Diamond Grind (did I do it right)

[edubya]

Hi, I am about to epoxy my garage and wanted to know if I diamond grinder my garage sufficiently (see pics). The home depot diamond brush I used seemed to grind certain areas better than others (as you can tell in the pics). My questions are:

1. One scale of 1-10 (ten being a pro level grind and five being sufficient to lay down epoxy that looks pretty good for a DIY), how did i do?

2. Also, after grinding, I swept, shop vac'ed twice, swept again, and then double washed. But even after it has dried, I can still lift off a thin layer of white dust? Is this just inevitable perhaps because of some concrete that I just grinded?

3. With respect to moisture, is 1 day sufficient to dry? I am in Houston.

Thanks!

 

[Shea]

You can't really tell from pics, but it looks like it should.

Is this just inevitable perhaps because of some concrete that I just grinded?

If you ground some concrete after you vacuumed and washed, then yes, you will get dust again. Just vacuum one more time. Regarding moisture, you might want to wait 2 days because of your location unless the weather has been extremely dry.

 

[JD in DFW]

Yea you look good to go. be sure the fill and level the cracks and any pits/potmarks in the floor with a concrete patch or epoxy filler. Will make for a much better looking final product.
Best of luck with your garage project!
JD

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yea you look good to go. be sure the fill and level the cracks and any pits/potmarks in the floor with a concrete patch or epoxy filler. Will make for a much better looking final product.
Best of luck with your garage project!
JD

I am with JD. Can see a nice crack in the pic. Pre-fill it or risk it telegraphing through.

 

[edubya]

I am with JD. Can see a nice crack in the pic. Pre-fill it or risk it telegraphing through.

Thanks! With respect to the cracks...duly noted, and I was planning on it, but the cracks are hairline thin, and I figure that since I am doing a second coat (a clear coat) 24 hours after the first, that I should be okay. Also because I am so anxious to lay it down!

 

[Jim B]

I had a number of hair line cracks in my garage floor. Some I patched and some I didn't. Four coats of finish, primer (you are using primer right?), epoxy with chips and two coats of polyurethane. The cracks I repaired using an epoxy filler have disappeared. The non-filled cracks are still visible. Just some food for thought.

 

[edubya]

Duly noted, and I just put in some bondex concrete patch to fill in the cracks. Thanks!

 

[pauls_workshop]

On your dust, you don't really want that. What you can do is make a wash with white vinegar and water and mop that all over the floor. That will pick up much more of the dust from the surface. Come back the next day and do another mopping, this time with ammonia and water. This will get a little more but most importantly, the ammonia counteracts the vinegar and gives a slightly basic floor vs. a slightly acidic floor. Epoxy wants slightly basic. Then let that dry a good 5-6 days or so. Then do your epoxy. - Paul

 

[Shea]

be sure the fill and level the cracks and any pits/potmarks in the floor with a concrete patch or epoxy filler.

Great catch! That was hard to see.

 

[edubya]

I ended up laying down the Epoxy-Coat today. Took me about 3 hours total for a 450 square foot garage. I would note that the part A it was a tad bit short (not by much), but I just made it. I think I may have probably went a bit over on the measuring stick, but would think they would give you a bit extra over the four batches.

 

[Slippin3]

How close to the edge does the Diamabrush get to the edges? Assuming you used the Home Depot brush that goes on the floor machine?

Thanks
John

 

[edubya]

about 1 inch? It's pretty close... for those areas i just put the acid etch on it.

 

[edubya]

Wanted to give you guys an update. I am doing the clear coat application tonight (no anti-slip guard). Yesterday was quite an experience....I ended up with expoxy all over the place...over my new drill, my iphone, my sunglasses (don't ask), my carpet, the walls, the door, the tiles....I was able to get a lot of it off using alcohol and WD-40 lol.

I had to pretty much throw away the measuring stick as I used black and it ruined the measurement lines after the first batch. I also had 10 lbs of flakes...but ended up only using 1/4 of that as I wanted my floor to show a lot of the base coat color...

Anyway, it looked pretty good this morning....

 

[edubya]

I forgot to mentioned I also covered my entire right hand with epoxy (this is after I fell when my shoe came off my application spike lol). I would say I probably spent an hour washing my right hand and sprayed about half a bottle of goo gone on it. Right now, only my nails are black.

 

[Mikemm]

Anyway, it looked pretty good this morning....

Need better pictures! Those are too small to see anything

 

[Slippin3]

Lol! Sorry to hear, but it's funny as hell! I can't wait to do mine.... Ugh lol

 

[edubya]

Okay. Just finished doing the clear coat. A few observations:

1. I just finished taking a WD-40 bath. This thing is sticky and hard to get off your skin.

2. I did not use the spikes, as I did not want to scratch the base coat - made for a very slippery application process.

3. It's hard to see the clear coat on top of a black base coat, so I ended up backrolling like 1000x times because I didn't feel like i got it right. As a result, I was backrolling when it was pretty dried up...and it was create a milky residue afterwards. To fix it, I had to squeeze all the epoxy off the roller and re-roll to get the pasty looking clear coat off.

4. The clear coat looks great. I would compare it to waxing a car.

5. I felt like there was much more clear coat than I needed. Whereas the base coat "caught" the bare concrete easily, the clear coat just seemed to glide over the base coat - hence my obsessive backrolling.

6. I will post more pictures later, but here are two.

7. If you want a smooth even finish, you definitely need to fill all holes, gaps, etc. The epoxy did not self-level as well as I thought it would.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[ARCTIC_RAGTOP]

Looks great!

 

[kyle@hcb]

Nice job!

 

[Shea]

I ended up with expoxy all over the place...over my new drill, my iphone, my sunglasses (don't ask), my carpet, the walls, the door, the tiles....I was able to get a lot of it off using alcohol and WD-40 lol.

I about fell off my chair reading this.... Your garage floor looks good though!

 

[edubya]

Thanks everyone! Can someone please tell me when I can wash my car on my newly epoxied garage (with clear coat)?

 

[floorcoatingsguru]

It generally takes between 7 - 14 days for epoxy/urethane to reach its full chemical and abrasion resistance. Good luck.

 

[omegatek]

Hi, I am about to epoxy my garage and wanted to know if I diamond grinder my garage sufficiently (see pics). The home depot diamond brush I used seemed to grind certain areas better than others (as you can tell in the pics). My questions are:

1. One scale of 1-10 (ten being a pro level grind and five being sufficient to lay down epoxy that looks pretty good for a DIY), how did i do?

2. Also, after grinding, I swept, shop vac'ed twice, swept again, and then double washed. But even after it has dried, I can still lift off a thin layer of white dust? Is this just inevitable perhaps because of some concrete that I just grinded?

3. With respect to moisture, is 1 day sufficient to dry? I am in Houston.

Thanks!

Looks great!

Would you be able to point out what steps, materials and products you used to epoxy your floor? I really want to epoxy my floor in the next 2 weeks but don't know where to start. I'm currently looking at hiring someone to do the job if it's too difficult. I don't mind DIY, but I don't know where to start and my head is spinning from all the different products. I'm in Houston and really want to enjoy the garage this summer. Thanks

 

[6t7gto]

Maybe edubya will come over to help?

 

[SunsetsAndFriends]

On your dust, you don't really want that. What you can do is make a wash with white vinegar and water and mop that all over the floor. That will pick up much more of the dust from the surface. Come back the next day and do another mopping, this time with ammonia and water. This will get a little more but most importantly, the ammonia counteracts the vinegar and gives a slightly basic floor vs. a slightly acidic floor. Epoxy wants slightly basic. Then let that dry a good 5-6 days or so. Then do your epoxy. - Paul

Is this really necessary? I ask because some say that if you grind then don't wash, just vacuum.

 

[SunsetsAndFriends]

Okay. Just finished doing the clear coat. A few observations:

1. I just finished taking a WD-40 bath. This thing is sticky and hard to get off your skin.

2. I did not use the spikes, as I did not want to scratch the base coat - made for a very slippery application process.

3. It's hard to see the clear coat on top of a black base coat, so I ended up backrolling like 1000x times because I didn't feel like i got it right. As a result, I was backrolling when it was pretty dried up...and it was create a milky residue afterwards. To fix it, I had to squeeze all the epoxy off the roller and re-roll to get the pasty looking clear coat off.

4. The clear coat looks great. I would compare it to waxing a car.

5. I felt like there was much more clear coat than I needed. Whereas the base coat "caught" the bare concrete easily, the clear coat just seemed to glide over the base coat - hence my obsessive backrolling.

6. I will post more pictures later, but here are two.

7. If you want a smooth even finish, you definitely need to fill all holes, gaps, etc. The epoxy did not self-level as well as I thought it would.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Fantastic job!

 

[Shea]

Is this really necessary? I ask because some say that if you grind then don't wash, just vacuum.

If you have a strong shop vac with a good floor attachment you should be able to get all the dust without having to mop.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Denatured alcohol is great for dust removal. Saturate a towel and work it across the floor.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kwfloors]

I forgot to mentioned I also covered my entire right hand with epoxy (this is after I fell when my shoe came off my application spike lol). I would say I probably spent an hour washing my right hand and sprayed about half a bottle of goo gone on it. Right now, only my nails are black.

There is a hand cleaning soap call Cupran that painters use and it works good for cleaning that off your hand.

 

[Angelfire]

I forgot to mentioned I also covered my entire right hand with epoxy (this is after I fell when my shoe came off my application spike lol). I would say I probably spent an hour washing my right hand and sprayed about half a bottle of goo gone on it. Right now, only my nails are black.

You got off easy....remember the guy who got herculiner on his Hootus?

 

[SunsetsAndFriends]

Denatured alcohol is great for dust removal. Saturate a towel and work it across the floor.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Scotty for the tip on using denatured alcohol.

If you have a strong shop vac with a good floor attachment you should be able to get all the dust without having to mop.

I think when doing mine, I'll use my super-duper vacuum and then take Scotty's tip by doing a final wipe with denatured alcohol.