Toomanytools?
Well-known member
Ok thought I would post a bit about the shop floor. I have two spaces one side is about 2000 sqft for RV storage and a place to do metal work, the other about 1000 sqft for a wood working shop.
I after much research went with Legacy Industrials product HD37 and HD40 densifiers on the RV side.
1) Started by prepping the shop floor 2,016 sqft of power troweled concrete.
First thing was swept up the big stuff, cleaned and vacuumed the saw cuts out blew out the dust with a leaf blower. Next I sprayed a diluted mix of Simple Green working in sections scrubbed floor with a broom, rinsed off with water and squeegeed out as much as I could.
2) Let it dry overnight then applied HD37 with cheapo garden sprayer and a microfiber pad from Lowes $6. Had 5 gallons and did 3 coats, pretty easy spray a section (saw cut to saw cut) about 4' out work in with pad, spray next and repeat. Took me 1 hour for each coat, by the time I was done with one started the next coat.
3) I think it's recommended to let the densifier sit for 7 days, I couldn't wait so at day 5 started the HD40. Same process spray on a workable section and work in with pad, went through a total of 3 microfiber pads on the HD37 and HD40. I had 6 gallons actually bought a 5 gallon and a 1 gallon, I did 3 coats and still had about 1 gallon of the 5'er left. I let it dry overnight then applied a 4th coat in the morning let it dry for about 3 hours. Took about the same 1 hour to apply but I let it dry for 1 hour after I finished to start the next coat.
4) After drying for 3 hours I had rented a burnisher (1500rpm) and had the Hogs hair pads from Scotty.
This is when the fun starts my concrete is pretty smooth but had some rough spots from the power trowel I think it was too dry. I started the buffing (burnish) and used a laser temp gauge to see how hot the surface was. Started about 68-70 got up to 80 easy enough but trying to hit 90* recommended temp for HD40 to set in was a pain. I had to hold the buffer in one spot for like a minute or longer to get 90-95*, so at that rate it was going to take days. After about 30 minutes I scoured the internet trying to find another burnisher, nobody had anything over 1700rpm the next thing was a propane unit that heats up the surface and spins at 2000.
So back at it I went, it took a long time ( I'm not a patient guy) it did not get to 90 everywhere, but it did start to get some gloss to it. I would really like to burnish it more but can't find a better machine in my area. Overall looks good has an almost wax like feel to it and water beads up great. I think for what I'm going to do it will repel the minor oil and gas spills. I think with a few supplies and rental I'm in about $850 which is great for 2000 square I didn't want to spend $3000 on the floor.
For the woodshop I'm thinking faux wood floor, acid or dye stain and poly top coat or a metal epoxy haven't decided.
Here are some pictures, I also filled the saw cuts first with foam backer rod then with SikaFlex Self Leveling Sealant Polyurethane. I found it was easiest and less mess to tape the saw cut using a caulk gun then level off the excess with a putty knife. Let it dry for 5-10min still wet pulled tape off and it found its own level.
Thanks to Scotty for all the help, he is a man of few words but helpful.
I after much research went with Legacy Industrials product HD37 and HD40 densifiers on the RV side.
1) Started by prepping the shop floor 2,016 sqft of power troweled concrete.
First thing was swept up the big stuff, cleaned and vacuumed the saw cuts out blew out the dust with a leaf blower. Next I sprayed a diluted mix of Simple Green working in sections scrubbed floor with a broom, rinsed off with water and squeegeed out as much as I could.
2) Let it dry overnight then applied HD37 with cheapo garden sprayer and a microfiber pad from Lowes $6. Had 5 gallons and did 3 coats, pretty easy spray a section (saw cut to saw cut) about 4' out work in with pad, spray next and repeat. Took me 1 hour for each coat, by the time I was done with one started the next coat.
3) I think it's recommended to let the densifier sit for 7 days, I couldn't wait so at day 5 started the HD40. Same process spray on a workable section and work in with pad, went through a total of 3 microfiber pads on the HD37 and HD40. I had 6 gallons actually bought a 5 gallon and a 1 gallon, I did 3 coats and still had about 1 gallon of the 5'er left. I let it dry overnight then applied a 4th coat in the morning let it dry for about 3 hours. Took about the same 1 hour to apply but I let it dry for 1 hour after I finished to start the next coat.
4) After drying for 3 hours I had rented a burnisher (1500rpm) and had the Hogs hair pads from Scotty.
This is when the fun starts my concrete is pretty smooth but had some rough spots from the power trowel I think it was too dry. I started the buffing (burnish) and used a laser temp gauge to see how hot the surface was. Started about 68-70 got up to 80 easy enough but trying to hit 90* recommended temp for HD40 to set in was a pain. I had to hold the buffer in one spot for like a minute or longer to get 90-95*, so at that rate it was going to take days. After about 30 minutes I scoured the internet trying to find another burnisher, nobody had anything over 1700rpm the next thing was a propane unit that heats up the surface and spins at 2000.
So back at it I went, it took a long time ( I'm not a patient guy) it did not get to 90 everywhere, but it did start to get some gloss to it. I would really like to burnish it more but can't find a better machine in my area. Overall looks good has an almost wax like feel to it and water beads up great. I think for what I'm going to do it will repel the minor oil and gas spills. I think with a few supplies and rental I'm in about $850 which is great for 2000 square I didn't want to spend $3000 on the floor.
For the woodshop I'm thinking faux wood floor, acid or dye stain and poly top coat or a metal epoxy haven't decided.
Here are some pictures, I also filled the saw cuts first with foam backer rod then with SikaFlex Self Leveling Sealant Polyurethane. I found it was easiest and less mess to tape the saw cut using a caulk gun then level off the excess with a putty knife. Let it dry for 5-10min still wet pulled tape off and it found its own level.
Thanks to Scotty for all the help, he is a man of few words but helpful.
so I ordered another 1 gallon. I had plenty of product did 4 coats, only on the last 200 sq looked like I would run out so added maybe 2 cups water to about 2-3 cups of HD40 to spray the last 4th coat.