Epoxy or VCT?

[Kardacian]

Hi I am going back and fourth on using epoxy or VCT. I have looked at many epoxy products and have narrowed it down to the following but have not had the time to determine the pros and cons.

Epoxy-coat
Amorclad
Wolverine

I have to admit that when I look at wolverine I am overwhelmed with the choices. I know I want to put flakes down and I want a blue base. I also think I want a clear coat too. So that puts epoxy-coat as maybe a third choice. If I go with VCT is there a sealer I can use? I don't want to wax it because that might make it too slippery.

VCT appeals to me because of the checkered floor. To me VCT seems easier becuase I hate painting but I get the feeling Epoxy might be stronger. I have a 2 car garage 5 year old slab with some oil stains never sealed just polished when it was poured.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Irondrive]

If you go with epoxy with chips, a clearcoat is just about mandatory.

 

[AlphaGarage]

You can checkerboard with epoxy, clearly it requires a bit more time, but the results are pretty cool.

If you do go with vct our BondTite 1101 makes for a great sealer/clear coat - cuts down on all that waxing and buffing.

Looked for a VCT floor to show some pics - but can't find any here. However you can
check out message #45 in this thread. It shows BondTite over a vct counter top.

Also a bit more info in this thread.

 

[Kardacian]

I think thats what I am looking for something that will protect the floor so that I dont have to constantly wax it. I dont want to create work for myself. After all it is a garage floor and it's primary job is to kee the cars safe and dry. It will see saw dust on a regular basis and the occasional car jack.

If I go with the BondTite 1101 what about the following.

I live in Massachusetts and it get cold and snowy
Temprature (very cold windchil can get to -10)?
Standing? water the garage floor was sloped well so there is puddle sometimes a week.
Slippery? I dont want to put an in an antislip becuase then it get hard to clean. I have that problem now.
Overall durability?

Like I said still on the fence, just concerned I will screw up the epoxy process. Although my floor is new there is a heavy stain where I spilled gas filling up the snow blower. I though in time it would evaporate but it seems to be there for the long haul.

If I rent a floor sander and go over the whole floor do I still need to etch and etc?

Also what colors does the wolverine epoxy come in and what is your comparable combination to epoxy-coat? My garage is 550 sq-ft?

Thanks for the help

 

[Irondrive]

You will never need to wax an epoxy floor. All epoxy/urethane/polyaspartic floors without flakes or anti slip are slippery only when wet. Check with Wolverine or your supplier, maybe they have a satin finish, which will help a bit.
As long as you apply it in the correct temperature range, low temps should not be an issue after cure, however check with the manufacturer. I'm in Az, it's 114 today so I'm no expert on low temps!

A floor sander will not prep the surface adequately for success. I personally will only diamond grind or shot blast, however many people do acid etch. There are tons of threads on floor prep here.

 

[AlphaGarage]

About the weather...

Another GJ member recently reported to us that he had a bit of BondTite 1101 between two slabs of concrete that were outside his garage. This past winter frost heaves caused one of the slabs to lift relative to the other slab. Instead of breaking off through the BondTite joint the slab actually sheared off after the point where the BondTite had penetrated the cement. So no, low temps will not adversely affect BondTite 1101.

BondTite 1101 is used to line tanks and pipes probably as much as it's used to coat floors. So no, standing water is not an issue.

However, many VCT adhesives can fail when exposed to water, so check the glue specs and if you're counting on a sealer to keep moisture from getting to the adhesive make sure that the sealer is thick enough and never breached at any point where water is likely to to leak in and compromise the VCT/substrate bond.

There are different types of grit, some are sized small enough, and have rounded edges, and don't pose problems when it's time to clean. I use those blue paper shop towels to wipe up spills all the time.

A coat of BondTite over VCT is better than exposed VCT with a layer of floor wax, but it's not going to be as durable as a good application of the full epoxy system.

If the floor's in good shape prep work is straight forward, applying the BondTite over well prepped concrete instead of VCT is pretty much the same process.

I've done both VCT and resins, for me the effort to actually apply the product is less with epoxies than with VCT. Rolling on the coating just doesn't take that long.

After grinding there's no need to chem etch, although it sounds like your floor doesn't need a grind, muriatic etching will probably do the trick by itself.

Shoot me your email and I'll get a color sheet out to you.


(114 in AZ? - yeowww!)

 

[Kardacian]

Let me start with I wish I was in AZ. I love the heat, I wish I could say "Yeah but its a dry heat!".

Ok so maybe prep would not be such a big deal. I am going to send you an email for a color sheet and quotes. Can use the epoxy on the 8 inches of the footing that sticks up too? Or should I use something else and if what do you recommend?

 

[AlphaGarage]

Can use the epoxy on the 8 inches of the footing that sticks up too? Or should I use something else and if what do you recommend?

There are a couple of areas that need to be addressed when you want to coat a vertical surface.

First is the coating flow. A nice property about our epoxies is that they’re self leveling. This is a great benefit when coating floors, but that can be interesting when coating walls because the epoxy wants to level out, and it does that by sliding down the wall. This can be partially mitigated by applying several light coats instead of a single heavy coat. In addition we also have available a thickening powder (AVR 200A) that can be combined with the Part A and Part B components as they’re mixed. Even with those two steps it can be challenging to apply epoxies to vertical surfaces.

The second issue is the possibility that there will be a shift or movement between the wall and the floor. Should the shift be too great, understandably there will be a crack along the intersection of the two planes.

The way to deal with this possibility is to run a bead of our IntegraFlex 1921 along that seam, which would move and flex with any movement – within limits of course. So, the IntegraFlex is optional and won't help if there’s too much shift between the two surfaces, but will avoid visible cracking with minor displacements.

As far as coverage goes 1 gallon of IntegraFlex is good for about 165 cubic inches, and it’s applied to the seam like silicone caulking. Run it about ½ inch out from the corner and cove it so that’s its smooth and easy to clean. After it sets just coat with BondTite 1101.

Sometimes our clients decide to simply get a good quality masonry paint and have it color matched, and since the walls usually don’t get too much punishment, that’s not a bad option. But if you’re willing to take a few extra steps and go with the epoxy, in the end it does look pretty sweet.

Another point to consider is the composition of the walls. If they’re made from cinder block the surface will be very porous, so if that’s the case you’ll want to be sure to have enough epoxy If the walls are poured concrete that won’t be an issue.