Do I have to grind a brand new floor?

[mustangmatt]

Hello all,

I was on here quite a few years back, and unfortunately suffered a garage fire 18 months ago. I am finally getting to the finish line of my garage build and would like to do another epoxy floor. I am open to other products like polyurea or whatever, but I had Excellent results with my floor from before and I BEAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL out of it.

I am a former customer of Armorpoxy and wouldn't mind being so again. My last floor was racing red with white, black, and silver fleck in a light broadcast. All of the epoxy survived the fire which I thought was crazy, so it is a very good testament to armorpoxy's product. I worked ALOT in my garage and the only failure I had was from my hoist ground plate rubbing on the ground, not the epoxy's fault by any means. I highly recommend their product if you are looking to do this. Any other companies please chime in if you like for a quote.

Sorry I am very chatty in this thread but I had excellent advice the last time and was hoping to get some again. Anywho, my neighbor says all i really should have to do is wash the floor very well and that's it for prep. I told the concrete guys to not do a realy nice finish coat and the surface seems "rough" not like super rough but not like mirror finish either. I am wondering if this is true but I REALLY don't want to grind again as I had an awful experience of it last time. I rented a floor buffer where they change the wheel to a diamond head from home depot and it took forever. My work was worth it im sure but again if there is a chance I can skip this step that would be amazing!

Secondly im wondering what product to go with? I had a great experience with epoxy but have heard great things about Polyurea, infact all the local contractors are using, and they are all 1 month out or longer, which I am not willing to wait.

Thirdly what should I expect to be paying for this job? Prices look like they are significantly higher than when I did this just under 6 years ago. My new garage is 1200sqft, my old one was 1000 (988). I paid roughly $1 a sqft last time for the product I felt that was very reasonable for the job it did.

Also throwing it out there, I live in MN, possibly will have salt in my garage, and I did upgrade to a in ground radiant heating system not sure if that will matter or not?

Too Long Didnt read:
Do I have to grind a brand new floor or not?
Epoxy or polyurea?
How much does it cost per sqft or what should i be paying?
Does salt or in ground heat matter?

Thank you all so much in advance!!!

Matt

 

[Shea]

Hi Matt. Radiant heat is not an issue. Any commercial quality coating system, epoxy or polyurea, is going to perform well with deicing fluids and road salt.

Yes, you still need to prep the concrete. That is why it's best to have new concrete finished as normal. However, etching in many cases, particularly for polyurea, will work just fine if done properly. If the finish is too rough, it can require grinding to smooth out or it will telegraph through the coating.

Why you Need to Etch New Concrete Before an Epoxy Coating

Learn why it is important to clean and etch a concrete garage floor before applying an epoxy coating. Plus, learn about coatings that do no not require etching.

allgaragefloors.com

A good epoxy system with a primer, high solids epoxy, optional color flakes, and a high performance clear coat will run $1.50 per square foot on average. A typical two coat polyurea system may run 20-30 cents more per square foot. Of course this all varies depending on vendor and sales.

ArmorPoxy, Garage Flooring LLC, and Legacy Industrial are all quality vendors that participate here. They offer both types of products and I believe most offer discounts to GJ members as well.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Thank you for your prior purchase. Yes, unfortunately resin prices due to supply chain issues worldwide have increased significantly so what was a few years go is much more expensive now. Prices now for standard colors run in the $1.40-$1.50/ft range for the full 3 layer 100% solids epoxy system with the military grade topcoat.

A less expensive option is to do a clear coat of SPGX on the floor giving it a 'polished concrete' look. This runs about half the cost of epoxy system.

 

[toreadorxlt]

I had the same question until I ground. Brand new floor too, I didn’t want to grind but I’m glad I did. The difference is very clear once you get any water on the floor and see how it’s absorbs vs. unground concrete. I can only imagine it directly relates to how well the epoxy impregnates into a ground floor