Wolverine floor for my Gas Station Workshop

roger55 · Dec 9, 2008

Some of you may be following my workshop build thread in the "Garage Gallery" forum. Here's a link if you haven't seen it:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8044&goto=newpost

I will document the progress of my Wolverine floor in this thread.

I am going to do the main floor area (660 ft2) with the Wolverine system.
(It is presently on order from AlphaGarage.)
My order:
BondTite - 3 gallons (1 - 3 gallon kit)
LiquaTile - 6 gallons (2 - 3 gallon kits of Silver Gray)
EnduraShield - 3.75 gallons (3 - 1.25 gallon kits)
DecoFlakes - 20 pounds each of Midnight Black, Snow White and Spruce Green all in the large 1/4" size
Spiked shoes
24" notched squeegee and frame

So, my intentions are to do a 5 mil coat of BondTite, a 14.5 mil coat of LiquaTile and two 4.5 mil coats (wet) of EnduraShield. This will give me a total dry thickness of 27.7 mils.

After much thought about how to prep the floor, I decided to go the hand grinding route and already have completed it.
I purchased a 7" diamond cup and put it on a new Hitachi (6,000 rpm) grinder with a Dustie shield. After trying a test area, I really had trouble controlling it. It ground too fast and I just couldn't get an even grind without gouges.
So, I bought a cheap grinder/polisher from AutoZone (Great Neck brand) just to try it out as it is a variable speed with a maximum of 3000 rpm. Well, it worked well. I was able to control it just fine. The job went a little slow however. It went at about 50 to 60 ft2 an hour so I stretched the whole job out over 3 days since it is kind of hard on the body. Here are pics of the gear and how the concrete looks:

The grinder rattles a little now. I am really surprised that this cheap thing lasted for the whole job but it did.. The seat really helped on the back and knees. Here is another shot showing the Hitachi I tried and a small HF 4 inch grinder and cup that worked well in corners:

So, now I am ready for the epoxy to arrive and watch the weather for a good 3 to 4 day warm stretch to do the coats. Luckily, San Angelo doesn't stay cold for very long at a time so I think I should be able to get started soon.

My next post and photos will be during the application of the BondTite.

Stay tuned and wish me good luck .....

Rowdy Rat · Dec 10, 2008

Roger,

You'll be very pleased with the products from Wolverine... Great people to work with too! Follow the directions and you'll end up with a fantastic floor.

Looking forward to the photos of your progress.

Regards,

Stan

FFPL · Dec 10, 2008

roger55 said:
So, now I am ready for the epoxy to arrive and watch the weather for a good 3 to 4 day warm stretch to do the coats. Luckily, San Angelo doesn't stay cold for very long at a time so I think I should be able to get started soon.

I did my wolverine floor in MA in January so cold isn't really an issue. Make sure you post pics.

roger55 · Dec 18, 2008

Received order today.

I received the order today.
It was delayed on 2 counts. Wolverine was out-of-stock on the small flakes in the green. Rather than to wait any longer, I decided to go with the larger flakes that were in stock. I went ahead and got all the flakes in the larger size. After looking at the large flakes, I am glad I changed anyway. They are smaller than I thought they would look.
The shipment was also delayed because Southeastern Freight got my address wrong and was trying to deliver it to me in Houston instead of San Angelo. They acknowledged that the mistake was theirs.

Anyway, even tho I am ready to get started, I am going to have to wait.
There is a strong cold front coming in Saturday that will have the highs in the 30's. I want to make sure I've got 4 days of decent temperatures coming before I get started. Christmas next week may delay me a little further.
We will see.

Dave88LX · Dec 18, 2008

Looking forward to see the results! I love mine so far!

I had to do a double-take when I saw "San Angelo"...I was stationed at Goodfellow for almost 5 years. Ugh!!!

What part of town are you in?

roger55 · Dec 18, 2008

Dave88LX said:
Looking forward to see the results! I love mine so far!

I had to do a double-take when I saw "San Angelo"...I was stationed at Goodfellow for almost 5 years. Ugh!!!

What part of town are you in?

Dave,

I sent you a PM.

I really enjoyed the writeup of your Wolverine experience. I'll probably go back and go through your thread again before I start doing my application.

roger55 · Dec 26, 2008

Applied the BondTite This Afternoon

Ready Pics:

Mixing the product:

Here it goes:

Done:

A few things I learned today that I will correct next time.
1. If you spill any epoxy on a paint canvas, it soaks through. Use cardboard, vinyl tarp or a wood sheet to mix the product on.
2. Use rubber gloves when working with the MEK. It dissolves the vinyl gloves.

Other than that, the only other thing I did was I knocked over the MEK pail that I was using for cleaning the mixing attachment.

I'll be ready to do the LiquaTile and Deco Flakes tomorrow.

Dave88LX · Dec 26, 2008

Looking forward to the next pics!

No spiked shoes? You brave man.

roger55 · Dec 26, 2008

Dave88LX said:
Looking forward to the next pics!

No spiked shoes? You brave man.

I'll wear the spiked shoes tomorrow.

WolverineCoatings · Dec 26, 2008

Cool... Can't wait to see some more pics!

srosa707 · Dec 26, 2008

Looking forward to tomorrows progress pics! Looks good so far!

roger55 · Dec 27, 2008

LiquaTile Done Today

Everything went really well today.

Here's the pics:

Things I learned today:

1. Be careful to pick your feet up when stepping around on spiked shoes.
If you drag them at all, you will leave marks.

2. DecoFlakes go a long way. I ordered 60 pounds and only used about 20.
It still looks like a pretty heavy coverage to me.

3. The Silver Gray color is really a very light gray. I like it. It looks nice with the green/white/black DecoFlake mix.

I will be putting on the first of 2 EnduraShield coats on tomorrow after scraping and sweeping. I am anxious to see how it looks after that.
I don't know if will dry fast enough for me to do the second coat tomorrow too.

srosa707 · Dec 28, 2008

Looks GREAT!

Jaguar Fan · Dec 28, 2008

Great job! I like the color combination. I, too, found that flakes go a long way.

roger55 · Dec 28, 2008

Today's Progress

Ok, the first coat of EnduraShield is on.
Here's how it looks:

No comments today. Everything went perfectly and as expected.
Tomorrow, I'll put on the second coat and the project will be finished.

chromeguru · Dec 28, 2008

Looks great Roger! Congrats! What temp has your garage been while you have been installing?

roger55 · Dec 28, 2008

chromeguru said:
Looks great Roger! Congrats! What temp has your garage been while you have been installing?

Thanks!

The first day's high was 76 and low that night was 46. (BondTite)
Yesterday, (LiquaTile) the high was 57 and last night's low was 28.
Today, (EnduraShield the high was 59 and the low should be around 28 again.
Tomorrow is supposed to be 68.

I have been running a little 1500 watt heater in the shop in the morning for a few hours to warm it up a tad before I start applying the epoxy. My shop is insulated pretty well. I would guess it hasn't dropped below 45 or so in there during the night.

drivinhard · Dec 29, 2008

Looks great! :thumbup:

I still say that liquatile is the fo-shizzle all by itself. Next one I'm doing (in the basement) is sans flakes.

Rte66Charlie · Dec 29, 2008

Nice job Roger - that floor really pulled the whole project together! Just beautiful!!!

AlphaGarage · Dec 29, 2008

drivinhard said:
Looks great!

I still say that liquatile is the fo-shizzle all by itself. Next one I'm doing (in the basement) is sans flakes.

I'd say it's "fo-shizzle" also, but I haven't a clue as to what that means! So I'll just say that's a fantastic looking floor in an amazing garage!

I think the larger Deco-Flakes worked out well. Thanks for the tips and pictures.

roger55 · Dec 29, 2008

Thanks for all of the compliments guys!

The first coat of EnduraShield I put on yesterday was still slightly sticky around noon-time. After contacting Fred, he advised me to wait to put the second coat on.

I guess I should have left the heater and fans blowing last night but I didn't know it would need a little help to cure. It was 28 here for the low and probably got down into the 40's inside the shop.

I just fired up the heater (A/C heat/cool) unit for the first time and set the temperature to 72 and got 3 fans blowing in there. (That was a trick. I had to go through a window and walk across the tops of the workbenches.)

Right now it is oh-so-close to not being sticky, so it should be fine in the morning to do the second coat. I'll turn the heater and fans on after the second coat is applied to help that along as well.

I'll post a summary of the entire process when I complete the job and everything is cured. I'll post some final photos too.

Dave88LX · Dec 30, 2008

Very nice man!

I have to admit you did a hell of a job getting the flakes spread evenly. Did you hand-place each one? :lol:

Great work.

roger55 · Dec 30, 2008

Dave88LX said:
Very nice man!

I have to admit you did a hell of a job getting the flakes spread evenly. Did you hand-place each one?

Great work.

Funny you should ask.

I took your advice, did it without help and didn't stand in one place.

Thanks for your help!

WolverineCoatings · Jan 2, 2009

Wow... what a great looking floor!

roger55 · Jan 3, 2009

My Floor is Finished!

I think it came out great!
I am walking on it now but still want to give the EnduraShield more cure time before moving anything heavy on it.

I hung the TV today:

My Wolverine job summation:

Wolverine is definitely by far the highest quality epoxy I have used. And, I have used U-Coat-It (ugh), Rustoleum, Quikrete, and Epoxy Coat. I also helped my brother do his garage with Griot's Garage epoxy. Before any of those, I also did a garage with VCT.

I also must say that the Wolverine is high-tech stuff and the fact that Fred is there to help with any technical question before and after the sale is a huge benefit. Due to the fact that Wolverine is 100% epoxy and has a relatively short pot-life, the DIYer does have to realize that it takes some more planning and thought to use it than it does using a solvent or water based epoxy. But, it is worth it. And, when you look at cost per mil of coverage, in most cases the Wolverine epoxy is more economical than other brands.

Over the whole process there is only one thing I wish I had done differently. If you study the picture of the floor after the BondTite application, you can see some spots where the ground concrete was a little rough. The BondTite seemed to really soak into these areas. They show in the picture as more dull. I didn't notice until after the LiquaTile had cured that these areas didn't cover as well with the color. It looks a little darker gray in them. It's not bad and I'm not bummed out or anything at all. (You have to look pretty hard to see them especially since I have a fairly heavy coverage of DecoFlakes.)
In retrospect, what I should have done is coated just these dull areas again with more BondTite before applying the LiquaTile. (I had some left over and could have easily done it.) I mentioned to Fred that it might be something to recommend in the instructions - that the surface should be uniformly shiny after the application of the BondTite. I think this would be more critical if DecoFlakes were not used. Therefore, from my experience, I would recommend someone to buy a little more BondTite to have it on hand in case it was needed. (If your concrete was pretty smooth with a uniform profile, it's probably not necessary to worry about.)

One thing I am really glad that I did was to topcoat the LiquaTile/DecoFlakes with the EnduraShield instead of the BondTite. It's more expensive and cures a little slower but the stuff is really amazing. It is really crystal clear and the fact that is even more durable and has UV protection on top of that sold me on it. I also like the fact that you can use a roller out of a pan for applying it. It helps you get a real evenly spread final coat(s).

My contractor/friend that built my workshop came over today to look at the floor and help me hang the TV. He was very, very impressed with the floor and is now planning on doing his personal garage (after he builds it) the same way but with some wild colors.

I am a happy camper!

Kevin54 · Jan 3, 2009

I have to say that I am really impressed. I have followed this thread from the beginning until now and the writeup that Roger has done has been fantastic. Great progress pictures :thumbup:

You have a lot to be really proud of and the floor has turned out fantastic. I can't wait to see the gas pumps and the rest of the decorations go in.

I'm now going out to my garage and pout

Dave88LX · Jan 3, 2009

WOW!!! That Endura Shield is something else!! :shocking:

Maybe in a few years I'll knock down all my spikes from the fibers, scruff up the top surface, and put some Endura Shield down over the top coat of Bond Tite. That looks great man. Outstanding.

FFPL · Jan 3, 2009

another excellent wolverine floor. Having experienced bondtite and endurashield as a top coat I really think endurashield is the way to go. However, I still reckon that the feel of the bondtite is nicer.

Just an idea. Perhaps we should start a wolverine 'finished floor' thread to keep track of all these floors. Since Navi was probably the first wolverine floor on this board maybe he should go first.

Jude20VT · Jan 4, 2009

roger55 said:
Wolverine is definitely by far the highest quality epoxy I have used. And, I have used U-Coat-It (ugh)...

Your floor looks great...

I was looking to move forward with U-Coat-it, but now I am second guessing after seeing your above comment. Can you go a little deeper as to why you prefer Wolverine over U-Coat-it?

Also, Did you have any issues with lines in the floor by doing the LiquaTile a couple sections at different times?

roger55 · Jan 4, 2009

Jude20VT said:
Your floor looks great...

I was looking to move forward with U-Coat-it, but now I am second guessing after seeing your above comment. Can you go a little deeper as to why you prefer Wolverine over U-Coat-it?

Also, Did you have any issues with lines in the floor by doing the LiquaTile a couple sections at different times?

There are several reasons why U-Coat-It is inferior to Wolverine.
However, I think I only need to mention one big one. (I just checked the U-CoatIt site, they have recently raised their price.)
U-Coat-It is $99.96 per gallon (non-kit price) for about 40% solids (water-based) and Wolverine is $75 per gallon for 100% solids.
That's about 60% more product for 25% less cost.

The Wolverine system is about 25 mils thick and the UCoat-It system is only about 5 mils thick. Overall, you may pay a little more for the Wolverine system. But it's 5 times as thick. There is just no comparison. IMHO, UCoat-It is simply a marketing gimmick with a very high profit margin.

Oh, and no issues at all with lines doing my floor in 2 sections. However, I applied the second section immediately after completing the first.

Dave88LX · Jan 5, 2009

No problems with lines either doing my floor. IIRC, I did the Liquatile in 3 sections, BondTite in 5 sections.

66L78 · Jan 5, 2009

What is the differance between the Liqua tile and endura shield

AlphaGarage · Jan 5, 2009

66L78 said:
What is the differance between the Liqua tile and endura shield

LiquaTile 1184 is a 2 part, 100% solids, pigmented epoxy floor coat.

Think of our system as a hero sandwich, the bottom layer is a 5 mil coating of BondTite 1101. BT1101 is a clear, 100%, 2 part epoxy. Its claim to fame is its ability to stick around, it adheres to concrete, and a lot of other stuff. Wolverine makes quite a few different coatings (actually thousands of different formulas) for a lot of different environments, but underneath most of them is a primer coat of BondTite 1101.

Next is the meat (or humus for vegetarians)- for most shop and home garage applications that would be LiquaTile 1184. It comes in 18 colors and goes on about 12 mils thick. Since it's also a 100% solids epoxy, it cures to a depth equal to its wet application. Unlike most other epoxies, even other 100% solids, it has ceramic content, which gives it the ability to absorb impact shocks, making it extremely durable.

If you want to add DecoFlakes, they're broadcast onto the LiquaTile 1184.

Finally the top slice is a clear coat of either more BondTite 1101, or EnduraShield 2254. The BondTite is a bit less expensive, and is spec'd for a 5 mil depth. The EnduraShield 2254 differs in that it's 90% solid, cures to a crystal clear high gloss finish, has far more UV resistance, and is harder. It's spec'd for about 3.6 mil dry depth (4.0 wet). If you have a heavy application of DecoFlakes, 2 coats of EnduraShield might be the way to go.

66L78 · Jan 5, 2009

Ok thanks Fred, I have did my homework the last 3 months and looks like wolverine is what I am going with, I will get ahold of you in a couple months when the weather holds up, to cold in Nebraska yet Chuck

WolverineCoatings · Jan 5, 2009

Cornhuskers!!!

My dad grew up in Polk. Do you know where that is?

popbigguy · Jan 6, 2009

66L78 said:
Ok thanks Fred, I have did my homework the last 3 months and looks like wolverine is what I am going with, I will get ahold of you in a couple months when the weather holds up, to cold in Nebraska yet Chuck

Is there any dealers or installers in NE? I'll be building a house in a couple of years. My current floor is coated, I'd like the new garage to be coated too!

66L78 · Jan 6, 2009

No dealers in NE, you have to talk to Fred at Alphagarage, 3 posts above this one, I believe he is a dealer and ships it to you, is that right Fred Chuck

AlphaGarage · Jan 6, 2009

AlphaGarage is the exclusive dealer to the small business and DIY market. If you're looking for an installer we may be able to help. Although we don't have "official' installers, we can make referrals, but any dealings between the end user and the installer is strickly between those two parties.

We are working on establishing an installer network that's a bit more formal and robust, but it won't launch for some time.

In the meantime, just drop me an email or give me a call and we'll assist you to the best of our abilities.

mike_c70 · Jan 8, 2009

Roger - you mentioned scraping. How much of the chips did you end up scraping off? Did you just sweep it off, use a blower? Was the bondtite pretty much dry at that part or was is still a little tacky?

WolverineCoatings - Is scraping necessary? Will the Endurashield help push the flakes back down it will it pretty much stand out? With a light or medium flake coverage, can we skip this step or is it necessary? I don't remember other wolverine users mention scraping in their threads.

roger55 · Jan 8, 2009

mike_c70 said:
Roger - you mentioned scraping. How much of the chips did you end up scraping off? Did you just sweep it off, use a blower? Was the bondtite pretty much dry at that part or was is still a little tacky?

WolverineCoatings - Is scraping necessary? Will the Endurashield help push the flakes back down it will it pretty much stand out? With a light or medium flake coverage, can we skip this step or is it necessary? I don't remember other wolverine users mention scraping in their threads.

The LiquaTile was pretty much hardened that next morning. Not tacky at all but I could still make a fingernail mark.
I got a very small amount of flakes off during my scraping. You just want to get the ones that may have edges sticking up a little. I used a blower on the floor afterwards as there were not enough loose flakes to think about sweeping first. Scraping is no big deal and doesn't take much time. You just don't want flake edges poking up through the clear. EnduraShield will not push them down.

Wolverine floor for my Gas Station Workshop

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