Epoxy floor gone wrong?

[imma_stocker]

Several years ago we had tiles throughout our showroom. One of our customers hooked us up with epoxy coating and it was fantastic. No bubbles, no streaks, and it was as smooth as one could hope. We demolished the sales counter to remodel. Tile was still under the sales counter so we called a highly reputable epoxy company to redo the whole showroom.

They charged about $6.50/ft to grind back to concrete and lay down 100% solid epoxy. Reason I'm creating this post is the work does not meet expectations. Bubbles all over, thick ridges along walls, sanding swirl marks, big streaks left from rollers, divots and ridges all over, obvious lines where the epoxy is different shades, etc. We've given them 2 chances to correct and they are blaming the concrete slab. They claim installation conditions caused the problems and blamed our slab. I'm giving them one last shot to make it right. At this point I'm also going to call another company or two to inspect and quote redoing the whole thing.

Attached a few sample pictures. Am I being too picky? Is this repairable without going back to concrete to start over? Is this a waste of time?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MileHighRover]

I did a better job 20 years ago when I DIY'd my 2 car garage. Can't imagine paying a 'professional' only to end up with those results. Really hope they make it right, but I doubt it.

 

[InsanePyro]

Why not call the guys that originally did it?

 

[gatewaysysop]

Attached a few sample pictures. Am I being too picky? Is this repairable without going back to concrete to start over? Is this a waste of time?

No, I don't think you're being too picky at all, it looks like complete ****.

I get that every industry has its hacks, but there must be a wildly disproportionate amount of incompetent, unaccountable people doing floor coatings. It really feels like there are more threads on here with horror stories than success stories.

 

[tncatadjuster]

Did the installers have tails?

 

[imma_stocker]

Why not call the guys that originally did it?

This is after their repairs, it was actually worse before. I contacted their Director of Operations (fancy titles mean nothing to me) to reinspect their work with me present. That inspection is TBD.

I'm gathering referrals for different epoxy companies to look at it and get their opinions with estimates to fix. I'm not even sure if this can be fixed without taking it back to bare concrete again. Thankfully we paid with CC and I'm still in the window to dispute the charge.

 

[moab11]

I think InsanePyro meant the people that did the original flooring, before this company. I agree it doesn't look like a pro job, but no idea how to fix it.

 

[imma_stocker]

Ah my mistake. I don't have record of who did it several years ago. It was part of a bartering deal.

 

[InsanePyro]

Ah my mistake. I don't have record of who did it several years ago. It was part of a bartering deal.

Well that *****

 

[Model A Fan]

No, I don't think you're being too picky at all, it looks like complete ****.

I get that every industry has its hacks, but there must be a wildly disproportionate amount of incompetent, unaccountable people doing floor coatings. It really feels like there are more threads on here with horror stories than success stories.

I wonder if that industry is seeing lots of "hustlers" who think they can make easy money or monetize on YouTube for internet points.

 

[cgrutt]

I have no idea if this would work or not or if it would be more effort than grinding the epoxy down to bare cement but just a thought. What about pouring/troweling a polymer modified underlayment over properly prepared epoxy (i.e. abraded and primed) to level floor out and eliminating ridges etc then reapplying the epoxy? Ardex feather finish is one brand that may work. I believe it will accept an epoxy coating (may also require primer). Alternatively what about an uncoupling membrane (e.g. Schluter Ditra) and tiling?

At end of the day it might be more cost effective and less risky (of floor failure) to just have epoxy removed.

 

[tncatadjuster]

I wonder if that industry is seeing lots of "hustlers" who think they can make easy money or monetize on YouTube for internet points.

I started building tennis courts in 1983, went indoors with epoxy in 1988. The profit potential in epoxy drew in many people that did not care about quality just speed. I retired in time to not have to bid against them, I did large jobs, and did not go after the smaller markets.

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