Armorseal epoxy w/ urethane topcoat

[100lbdog]

Gents - need some advice on my urethane topcoat.. I've put two coats of clear Sherwin Williams Armorseal 1000HS epoxy down on a prepped garage floor - everything was looking good with a nice glass-smooth surface. I decided to go ahead add a urethane topcoat to provide some wear resistance.

Put a coat of SW Armorseal HS polyurethane down last night and noticed that it was going down pretty viscous - not tacky, but definitely thicker that the epoxy coats had. 24hr later and it's set-up with a orange peel finish and a fair number of roller marks.. I'm using the same dip & roll method w/ a 3/8" woven roller - temp and humidity are OK - 70degF.. and it was all put down in the first hour of its 4 hour pot life. Urethane seems a little tougher to apply (well) than epoxy...

So, any ideas how I can get back to the glass like finish on the second urethane coat that I'll be putting down? Some reduction and a squeegie?

Many thanks for any advice

 

[powerhound]

I'm getting ready to do the same setup as you have. They told me to cut the topcoat and dilute it down. I hope you can add a second coat and fix it.

 

[pauloman]

Yes probably applied too thick. Only really durable clear coats are 2 part polyurethanes but they are expensive and solvents right up to the VOC limits...

 

[Garage Flooring]

I have also seen similar issues when the product is back rolled to much and air is incorporated into the system

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Was it new material or left over from last time?
Some urethanes have a short shelf life and can get "funny".

It does look a bit thick.

 

[houstonfloorcoatings]

It was applied too thick. Urethanes need to be put on very thin. The thinner the better, otherwise you get that white haze look. Also you should be using a roller with shorter nap hairs. 3/8 is ok for epoxy, but not a urethane, use 1/4 inch soft woven roller (a high dollar one.) Also, make sure you de-hair the roller by taking duct tape and pulling off all the loose hairs on the roller before using it. You also need to thin down the urethane about 10-20% so that it goes down much thinner and more evenly... this will also avoid roller marks. The way to fix this is the sand the living daylights out of your floor before putting down your next coat. Rent a floor buffer with 60 or 80 mesh wire screens. You will go though a screen every 50-100 sq ft if you are doing it right, because the screens will clog up. Then wipe down the whole floor with xylene to get up all the dust (after sweeping and vacuuming.) Ps- When you sand the floor it will get very scratchy and dull looking, don't worry, you won't see any of this when you put on the clear coat, it will shine back up.
Good luck. HoustonFloorCoatings.com

 

[powerhound]

So more, thin coats are better when using the urethane? Good to know. I'm doing urethane over the top of my epoxy and still want my color to show through, so I don't want any haze.

 

[Shea]

So more, thin coats are better when using the urethane? Good to know. I'm doing urethane over the top of my epoxy and still want my color to show through, so I don't want any haze.

What many people don't realize is that 2-part polyurethane floor coatings are only designed to be around 3 mils in thickness for each coat. If you try to put it on thicker in 1 coat you will get the results shown. So yes, multiple thin coats are fine. Put down properly you get a much clearer coating than you do with epoxy. It's one of the benefits of polyurethane over epoxy. The haze is a result of being put on too thick.