Epoxy-Coat: unsightly "bumps"

[MrMark]

This really shouldn't be some big mystery. Take a utility knife and cut one of the bumps off and examine it. How hard is that. Is it hollow inside? What the hell is in the bump. Come on.

 

[thegarageguy]

Haven't seen before pics but I have had this happen to us when a rookie grabbed the wrong roller covers. If it's not lint, then it's a ridiculous amount of dirt and debris.

Live with it and chalk it up as a non slip texture or screen it and reapply.

 

[kyles974]

Haven't seen before pics but I have had this happen to us when a rookie grabbed the wrong roller covers. If it's not lint, then it's a ridiculous amount of dirt and debris.

Live with it and chalk it up as a non slip texture or screen it and reapply.

we all can guess what it is, and I'm sure he will live with it, or redo it, .....some of us really would like to know and waiting to see what it is?

 

[rugerlady]

Way too many bumps to be lint hairs. That would be one naked roller if it left all that hair.

I'll bet it is the bubbles again. No one seems to know about these bubbles but they keep coming up and ruining a fair number of jobs.

He said he put this on in Orange County. Where? It is hot as hell in parts of Orange County. The bubbles seem to come when it is hot.

These are definitely NOT bubbles. I asked all the pertinent questions about temps, humidity etc etc. Like I have offered before, if anyone wants to see the upclose pics, by all means email me.

 

[thegarageguy]

Pm'd you a couple of days ago and still nothing....anyway, one time, my guy used an old mixing paddle that was cutting into the plastic bucket when mixing, it left shards of debris just like what we see here. Check for scratch and gouge marks in your mixing bucket.

 

[Edger]

Pm'd you a couple of days ago and still nothing....anyway, one time, my guy used an old mixing paddle that was cutting into the plastic bucket when mixing, it left shards of debris just like what we see here. Check for scratch and gouge marks in your mixing bucket.

Good one, I have made a similar mistake in the past, goo from the poorly cleaned paddle contaminating the job. You have to be experienced to know these things.

 

[kyles974]

Pm'd you a couple of days ago and still nothing....anyway, one time, my guy used an old mixing paddle that was cutting into the plastic bucket when mixing, it left shards of debris just like what we see here. Check for scratch and gouge marks in your mixing bucket.

yes, very good thought!

 

[tncatadjuster]

It's roller nap in the close up, possibly something else in the background.
There is no way to confirm that it was not nap, by looking at the rollers. I've had this happen on a few jobs over the years, even a bad batch of lint free rollers.

The signs are there, if you look closely at the photo, and have seen this in person. I have no idea how this should play out. Who supplied the roller covers?

Only other possibility is fiberglass in the concrete, early fibers were rather large, they usually produce massive amounts of bubbles, and craters.

 

[six-T-seven]

Well, I guess I completely mis-read this: "but decided I better bite my tongue "

.......because I took it as she "decided," to bite her tongue,

.......I was like wow, what if she "decided" not to bite her tongue?

Anyone else take it this way?

no. just you.

 

[kyles974]

no. just you.

Well I guess the definition of "decide" means something different to you.

This is what "decided" means to me:

de·cide (d-sd)
v. de·cid·ed, de·cid·ing, de·cides
v.tr.
1.
a. To settle conclusively all contention or uncertainty about: decide a case; decided the dispute in favor of the workers.
b. To make up one's mind about: decide what to do.
2. To influence or determine the outcome of: A few votes decided the election.
3. To cause to make or reach a decision.
v.intr.
1. To pronounce a judgment; announce a verdict.
2. To make up one's mind.

source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/decide

 

[xrdad]

So???

What's the verdict?

 

[rugerlady]

He has not said anything to me since I saw the up close pictures. I am still not sure if the concrete was really rough or if the product was already setting up when he was trying to roll it out.

 

[dkhoe]

Hello Christine and everyone following this thread, we've been occupied with moving furniture, equipment, and people into this space, working against a month-end deadline. Not much time lately to think or write about our "little" epoxy problem.

I need to clarify a couple of misconceptions about our situation. First, this was not epoxy over bare concrete, but an application of Epoxy-Coat over a previous layer of epoxy (different brand). The previous epoxy had some wear but portions were still a bit shiny, so we used (a) a floor grinder with silicon carbide #16 grit discs (see pic), and (b) a small diamond cup grinder for the edges and to smooth out any spots where the previous epoxy had chipped/lifted.

The result was overall a smooth level surface without any pebbly or gravel-like bumps. The surface texture felt like coarsely sanded drywall. After seeing and feeling the results of the grinding, I thought it was rough enough for good adhesion with the Epoxy-Coat. See pic #2 - though it's hard to convey surface roughness with just a pic like this. The upshot is I don't believe the bumps in the epoxy are due to any underlying surface irregularities.

It IS possible that the epoxy had set up prematurely due to a slightly "hot" (over-catalyzed) mixture. And the bumps are just from rolling thick material with a napped roller (ie., if you roll latex paint over a smooth wall, you'll also get a texture). We had divided part A into equal portions, and part B into equal portions -- but since there is some "extra" quantity of part B shipped in each kit, we didn't end up using exactly a 2-to-1 ratio but more like 2-to-1.1 ??

In any case, I hope I'm not muddying the waters with my own guesses - I know very little about epoxy chemistry and do not have the time or resources to run experiments!