to 30 mils in one application.

Good luck.


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