Epoxy floor conserns

[BlackdogGS]

I'm about to coat a 14,000 sq foot garage with a 2 part epoxy. I may or may not have help. This is a new garage with new smooth cement. My conserns are:

1. Do I need a primer? Some sorces say yes some say no.

2. Do I need more than 1 coat?

3. My slab is divided up by expansion strips. I have about 8 sections. I plan coating one or two sections at a time. Will I be able stay ahead of the pot life? ( had a bad experience with installing a two part bed liner once).

4. How important is the anti slip additive? I want a floor that is easy to clean, could I get away with just mats at the doors?

5. Should I coat the stem walls also?

6. Like I said, this is new virgin cement. Other than a good cleaning
what else is required? The "experts" have been telling me that I don't have to etch since my floor is new and it soaks up water well.

It will be very nice putting this project behind me so I can agonize over other decissions.

 

[thegarageguy]

I'm about to coat a 14,000 sq foot garage with a 2 part epoxy. I may or may not have help. This is a new garage with new smooth cement. My conserns are:

1. Do I need a primer? Some sorces say yes some say no.

2. Do I need more than 1 coat?

3. My slab is divided up by expansion strips. I have about 8 sections. I plan coating one or two sections at a time. Will I be able stay ahead of the pot life? ( had a bad experience with installing a two part bed liner once).

4. How important is the anti slip additive? I want a floor that is easy to clean, could I get away with just mats at the doors?

5. Should I coat the stem walls also?

6. Like I said, this is new virgin cement. Other than a good cleaning
what else is required? The "experts" have been telling me that I don't have to etch since my floor is new and it soaks up water well.

It will be very nice putting this project behind me so I can agonize over other decissions.

1. Do I need a primer? Some sorces say yes some say no. It is not needed but if you want a good job and little outgassing, then it's best to use a specific penetrating primer

2. Do I need more than 1 coat? Yes, 1 primer, 1 base coat and 1 polyurethane

3. My slab is divided up by expansion strips. I have about 8 sections. I plan coating one or two sections at a time. Will I be able stay ahead of the pot life? ( had a bad experience with installing a two part bed liner once). Try making small batches. Maybe best to have someone to help you just mix for you

4. How important is the anti slip additive? I want a floor that is easy to clean, could I get away with just mats at the doors? Anti slip additive is very inexpensive and necessary in a semi exterior floor. It will become an ice rink without it.

5. Should I coat the stem walls also? Only if you want it all to look the same

6. Like I said, this is new virgin cement. Other than a good cleaning
what else is required? The "experts" have been telling me that I don't have to etch since my floor is new and it soaks up water well. No "expert" would recommend acid etching. Regardless, new or old, diamond grinding would be best.


Good luck!

 

[BlackdogGS]

I know diamond grinding would be nice and I'd love to do it but I cannot find anywhere to rent this set up. So it looks like I'll be putting the epoxy over new, dry and clean cement. I hope this works.

 

[Falcon67]

My slab didn't really bead water, but I still etched it twice, rinsed several times and swept several times. The paint's not cheap, you want to be damn sure it has a tooth to hold. Otherwise, you will be diamond grinding it off and doing it again.

Read the label or paint instructions. Pro level epoxy will give you a pot life at certain temps. Believe it. Mine was 3 hrs @ 75F, tack free in 8-12 @ 50F. The pot was around 75F and the floor 55F, I did one coat 960 sq/ft in 2.5 hours. Floor lost it's tack in 11 hours. Good enough for me, maybe not for you LOL. There will also be specified a min/max recoat time. By rights, I should have done two coats. I would plan on how much you can apply from two gallons mixed and go that many sections. That'll take you about two hours or so.

Mix it well - get a mixing tool and use a low speed drill and go 5-7 minutes. I used a 5 gallon HD bucket - $2.50 ea, toss when done.

Note - I used a 3/4" nap roller that left plenty of roller marks. This seems to be fine so far for me. I did some cutting last night and sawdust does not seem to make it very slippery, if at all. My old floor - different brand of epoxy- was a skating rink with a little sawdust on it.

It took 4 ibuprofen and a day for may back to get over 960 sq ft - good luck with your 14K!

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Blackdogs:

When you install these floors for a living your customer satisfaction rating increases when you have few issues. When this rating is high you make more money and get more business.

In order to keep it high you don't take short-cuts.

A professional job would include a diamond grind and a (3) coat system as Garage-Guy had mentioned.

That said, we have many DIY customers that perform an acid etch, install a two coat system and have had very good results.