gloss sealer over h&c solvent solid color?

[shannonw]

Hi,

Putting this in my garage (1st coat down tonight). I don't park there it's more of a workshop, kid play area than anything.

The guys at sherwin williams suggested not using a clear sealer, said it wasn't really needed and was hard to apply right (seemed a bit odd)?

I'm a bit on the fence, i figured it would be suggested to clear it. Just wondering if anyone has any opinion on that? Would clearing it make it tougher to touch up or recoat in the future? or resist stains? Or should i just forget that part.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Shannon: This is likely a solid color stain from H&C which is much like acrylic paint.
The clear they offer may not offer a bunch more protection than the product itself.

When talking epoxy, there is an advantage to applying a clear urethane as the urethane has much higher chem and wear resistance.

 

[shannonw]

Hi thanks, yeah thinned acrylic, i've used it on my pool deck...get a few years out of it with just foot traffic depending on how much stuff you drag across it. i was thinking all it would really do is add gloss, may make cleanup a bit easier, so i'll probably skip that.

 

[mdameron]

I used that stuff. H&C solvent based sealer. 2 coats of red, 1 coat of the same stuff in clear. The gloss of the clear is drastically reduced by the Shark Grip. And reduced further by dirt and use, heh.

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If you're going to do the clear, it's imperative that you have good lighting. Very hard to see where you've done and haven't done.

6 months now and the only problem areas is the edge/lip of the garage floor where it meets driveway. The wife (and me, once) sometimes isn't going fast enough to smoothly make it over that lip and into garage and has to hit the gas and "peel out" perfectly on that edge. Took that edge down to concrete the very first time it happened.

When clean, it looks fantastic. Red might not be the best color to hide dirt. Doesn't matter, no one was going to talk me out of red. My dogs keep it dirty.

 

[shannonw]

hi mdameron, thanks for the tips! Looks like it's holding up well for as much traffic as you're getting. Mine will just be foot traffic, i'm sure i'll drag something across and need to touch up here and there.

i'll probably skip the clear gloss then, that way it's easier to touch up. I wonder if adding the non skid to the 2nd coat,then clearing over that would have made a difference in the gloss?

2nd coat down tonight of gull gray. that color is so light not even sure clear would add much to it, but it sure reflected a lot of light. 2 coats seems about right.

of course now i used to think the floor is the worst part, now everything else looks worse! i need to finish painting walls, doors, cabinet, bench, soffit, vinyl cove, etc...they're all in various stages of completion as the floor was bugging me and i have **** shoved everywhere to paint the floor.

I cleaned the heck out of the floor didn't go as far as i would with epoxy but it was pretty darn clean and etched for this.

 

[mdameron]

That looks great! I wish swapping colors around was just as easy as pressing a button. Would try all the colors they have. I can't answer your hypothetical question, sorry. I really don't know.

And yeah, mine is a fairly standard homeowner application. One car gets parked on it, and then plenty of foot traffic and minor projects, like carpentry. Water will sit on it for days. It's awesome.

You're really going to enjoy that floor. Should last just fine.

EDIT: I did my install back in September 2013 after the house was built. It remains to be seen how it handles truly Texas-summer-hot tires.

 

[shannonw]

Thanks! Yeah i'm not good at colors, wish i could just push a button!

You might consider one of the large garage mats, i'm not parking in mine but may pick one up anyways , the kids play out there a lot but they don't seem to mind what they're playing on =)

or just let the car sit and cool down before pulling into the garage. Or put some type of 2 swaths of large tape of some kind, surely they make something like that. But may also just be easy to touch up.

It got a bit of work out today, moved my tool box back in no problems, my kid even took some steel pipe and drug it around the garage when i wasn't paying attention, i cringed hadn't been dry a day but that's kids for ya =) Surprised it didn't scratch the paint off! I think it'll do fine for a few years with just this traffic from experience using it on a deck.

I have no doubt though about the pro coatings though i've read on here from legacy and others, when we did a paver drive, they have cheap sealer for pavers you typically see or 2 part urethane sealer (expensive$$) i've never seen a water based sealer last here more than 12 months in the sun, i didn't bother with it, we're going on close to 3-4 years on the urethane not a problem, the extra spent on that already paid for itself in money and labor.

May do a pro thing one day in the garage but for now i'm happy to have it clean for awhile quickly while i get some other projects knocked out higher on the do list. Plus i won't feel too bad if the kids drop their bikes and take chunks out of things =)