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Floor Prep Help

notcmartin

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
5
Hello

I'm looking for some advice to address a few issues in my floor to prep for epoxy. Lots of great info in this forum, I appreciate any insight, advice...

My goal is a durable floor that is level and looks good. Performance is the key. I do mostly car work and a smooth service to roll boxes, jacks.. on is more important that appearance.

The floor section in the photos below is an addition to an existing garage. Big picture I plan to coat the new section, move stuff from the old into the new and then finish the old floor. New floor is ~450 sqft, old space is ~400 sqft.

The new floor was poured aprox 4 months ago. As luck would have it, just as the pour was being finished it started to drizzle. The drizzle became a downpour. The contractor put plastic over the floor but with no gutters on part of the roof there are some issues from water coming off the roof.

I am looking for the proper way to fix 2 different issues. 1) The seam between the old and new floor needs to be leveled. There used to be a wall where the floors meet and now there up to ~1/2" difference in a 6-8' section. The rest of the seam is pretty good but might need some filler to make it 100% 2) There are several spots where the floor is rough ( I think this is where water from the gutter hit the plastic) or there are gouges. The gouges look similar to dropping a brake rotor on the floor, not huge but also not flat. I expect I'll make similar marks in the floor before too long, my concern now is fix the worst spots and give the final coating the best chance at sticking to the floor.

Does the final finish coat dictate the patch/fix chosen or will all epoxy solutions work with whatever is there? My main goal with these fixes is to make sure they bond to the floor, I dont care if they are a different color or texture. The last thing I want is for the patch to chip off.

Lots of info, hopefully my ramblings make sense.
 

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Shea

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Sep 19, 2012
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Use an epoxy gel patch repair for those areas. Many of the vendors on this forum carry it. For some of the real rough areas, you can mix some silica sand in with the epoxy to increase the spread rate if necessary. Once it cures you grind it flush with the surrounding area.

The repair itself will be stronger than the surrounding concrete, so no worries about it chipping or coming apart.
 

LegacyIndustrial

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Jun 7, 2010
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deerfield, IL
Keep in mind that floor coatings DO NOT level floors.
They can improve the condition of the surface but not change the contours.

What you need is filler and plenty of it.
 

Garage Flooring

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May 21, 2011
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Grand Junction, CO
Use an epoxy gel patch repair for those areas. Many of the vendors on this forum carry it. For some of the real rough areas, you can mix some silica sand in with the epoxy to increase the spread rate if necessary. Once it cures you grind it flush with the surrounding area.

The repair itself will be stronger than the surrounding concrete, so no worries about it chipping or coming apart.

Well said
 

Armorpoxy

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Aug 18, 2013
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3,735
Location
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Hi
We have a bulletin we wrote on repairing floors. Email us and we will send it, it should be helpful. Correct, no coating will 'fix' a floor, repairs need to be done first.
 
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notcmartin

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Apr 10, 2014
Messages
5
Good info, thank you.

There seem to be a few similar options to fill the rough spots. The rust-oleum patching product is available at the local HD, Legacy HD110 looks good, garageflooring has several options... its nice to have choices. It seems like I'll need at least the larger kits, any issue mixing in small batches? Buying the larger kit to save some $$ is great, but not if I have to use the entire batch in a few minutes.

Thanks again for the help
 

Armorpoxy

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See our repair product page...

https://store.armorpoxy.com/mm5/mer...3&Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=A&Category_Code=FREP

No issue mixing any epoxy product in smaller batches as long as you hold the mix ratio properly. Epoxies don't know how MUCH is being mixed at a time, just that they are being mixed PROPERLY. We have customers mix our Armorclad product using Dixie cups for cutting in edges and such. 2 little cups:1 little cup!
 
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notcmartin

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Apr 10, 2014
Messages
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Thanks, very helpful. On the wrong end of the learning curve I've had a few cups of epoxy kick while still in the cup, not fun.
 
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notcmartin

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Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
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Thanks for the help. I filled/patched some of the worst spots and then used a 7" grinder with a diamabrush around the edges. Now I need to figure out the right machine for rest of the floor. I have a mix of the sand based epoxy and the rustoleum epoxy patch kit, does it matter what machine I use?

The local HD has several diamabrush options in ~12" sizes and this machine. Any experience with this for epoxy floor prep?
 

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Armorpoxy

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Yes, this machine is an Edco brand floor grinder, an excellent tool and it has a 10 inch grinding plate on it. This will do an excellent job grinding a floor and give much more 'grinding' than a Diamabrush would.
 
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