Burned vs Epoxy?

[nosualc]

I am a newbie to this forum, and am really excited to find a place with so much information.

I recently purchased a home that has an unfinished detached building (this was one of the most appealing aspects of the home purchase, IMO. My wife may disagree). This building is 40'x50' with 12' sidewalls with trusses that peak to about 16' in the middle.

I plan to finish this building this spring (way too cold in MN right now), and I think the first thing I want to do is decide on the flooring...

Currently, the building has a poured concrete floor that the cement contractor (my new neighbor) finished with a process he called "burning".

As described to me, after the slab dries, they take some very large machines and "polish" the surface to the point where it looks "burned". The surface is very smooth. They then apply sealer, which needs to be periodically reapplied.

My new neighbor (the cement contractor) says that with this finish I am good to go. My question to the collective wisdom of this forum is:

Is this "burned" finish a good one? Would I prefer an epoxy finish, especially over time? Anybody with experience with this type of finish?

Thanks for any feedback, I appreciate it.

-nosualc

 

[GearHead_1]

The polished finishes are very nice. The sealer however usually doesn't last very long, particularly if fluids stand for any length of time on them. This includes water. One thing about your circumstance is that you can try the nice finish you have and see how you feel about it. Should it not be to your liking you can always scuff it up a bit and try an epoxy or tile floor according to your desire.

 

[bmwpower]

The polished finishes are very nice. The sealer however usually doesn't last very long, particularly if fluids stand for any length of time on them. This includes water. One thing about your circumstance is that you can try the nice finish you have and see how you feel about it. Should it not be to your liking you can always scuff it up a bit and try an epoxy or tile floor according to your desire.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to remove all of the sealer before epoxying? I would think that would include grinding down the surface to remove all sealer...hopefully it didn't seep into the floor too deep.

 

[GearHead_1]

My thought was simply that if you were going to do a thorough floor prep you would probably grind (especially if the floor has been polished) and/or acid etch anyway. That would likely take care of any sealer concerns. Whether that process takes place now or after he's tried the existing surface makes little difference. On the other hand if he were to epoxy now, changing ones mind and going back to the burned surface would be a lot of work.

 

[abaran]

Not sure if this is what their talking about but I'll throw it in anyway.

My builder talked me into using fiberglass impregnated concrete vice conventional. Once the concrete hardened I noticed "fuzzies" all over the floor. Once I cleaned up the mess from the dry wall folks they became even more noticeable. The contractor that's doing my floor contacted the tech support folks for the product he's using and they recommended (strongly) that he use a torch to burn off the fuzzies after acid etching the floor. I'm assuming this is to ensure the epoxy adheres to the floor vice the fuzzies and ensures a good bond.

Andy

 

[Hammerdown]

The recommendation to "torch" the fibreglass is really cosmetic. If you applied an epoxy over the finish as is, all those fuzzies would stand out prominately and give the floor a textured appearance. It would look like a heavy anti-slip additive was used over the floor. It looks much better with the fibreglass burned away.