Epoxy prep advice needed. Lots of gunk on floor.

Hello, I am in the process of rebuilding a paint and body shop that consists of one 40'x30' and one 15'x20' room. I will be using it as a motorcycle shop with a little fabrication here and there.

The main issue that I have is that the floor is a mess. The place was a body shop for every bit of 25 years, so there is paint, clear coat, body repair goo, fiberglass resin and all sorts of other **** on the concrete. The worst area being an 8'x10' section where they must have mixed the paints.

The concrete also has latex pain over spray, some old laminate tile glue in one area(6'x8'), dried Sheetrock mud all throughout and nice layer of Sheetrock dust from the renovation.

The good news is, overall, the concrete job was done right whenever it was done. Very flat, very level, a few cracks that need to be filled, and has a good texture to it. It might be sealed though... I'm not 100% sure yet, there was a lot of drywall dust to try the water drop test. I cleaned a spot yesterday and will try today since it should be dry by now...

So, that's where I stand. Any advice on prepping this place for epoxy would be greatly appreciated.

I think you should employ a contractor who does a lot of diamond grinding. There are many tools available to attack all those problems, but it is impossible to rent gear for that.

Another option is to try that Soy Gel paint remover and try to dissolve it all, then acid etch when it has all been removed.

Hmm that Soy Gel looks interesting... I might have to try that.

Added a photo. I'm wondering if maybe I can just grind all of that off?

With the right tooling and correct grinder that would be a piece of cake. The problem with diy'ers it's hard to find the correct grinding equipment at the rental stores. Where are you located? I sell 7" grinders with dust shrouds and really good cup's that would do it pretty quick. That may be an option if you cant find any rental equipment. Another thing on renting equipment, often the stores will rent you the grinder and sell you the tooling for these larger machines and that can get pretty pricey. gene ec-Indy

dcs Inc said:

With the right tooling and correct grinder that would be a piece of cake. The problem with diy'ers it's hard to find the correct grinding equipment at the rental stores. Where are you located? I sell 7" grinders with dust shrouds and really good cup's that would do it pretty quick. That may be an option if you cant find any rental equipment. Another thing on renting equipment, often the stores will rent you the grinder and sell you the tooling for these larger machines and that can get pretty pricey. gene ec-Indy

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I am located in Galveston, Texas, just south of Houston

I don't know the area so I can't help you with a good rental company. We have Elite Crete Houston which is based out of Spring Texas that has the equipment to take care of this. Call 281-808-2629 and ask for Warren. Tell him that gene dean gave you his number and to give you a good price for prep. gene ec-Indy