Exploring Sealer for Mueller Barndominium

[exalted512]

First post here - anyway, my wife and I recently bought 20 acres of old grazing land and are currently building. We're on our final stages now, we've got a road, water, electricity, slab, and a 40x50x14 metal building. The plan is to build out 50x13' of living space (1 bed/1 bath) to live in for a few years until we can afford a home. The rest of it will be 'the shop.'

Anyway, we've done everything ourselves up to this point, aside from the slab and the electricity and we've started the framing of the build out while we're waiting for our concrete guy to fix the spalling. Before we get too far into it, we want to seal the concrete.

The concrete is about a month old. Right now, I'm just interested in sealing the living area. So I'm just looking for recommendations on a decent sealer. It will only see foot traffic. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to go with?

Lastly, because there's always a catch - after we build the house, the living room and bedroom area will be converted back to shop space. If I wanted to do an epoxy coating later, is it incredibly difficult to remove the sealer to put the epoxy down, or is it just a matter of etching?

And here's a few pictures, just for fun

https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1901740_10152658068004741_1412497054_n.jpg
https://scontent-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1901844_10104484380123164_1123502681_n.jpg

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!
-Cody

 

[lisiecki1]

Congrats on the build.

How's the bike?

What's the budget for the sealer?

 

[exalted512]

Congrats on the build.

How's the bike?

What's the budget for the sealer?

I figured there'd be some people on this forum that knew me with my particular hobbies...haha.

The bike has seen better days. This last year I blew the engine (spun a bearing on the crank) my first race weekend of the year. Took a few months to get it fixed, then a month or two after I got it back, I wrecked it and broke the frame. She's all back together now, but not quite as pretty as she was before.

'During' shot...haha

Broke engine mount on the frame:

Luckily, I have a bad *** buddy who can weld amazingly, so he fixed it up for me. I'm back on the track now, but with a few scratches, dents, and torn up body work.

Anyway - back to the topic on hand. As far as budget goes, I'd love to keep it around $350. But at the same time, there really is no budget. I will not pay someone to do it, but if it requires a lot more money than $350 to get it done RIGHT, then I will pay more. Having said that - I don't want something too good that it's going to be a huge PITA to remove when I put epoxy down in some of the areas that I want to epoxy when we get the house.
-Cody

 

[lisiecki1]

Damn! At least it's back up and running. I've been trying to sell mine (you may have seen it on MH).

Anyway, when I did my garage floor I used an epoxy that I later found out was available at walmart of all places. I've been quite happy with it. They also have a sealer, and the price is right, so you might look into that for doing it yourself.

Prep for the epoxy was easy and inexpensive, 2 gallons of muriatic acid from the hardware store and about 10 gallons of water; done and done.

For the epoxy anyway I only spent about $200-250 bucks total. Another $85 on the color chips, but that doesn't matter for you as you're only seeking a sealer.

You can also check out some of the floor businesses through the site here. Plenty of options.

 

[exalted512]

Crashing at 130 mph takes it's toll I suppose...haha. I wasn't hurt. I had a little but of what I would consider a light carpet burn on my elbow since my suit shifted a little when the arm zipper broke, but I wasn't even so much as sore the next day. My neck brace took a good hit though, glad i was wearing it! I'm not on MH too much. And mostly just the track side. I stay out of the classifieds, it usually only gets me in trouble with the wife.

Do you know the brand name of the stuff you used? I don't want something terribly expensive if I'm paying for stuff that is super hard-core, but will only ever see foot traffic. So I wasn't sure if the local big box stores have stuff that would be sufficient or not. I did see a couple of vendors in my search on here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a direct answer for something that's more home related than shop related (who would've thought you can't easily find home flooring ideas on a garage forum?) And as mentioned, I don't want something so good I can't take it off in 4-5 years to put epoxy on it instead.
-Cody

 

[Garage Flooring]

Nice looking building! There are some decent and relatively inexpensive sealers on the market. We have multiple levels of sealers, but from the sounds of it you could go with something very basic like http://www.garageflooringllc.com/clear-water-based-acrylic-sealer-concrete/

Just keep in mind you will need to remove it before doing epoxy later -- if thats the road you decide to go

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Our Standard Sealer is used in retail and residential applications regularly.
Many chain restaurants use it over stained concrete. Two coats and done, nice Satin Gloss, wears well.

Link:
http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/standard-epoxy-clear-sealer-p-156.html