Garage Floor White Dust

[Harris360]

Hey Guys,

I’m needing some major help with my garage. I finally closed on my house, and quickly noticed that the garage is chaulky white. I have washed it plenty of times, and same thing again. I plan on doing Armor Poxy (with Primer, and Topcoat), but for now, have put everything on hold until I get this solved first. I’m guessing that epoxy won't adhere until its solved.

 

[bigjon]

Pictures would help as well as a better description of your slab. Is it old, new, damaged by salts, sealed, etc...

If your going to do it properly the grinding will probably solve your dust issue. Even a acid etch will probably remove the dusting if done correctly.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Pics would be great. However, I do believe grinding is in order. You may have a weak cap.

 

[RUBADUBDUB]

I have the same thing, You can stop it by sealing the floor. The only issue is the expoy floor may not stick.

I'm not sure if the epoxy will do the same thing, Maybe you can test a small spot to see.

 

[ConCretin]

It's called dusting. It's caused by too much mix/bleed water or water applied to the surface during finishing causing a weak layer of concrete. Normal wear and tear abrades the surface causing dust. Sealers/hardeners might stop the dust but the concrete cannot be made stronger.

No real solution other than to grind off the weak layer to sound concrete. You could then apply a sealer, hardener or epoxy. Other than the latter, the floor might not look great but absent other problems, it should perform fine.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Sealing a weak surface will eventually fail. The concrete pulverizes under the sealer from traffic and eventually it’s peel-city.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Harris360]

Well..... I attempted to do some diamond grinding, and slightly made it worse. The concrete started to chip without any pressure on the machine. I immediately stopped so I don't screw it up even more. I have attached pictures of the concrete, and dusting that is happening below.

 

[Harris360]

....

 

[Harris360]

https://postimg.cc/gallery/1e3p44ejs/

 

[ConCretin]

I don't see what I'd consider 'chipping'. It looks to me like the grinding disc just dug into the surface, which is obviously quite soft. It's going to be very difficult to get good results with a small hand held grinder. You will probably want to look into a walk behind or maybe even call a pro. If you do it yourself, make sure you protect yourself from the dust, which contains silica that is very bad for your lungs.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yep, your cream cap is weak. Ditto the walk-behind.
Need to take that floor all the way back to the stones.

 

[Harris360]

I have the concrete people coming out since this is a new construction house. I rather not have them to float it more, so I've requested for them to grind it down completely to just bare concrete. Will the epoxy stick to just bare concrete?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I have the concrete people coming out since this is a new construction house. I rather not have them to float it more, so I've requested for them to grind it down completely to just bare concrete. Will the epoxy stick to just bare concrete?

Yes, once ground you can select a kit and go for it.
Tell them to grind at 30 grit, no smoother.

 

[Factory1EpoxyFloor]

I would check the moisture content within the concrete slab first. Vapor Gauge offers a cost effective test kit to check the moisture content with your concrete slab. If you notice white chalking called efflorescence a white crystalline deposit that is composed of salts, lime and/or other minerals, we recommend a test to make sure your epoxy coating will adhere to the concrete surface even after diamond grinding. Most epoxies will withstand 3lbs of MVER, we offer a cost effective epoxy system to resist 8-10 lbs, more costly epoxy systems are designed to withstand up to 20 lbs of MVER. Test first to give yourself some assurance and to avoid product failure in the future.

 

[Harris360]

I'm having the whole top later of float removed, it was easily chipping off just by using a scraper. They did a couple of test spots, and below is just bare concrete. Hopefully ArmorPoxy will stick to it without any issues.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Make sure you use the matching primer....

 

[Harris360]

Well..... The contractors hardly removed the float, which now has resulted in a uneven surface. I'm going to have to get someone to diamond grind the garage floor. Anyone in Houston that won't charge me a arm, and leg?

 

[ConCretin]

I'm curious why you didn't ask them to finish repairing the floor? It sounds like they only did half the job.

 

[Harris360]

Honestly these guys didn't know what they were doing.... They specialize in carpet services, and are contracted by another company. I had them scrape pretty much all of the float off, but now it just looks terrible.

 

[Harris360]

Finally got the my floor down to bare concrete, which resulted in revealing cracks around the slab. The previous people used standard white caulk to fill the crack...... What's the best way to fill the cracks before epoxy. Hopefully, don't have to pay $400 again to have the guy come out to fill the cracks, and grind flat again.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Here is our answer...
http://www.legacyindustrial.net/pro...atings/xtreme-set-100-crack-joint-filler.html

 

[Harris360]

Does Xtreme Set 100 needed to be grinded down? I'm trying to avoid paying someone extra to come out again.