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Epoxy floor: Grinding with diamonds

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NewShockerGuy

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Oct 12, 2010
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Location
Northern Virginia / DC
I am moving in to the new house finally next week.
I am on a pretty tight schedule with work and things being done and delivered to the house so I want to make sure I am being efficient in doing the epoxy floor again.

In the current town house we are in I used muratic acid to prep the floor. I used Legacy products and the floor came out wonderful. I have zero regrets at all. The only thing that I didn't like was that I had to acid etch the floor maybe 3 times at least just to get to the 100grit sand paper feel to the touch.

The new house is a double car garage, roughly 21x21 feet, so abuot 440sq ft'.

My problem is if I have to acid etch the whole floor I feel this is going to take a while...

I called a local shop by me and they are offering this grinder:

http://www.dandbrentals.com/equipment.asp?action=category&category=68&key=GRIND7DUSTFL

They do have other grinders on the site here:
http://www.dandbrentals.com/search.asp?search=grinder

I can get the diamond tipped wheel and dust shield..etc. My problem that I am having is I've never used one of these machines and from what I read here:

"It is all too easy to gouge your garage floor or leave swirl marks in the surface if you are not experienced in the proper use of this equipment. "

Now obviously I don't want gouges in the floor... with the above machine how likely is that.

I don't want to mess up the floor by grinding because it's recommended over acid etching and better... and then have more of a mess or f up to deal with because of lack of experience...etc.

Again I had zero issues with acid etching the first time and it came out perfect when I was doing it.. just took longer because of the time involved to spray it, and COMPLETLY remove the salts and what not...

Thanks,
-Nigel
 
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blasto9000

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Mar 20, 2011
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Los Angeles, Calif.
FWIW, when I epoxy coated my floor the kit came with citric acid. I was originally planning on using muriatic, as I understood it to be the "best practice" at the time. However, the instructions that came with my epoxy kit (Rustoleum) specifically recommended against using muriatic due to the salt residues it leaves behind.

My experience with the citric was an easy one. I just pressure-washed the floor, squeegeed the excess, immediately applied the citric (with a mop, but if I did it again I'd use a brush), and then pressure washed again. Squeegeed and set fans to dry it overnight. The next morning the floor was perfectly and evenly etched. Couldn't have asked for a better result, no muss/no fuss, and only about three total labor hours less dry time.
 
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LegacyIndustrial

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Jun 7, 2010
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deerfield, IL
Try home depot rentals, some stores are renting buffers with the Diamabrush concrete prep tool. Very easy to use and very hard to screw it up.
 
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Edger

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May 18, 2011
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Melbourne Australia
Definitely do not use the first, small standup grinder it will be the worst grinder to use, hard to control, will dig in easily and you will not have an even finish. In the second link there is a two head Edco which would be a lot better depending on the diamonds and the hardness of your floor. I think Scotty's Diamabrush rental suggestion is the most foolproof and will work the best. That Citric acid sounds interesting.
 
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NewShockerGuy

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Northern Virginia / DC
Edger,

Thank you for the extremely useful point on the first grinder... Never using one I looked at it and was like aw, that's nice and small.. should to a fantastic job..etc. Thank you!

I will check out the other two... I would I know the hardness of the concrete in the garage to then match up with the hardness of the diamond discs?

At what speed do you move when using the grinder... slow, walking pace... faster...etc. These are all things that say if I go too slow would it take TOO much material off..etc.


Scott,

I'll be calling HD and Lowes right next to the house to see what's up and what they have.

-Nigel
 
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Edger

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Melbourne Australia
Nigel,

The Diamabrush setup is not sensitive to concrete hardness like a diamond plate. Trouble is that you rent a machine and find that the company always has diamonds for soft floors so they wont wear out quickly and you have a medium to hard floor that takes forever.

The Diamabrush system always scrapes the floor with sharp diamonds while the normal metal bond segments can blunt and polish up. Diamabrush is not good at taking lots of concrete off, it can be slow, but it does not dig into the floor and the passes are easy.

A normal concrete grinder that uses segments will stop working on harder concrete and you cannot get any scratching from it without putting in a massive effort. If your floor is soft, it will dig in aggressively. Diamabrush works well, a bit slower, use multiple passes, but it is not so sensitive to hard or soft and keeps working with sharp diamonds.

I do not know who has them or on what machines, I heard they were selling into big box stores for rent, but a swing floor scrubber is a good way especially if it has dust collection. Look at the Diamabrush or Malish websites because they have videos. I would not recommend a walk behind scrubber with wet and vacuum pick up because getting the slurry out of the machine is a *****.

Most contractors would use diamond segments, but they have different bonds and diamond grits and they know what they are doing whereas a DIY has only one chance and no option to change once he rents. Diamabrush makes it much easier for DIY I believe. BTW I have never used one, just seen them demonstrated and I know how they work.

Best of luck.
 
N

NewLogik

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Sep 21, 2010
Messages
191
Location
Repentigny, QC, Canada
Nice to see Scotty's suggestions here on GJ as I just spoke with him today and did ordered my HD-821 to repair some cracks...

That's said, I don't think that home depot near my home have this for rental. Will need to confirm. I've found this one from Simplex in Montreal :

http://simplex.ca/fr/location/produit/disque-a-tetes-au-diamant-ou-carbure/22/612

Using this floor polisher :

http://simplex.ca/en/rental/product/floor-polisher/22/613

Any better ideas ?

I have ~ 600 Sq ft 20x30

I can do the complete garage with a 7" grinder with that kind of disc, that's probably crazy ?

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/hand-tool-for-removalprep-p-233.html
 
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