Grinding & Filling a Badly Damaged Floor

[SRTSRT]

My garage burned to the ground recently, and I'm currently rebuilding. The slab is structurally sound, but looks bad and the surface is badly "pocked" in many places.

I have a contractor who is going to cut around each problem area to about a ½" depth; fill the void with an epoxy filler; and then grind the entire slab. He's the same guy that does the local Home Depot's/Lowe's/Kroger's/etc -- and the results look pretty good.

I'm generally convinced that grinding the slab is the best solution; but I'm wondering about the epoxy filler material. How does it hold up? How does it look after grinding? And should I plan on staining the concrete/epoxy, to get a consistent look? Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks.

 

[porphyre]

I'm no expert, but because epoxy and concrete are, chemically, completely different, I don't think you'll be able to use a stain to color match. I think your only shot at a consistent look will be covering the floor entirely; tile or paint. Although there's a guy on here that swears buy this epoxy/quartz slurry stuff.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Were you actually able to get a permit to build back on the old slab? Many building inspectors won't give permits to do this. Way too much chance of weakened concrete in many cases.

For repair, I'd be inclined to want to grind and fill (as you suggest) and then cover with a good 100% solids epoxy.

The pocked places come from the heat of the fire driving moisture out of the concrete (explosive steam) and blowing off the surface. I've seen this in a couple of places on the interstate. One accident happened only a couple of months after the entire roadbed had been sawed and pulled out and repoured. For several years now I've had to drive over this rough 100 ft section where there was a intense accident/vehicle fire. Looks like somebody had blasted away at it with an .50 cal M60.

Good luck though.

Charles

 

[SRTSRT]

The slab is structurally sound -- just superficial damage. Its 6" thick with #4 rebar on 12" centers both ways; and has a network of 18"x18" concrete bond beams under the slab with #6 rebar running through them. The worst damage is where gasoline from a boat burned for a while near a floor drain; but the worst areas are only about 1" deep -- so I'm not too worried about the strength -- and yes, the county did an inspection.

I'm told the epoxy filler is stronger than the concrete; but that it doesn't "feather" out well on the edges -- hence the ½" cut around the problem areas (so no edge will be less than ½" thick). Apparently they can start adding coloring agents about half way through the grinding process (if it looks bad). I'm told it's more of a stain than a top coat, which I'm trying to avoid.

 

[Justanoldguy]

Just go ahead and let the professional do his job.
You can decide to epoxy coat the floor or not,
AFTER you see the finished product.

 

[krooser]

One of the local quick-lube joints has a textured epoxy floor that would look great and it would hide a lot of imperfections. This floor is probably six years old now and you'd think it was brand new. It's kind of a tan/brown/ black combo of colors.

The shop now does repairs as well as oil changes and the guys abuse the hell out of it but it still looks great... maybe this would work for you.