grind or pour? refinishing a concrete floor

[1950coronet600hp]

So just about ready to move in to my fixerupper. the garage needs attention as I want to get that up to shape before I move in all my tools and heavy things. problem is they didn't smooth out the concrete when the slab was poured, its not terrible, but has a "pebble grain" texture. its level and not cracked, the depth of the texture is about 3/16ish. with a grinder rental at about 120 for the day would I be better off grinding it? or mixing up floor leveler? I plan to seal / epoxy coating it so it doesn't get oil stained etc. what would everyone recommend?

 

[CombatNinja]

Grinding will be a bit more work but have less potential issues down the road. If the plan is to do a coating, might as well grind it and just put the coating down before you move everything in. Do it right, do it once.

 

[James-W]

I agree, grinding would seem to be best route to take. Just be sure to do a really good job of grinding and be sure to use a quality epoxy system.

 

[1950coronet600hp]

and if I do go the grinding route, what works well for getting into the corners and up to the walls where the floor machine cant reach? I'm assuming some sort of diamond wheel on my angle grinder?

 

[Toomanytools?]

The Home depot one gets pretty close to the wall within 1" or less, corners touch up with hand grinder.

 

[James-W]

and if I do go the grinding route, what works well for getting into the corners and up to the walls where the floor machine cant reach? I'm assuming some sort of diamond wheel on my angle grinder?

You can use an angle grinder with a diamond cup wheel.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi, don't underestimate the grinding involved to make this smooth. Grinding close to 1/4" is a lot of grinding.

Perhaps consider a cleaner solution. Use 100% solids epoxy and add clean sand and make a slurry and pour iii out and use a flat squeegee to spread it around and let it level it. Much stronger and less prone to failure than a cementious leveler.

This plus a full fleck broadcast and you will have a magnificent floor!

 

[1950coronet600hp]

Hi, don't underestimate the grinding involved to make this smooth. Grinding close to 1/4" is a lot of grinding.

Perhaps consider a cleaner solution. Use 100% solids epoxy and add clean sand and make a slurry and pour iii out and use a flat squeegee to spread it around and let it level it. Much stronger and less prone to failure than a cementious leveler.

This plus a full fleck broadcast and you will have a magnificent floor!

I do have some experience with epoxy resin's from my 'glassing days.. including thickeners etc, this has also been floating in the back of my head for a while, so that being said, I'm always looking for different ways that are cost effective to achieve what I want to do, so that being said, why sand? why not fiberglass powder? that's what they use in FRP construction for a thickener, frankly why not a 5 gallon bucket of epoxy resin, thickener powder, and a color dye?

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi if you are comfortable with using that method due to your experience then feel free to use it. We though have not tested this method so we can’t comment on the results or longevity of driving on it. We have never added extra thickeners like powder to our coatings. Lastly there is always the risk of when adding foreign material not tested to any manufacturers products it would void the warranty.

Sand since it is readily available and tested we often recommend to thicken 100% solids epoxy when needing to build it up as a liquid alone will do very little repairing so it needs an additive.

Keep us posted!



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[1950coronet600hp]

I am, but its not garage floors I have experience in. how much build up can be achieved with adding sand to your product?

 

[Armorpoxy]

1/16th-1/8th depending on sand qty added.