BillGalbraith
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2009
- Messages
- 270
This is the new construction garage that popped up at my house in exactly 6 weeks. The initial plan was to just get a shell up with minimal electrical, and I'd finish out the inside when time and money allowed. It is rough-plumbed for a shower, toilet, and sink,a nd has a wall sleeve for a GE Zoneline air conditioner, like the units that are in better hotel rooms. The roof is a hipped roof, with a vaulted ceiling inside. Max height is 11'4" in the center. I have plans for a MaxJax lift (I like the fact that it's portable). If I decide I don't like that, I have enough height for a regular 2 post lift.
The exterior size is 28 x 28 feet, so the floor area is about 715 sf. The stab is protected from below by 10 mil thick Stego vapor barrier. The concrete is 3500 psi pump mix with fiber mesh in it. It was slicked off, but not sealed. The floor was stress-cut into quarters, which made mixing up the epoxy and polyurethane easier.
After about 30 days, I scrubbed the floors with a floor scrubber rented from Homie D. The wifey wanted the floors in the house scrubbed (almost 2000 sf of tile), and I did the old garage floor (800 sf) as well, so I got my $50 worth for the day. It's only $27 for 4 hours. If you have to live with just your old concrete floors, it's worth renting that once in a while for a couple hours. I was amazed at how clean the old garage floors could be.
After cleaning, I etched it with H&C etching solution from Sherwin-Williams (SW). It's a phosphoric acid based stain. This is a milder stain, so you don't need to use a respirator, etc. It also doesn't have to be neutralized when you are done, both of which were concerns to me. I've heard some horror stories of nasty fumes, and I didn't want a nasty acid getting washed onto my new driveway. The salesman at SW said that I could dilute it with 2 gallons of water, but I told him I wouldn't, because I read the product sheet and knew you could only do that if your concrete was porous. Mine was slicked off, so the product sheet said to use it full strength. LESSON: Read the data sheets FIRST. I bought 7 gallons for 715 sf. Had to go to two stores to get that much, so ask them to get enough for you at your local store
I applied the etching solution with a sprinkler can like the directions said, and scrubbed it in. I think that I didn't sprinkle well enough, because there were some strips in the floor where the concrete stain didn't take as well. After scrubbing and allowing it to finish etching, I hosed it off a couple times, then pressure washed it with a 3000 psi 3 gpm washer with a 40 deg nozzle. There were a couple places where you could see the aggregrate coming up, so be careful there. I then squeegeed it off with a Harbor Freight $12 floor squeegee (a good buy), and let it dry. Swept and blew it out very well. You don't want any dirt or pieces of concrete to come loose
The concrete stain is H&C Semi-Transparent concrete stain, a water based stain in Marina Blue. I bought 4 gallons for 715 sf. It took them a few days to get it. I sprayed the floor with a gentle mist, then applied the stain full strength until it was pooling and running in a couple places. By the time I did all 715 sf, I had only used 2 gallons of the stain. The concrete was barely tinted blue. That tells me that the etching wasn't thorough enough. I put a second coat of stain on, since I still had 2 gallons left. This time, I promoted the puddles and runs, for that effect. Once dry, I swept and blew it with the leaf blower.
I planned on 2 coats of Wolverine BondTite (6 mil per coat) and one coat of Wolverine EnduraShield (4 mil), which would give me 16 mil thick. Not as thick as using an epoxy paint, but I like the look of the stain better than the paint, and I'll just have to be careful about dropping transmissions. BTW, 16 mil is about a third the thickness of a dime. This stuff is amazing.
The BondTite went on okay. Mixed up a quarter of a 3 gallon pail. (Hay, this stuff smells lemony, but doesn't taste that great, at least not dunking your doughnut into it) [Safetly note: I was just kidding. Don't try that at home]. I used a 9 inch roller cover from SW. I used the method of dumping it on the floor in strips, and rolling it in. I only rolled it enought o spread it out, and I missed a couple minor spots. When the floor was hardened, it had little imperfections all over the floor, kind of like bumps. They weren't air bubbles, and didn't appear to be fibers from the roller covers. I went ahead with the second coat, hoping that it would cover the imperfections in the first coat. It did, but also had it's own imperfections, the same little bubbles. Once I could walk on it, and after consulting with Fred from Alpha Garage, I disected several of these bumps under a magnifying glass. They appeared to be small little pools of unhardened epoxy. We do not know why this happened.
So, the following day, when everything had hardened completely, I rented the floor buffer again, this time with the sanding attachment. I went through four 80 grit sanding screens for 715 sf. I'd suggest taking more than that home with you, because you can always return what you don't use. I sanded the floor, although not perfectly smooth. It still had a texture to it, but I was running out of screens and patience. After 5 days of working on floors, I was getting sick of it, and wanted it done. After sanding, I vacuumed, blew and washed the floors with a garden hose, squeegeed it off, then washed it by hand with clean water and a towel (not as hard as you might think). After that, I wiped the floor down with denatured alcohol, which dried quickly.
I mixed up the EnduraShield and applied it in quarters. I seemed to do well with pouring the contents of the bucket on the floor and rolling it in, although there were a couple places I screwed up in the second coat of BondTite and a couple with the EnduraShield.
The floor looks GREAT. Of course, since I was the one that did it, I know where all the flaws are, but I keep telling myself that it's just a garage floor, and it's going to get messed up over the years. The floors are VERY shiny, and feel really slick, but they are not slippery. The wife and I are swing dancers and have danced briefly on the floor, and it seemed to do well in that regard. Not as nice as wood floors, but better than dancing on concrete. We're looking forward to hosting a dance party one of these days.
While talking with a neighbor, we wondered how the floor would be wet, so I dumped some water on the floor. It actually felt like it had more traction on it than when dry. I could squeegee the water off, or blow it off with the leaf blower. I'm looking forward to washing a car in the garage one of these days, and will report if it's slippery in bare feet.
Taking good photos of the fllor has been IMPOSSIBLE, at least ones that show off the beauty of the floor. The floor is so smooth and glossy, the light just reflects off of it. I was looking for a non-uniform look to the stain, and I got it. The epoxy/poly coats are not perfect, and there are many mistakes, but they are my fault, not the fault of the product. The Wolverine was expensive, but I feel it was worth it, since I only want to do the floor ONCE in my lifetime. I'm 48 now, and I don't want to have to remove everything and strip the floors at any time in the future, so I felt it was worth the price.
I can't say enough for the support that I got from Fred at Alpha Garage. Emails and phone calls helped through the process, since I was nervous about my floors, but I made it through. Thanks Fred.
A couple shots of the finished floor
And a shot of the first resident. This is a 1979 Lotus Esprit JPS. I've owned it for over 20 years. It has a littel 2 liter, 4 cylinder engine in it, with dual Weber carbs, basically a carb for each cylinder. It's not fast off the line, but once it gets moving, its quick. The car only weighs in at 2400 lbs, and with 150-200 hp (I'm not sure), it's no slug.
The other resident is a 73 Mustang convertible that has been with me for 16 years. I can't move it over yet because the car won't start. I think it's a minor starter issue. One of these days.
I still have a LOT of projects to complete before this is more than just a place to park cars. I'm working on 70 feet of wooden walkway, sprinklers, landscaping, etc. I'll have to prime and paint the walls before I can start doing shelves, and only then can I start moving stuff in.
The exterior size is 28 x 28 feet, so the floor area is about 715 sf. The stab is protected from below by 10 mil thick Stego vapor barrier. The concrete is 3500 psi pump mix with fiber mesh in it. It was slicked off, but not sealed. The floor was stress-cut into quarters, which made mixing up the epoxy and polyurethane easier.
After about 30 days, I scrubbed the floors with a floor scrubber rented from Homie D. The wifey wanted the floors in the house scrubbed (almost 2000 sf of tile), and I did the old garage floor (800 sf) as well, so I got my $50 worth for the day. It's only $27 for 4 hours. If you have to live with just your old concrete floors, it's worth renting that once in a while for a couple hours. I was amazed at how clean the old garage floors could be.
After cleaning, I etched it with H&C etching solution from Sherwin-Williams (SW). It's a phosphoric acid based stain. This is a milder stain, so you don't need to use a respirator, etc. It also doesn't have to be neutralized when you are done, both of which were concerns to me. I've heard some horror stories of nasty fumes, and I didn't want a nasty acid getting washed onto my new driveway. The salesman at SW said that I could dilute it with 2 gallons of water, but I told him I wouldn't, because I read the product sheet and knew you could only do that if your concrete was porous. Mine was slicked off, so the product sheet said to use it full strength. LESSON: Read the data sheets FIRST. I bought 7 gallons for 715 sf. Had to go to two stores to get that much, so ask them to get enough for you at your local store
I applied the etching solution with a sprinkler can like the directions said, and scrubbed it in. I think that I didn't sprinkle well enough, because there were some strips in the floor where the concrete stain didn't take as well. After scrubbing and allowing it to finish etching, I hosed it off a couple times, then pressure washed it with a 3000 psi 3 gpm washer with a 40 deg nozzle. There were a couple places where you could see the aggregrate coming up, so be careful there. I then squeegeed it off with a Harbor Freight $12 floor squeegee (a good buy), and let it dry. Swept and blew it out very well. You don't want any dirt or pieces of concrete to come loose
The concrete stain is H&C Semi-Transparent concrete stain, a water based stain in Marina Blue. I bought 4 gallons for 715 sf. It took them a few days to get it. I sprayed the floor with a gentle mist, then applied the stain full strength until it was pooling and running in a couple places. By the time I did all 715 sf, I had only used 2 gallons of the stain. The concrete was barely tinted blue. That tells me that the etching wasn't thorough enough. I put a second coat of stain on, since I still had 2 gallons left. This time, I promoted the puddles and runs, for that effect. Once dry, I swept and blew it with the leaf blower.
I planned on 2 coats of Wolverine BondTite (6 mil per coat) and one coat of Wolverine EnduraShield (4 mil), which would give me 16 mil thick. Not as thick as using an epoxy paint, but I like the look of the stain better than the paint, and I'll just have to be careful about dropping transmissions. BTW, 16 mil is about a third the thickness of a dime. This stuff is amazing.
The BondTite went on okay. Mixed up a quarter of a 3 gallon pail. (Hay, this stuff smells lemony, but doesn't taste that great, at least not dunking your doughnut into it) [Safetly note: I was just kidding. Don't try that at home]. I used a 9 inch roller cover from SW. I used the method of dumping it on the floor in strips, and rolling it in. I only rolled it enought o spread it out, and I missed a couple minor spots. When the floor was hardened, it had little imperfections all over the floor, kind of like bumps. They weren't air bubbles, and didn't appear to be fibers from the roller covers. I went ahead with the second coat, hoping that it would cover the imperfections in the first coat. It did, but also had it's own imperfections, the same little bubbles. Once I could walk on it, and after consulting with Fred from Alpha Garage, I disected several of these bumps under a magnifying glass. They appeared to be small little pools of unhardened epoxy. We do not know why this happened.
So, the following day, when everything had hardened completely, I rented the floor buffer again, this time with the sanding attachment. I went through four 80 grit sanding screens for 715 sf. I'd suggest taking more than that home with you, because you can always return what you don't use. I sanded the floor, although not perfectly smooth. It still had a texture to it, but I was running out of screens and patience. After 5 days of working on floors, I was getting sick of it, and wanted it done. After sanding, I vacuumed, blew and washed the floors with a garden hose, squeegeed it off, then washed it by hand with clean water and a towel (not as hard as you might think). After that, I wiped the floor down with denatured alcohol, which dried quickly.
I mixed up the EnduraShield and applied it in quarters. I seemed to do well with pouring the contents of the bucket on the floor and rolling it in, although there were a couple places I screwed up in the second coat of BondTite and a couple with the EnduraShield.
The floor looks GREAT. Of course, since I was the one that did it, I know where all the flaws are, but I keep telling myself that it's just a garage floor, and it's going to get messed up over the years. The floors are VERY shiny, and feel really slick, but they are not slippery. The wife and I are swing dancers and have danced briefly on the floor, and it seemed to do well in that regard. Not as nice as wood floors, but better than dancing on concrete. We're looking forward to hosting a dance party one of these days.
While talking with a neighbor, we wondered how the floor would be wet, so I dumped some water on the floor. It actually felt like it had more traction on it than when dry. I could squeegee the water off, or blow it off with the leaf blower. I'm looking forward to washing a car in the garage one of these days, and will report if it's slippery in bare feet.
Taking good photos of the fllor has been IMPOSSIBLE, at least ones that show off the beauty of the floor. The floor is so smooth and glossy, the light just reflects off of it. I was looking for a non-uniform look to the stain, and I got it. The epoxy/poly coats are not perfect, and there are many mistakes, but they are my fault, not the fault of the product. The Wolverine was expensive, but I feel it was worth it, since I only want to do the floor ONCE in my lifetime. I'm 48 now, and I don't want to have to remove everything and strip the floors at any time in the future, so I felt it was worth the price.
I can't say enough for the support that I got from Fred at Alpha Garage. Emails and phone calls helped through the process, since I was nervous about my floors, but I made it through. Thanks Fred.
A couple shots of the finished floor
And a shot of the first resident. This is a 1979 Lotus Esprit JPS. I've owned it for over 20 years. It has a littel 2 liter, 4 cylinder engine in it, with dual Weber carbs, basically a carb for each cylinder. It's not fast off the line, but once it gets moving, its quick. The car only weighs in at 2400 lbs, and with 150-200 hp (I'm not sure), it's no slug.
The other resident is a 73 Mustang convertible that has been with me for 16 years. I can't move it over yet because the car won't start. I think it's a minor starter issue. One of these days.
I still have a LOT of projects to complete before this is more than just a place to park cars. I'm working on 70 feet of wooden walkway, sprinklers, landscaping, etc. I'll have to prime and paint the walls before I can start doing shelves, and only then can I start moving stuff in.
