Epoxy Floor prep questions

[srosa707]

Just a few quick prep questions before laying down a Wolverine coating.

1. What are the steps to prepping the floor before starting the process of laying down the flooring?

2. Do you HAVE to grind the floor with a hand-held grinder?

3. Can you just lay down the acid, neutralize it, then let it dry and start the process?


Im buying a house soon and im going to keep the place were currently renting for an extra 10-15 days so i can move (2 days) and then have plenty of time to do the garage floor. I want to know what i should be expecting so i can be ready once we start to move in. Any help is appreciated guys.

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

There have been several posts here there is a complete prep section on my blog.

http://blog.diyepoxystore.com/preperation-and-repair/

As you may have heard prep is KING.

 

[srosa707]

Cool, thanks. I was searching for it earlier but didnt find what i wanted. Thanks for the help.

 

[SC-Eric]

Hi Srosa,

Did you get instructions? See Fred...

 

[srosa707]

Ya, im going to contact Fred when its time to buy. Hes a busy guy and I dont want to bother him with my rookie questios until im a PAYING customer! Thanks!

 

[roger55]

Ya, im going to contact Fred when its time to buy. Hes a busy guy and I dont want to bother him with my rookie questios until im a PAYING customer! Thanks!

Curious if you made any decisions on how to do your prep.
Having done both, I prefer grinding. I hate the acid.

I know it will be a while until you get your epoxy but are you going to start your prep soon?

Are you going to document your entire process with pics? I'd like to see how your progress goes.

 

[srosa707]

Im still undecided on how to prep my garage floor. I cant open EPOXY FLOOR GUY's page at work and i havent had tim to research it at home. Here is my situation:

-In the process of buying my first house
-----Waiting on the bank to OK short sale. The suspense is killing us!
-Im new to the whole homeownership thing
-Ive looked at doing epoxy flooring and have decided on Wolverine
-Im keeping my current residence for about 15 days AFTER we buy our new house so that i can totally finish my garage flooring and move in all my ****!
-I want to make sure I prep everything the best I can to ensure good results
-IM just trying to research everything BEFORE i jump in head first

I will definately post pics of each step along the way. How long would it take to properly grind down an average 2 car garage?

 

[mike_c70]

side tracking a little bit but on the grinding I've noticed that in a few pictures of finished floors, you can see the grinding swirls. That would personally bug the hell out of me.

I personally will go the acid route because I'm cheaping out on the prep (yes I know, prep is everything but the local guys want a ridiculous amount for their grinders). And also because I'm afraid of making those swirls in the concrete that might show up in the final product.

 

[srosa707]

For those guys that have done an epoxy floor, what type of prep did you do and what to you reccomend?

 

[roger55]

side tracking a little bit but on the grinding I've noticed that in a few pictures of finished floors, you can see the grinding swirls. That would personally bug the hell out of me.

Did you look at my pictures? I can't see any swirl marks in my floor. There were some slight marks in the concrete from the grinder in places but with the 27 mils of product I applied and DecoFlakes, everything smoothed out very nicely.

I used a 7" diamond cup with a hand grinder with a Dustless hood.
I did have to go to a 3,000 rpm variable speed grinder as I had trouble controlling my 6,000 rpm only Hitachi grinder.

I have been told however that concrete hardness varies. So, it may not be the same for you.

I started out in an area that would be under cabinets so I could get the feel of the process. It didn't take long to get the feel. I did know right away that using the Hitachi, it would have been very difficult to not get big swirl marks. With the variable speed grinder, I started it out slow and turned it up to the full 3000 rpm when I got more confident. Another thing that helps is the delayed start up feature that new grinders have. When you hit the switch, they will gradually get up to speed.

I would estimate that I could grind about 50 ft2 an hour. That's probably slow but I wanted to be careful and get an even grind. I had to do 660 ft2 in my main workshop room and stretched my grinding job out over 3 days since it is kind of hard on the back.

Having done both, I wouldn't do the acid again.

 

[mike_c70]

Yes I did take a look at your pictures. With a thick flake coverage it would be hard to see.

I might have no option but to go acid because local places want way too much money for the necessary tools.