heating garage while doing epoxy

[jmh21586]

I'm getting ready to do my Wolvernine floor in my garage. Problem is it's getting cold around here. Maybe 50 for an average high. I'd like to heat the garage before, during and for a while after putting the epoxy down. I've heard that this may cause problems. I've heard of heaters spitting out stuff that will not allow the epoxy to bond properly. I have propane torpedo heaters available. But of course they are not vented. Will these be a problem humidity wise?? I have a window this weekend of three days in the low fifties. Should I just forget about heat?? I'm not sure what the slab temp is, but it cant be too low, although it has gotten into the 20's and 30's lately. But it has 2" foam under concrete and has been close up, so......I don't know.

How about a few electric space heaters? I could probably rent a couple of those. I can't wait any longer. Between the constant rain and snow around here lately, I need to take advantage of low 50 degree, dry days.

 

[TONE]

Is the garage attached to the house? Could you just open the door letting heat from there go in?

 

[jmh21586]

No it's a detached garage. I'm going to try to rent some electric space heaters tommorrow. Hopefully the local rental place has a coupke. But no matter what I'm going for it. Bondtite Saturday. It's gonna be in the 50's Saturday. High 50's on Sunday. So I think I'll be ok.

 

[AlphaGarage]

50's, less than 80% relative humidity - shove the kid in the attic 'cause that balloon is set to break free of its earthly tethers.

And the critical temperature isn't just the air temp, but also, even more so, the slab temperature.

Many coatings don't just 'dry,' they cure by chemical reactions. When you fly under the minimum limits of a coating not only can take a lot longer to cure, at some point the low temps can affect the processes so much that the coating may never cure fully, so portions may remain soft or fail completely.

 

[jmh21586]

So would putting heaters in there and keeping it warm be ok?? I have torpedos, updraft torpedos, pretty much any kind of fueled heaters at my disposal. Wil that work??

Will it work to have electric heaters in there and keep the temp up??

 

[D.J.]

Hank Hill and I both recomend PROPANE and propane accessories. A whole lot less expensive than electricity and maybe use box fans hung from bailing wire to force heat down toward floor! read instructions and make sure your in the window on the surface temp of the floor.
________
Medical cannabis

 

[jmh21586]

If I install a vented garage heater, like a Hot Dawg or something will that work?? Keeping the garage warm prior, during and after installation of the epoxy??
The only reason I'm not doing that right off the bat is that somewhere I read of oil from heaters getting on the floor.
Like I said before. The garage is insulated, has 2" of foam under concrete. I was in there today and it was comfortable.



What I want to know is what do I have to do to be able to do this floor now instead of six months from now??

 

[ironroad 9c1]

need to know how cold the slab it, the air in the garage could be 90 degrees, but if the slab is 40 degrees , its not gonna cure correctly as Alpha said before.

 

[jmh21586]

How do i accuartely measure slab temp??

 

[jmh21586]

I checked the weather forcast. highs in low 50's. Lows still in the mid 40's. Steady for the next week. Not ideal. But doable?? Coupled with a heater??

 

[AlphaGarage]

Yup - 40f and above you're golden. If you have additional warm air coming in, that won't be a problem. You want to keep any one spot from becoming significantly warmer, or colder, than surrounding area, so avoid hot and cold spots. And you also want to avoid contamination, so no leaking oil and especially no silicon products, like silicon lubricants.

If you can shoot for and maintain an overall 55 - 70f for slab and air throughout the entire process the coatings and you will be nice and comfortable

 

[AlphaGarage]

Also - if you do use propane to heat the space, you'll need ventilation. A byproduct of propane heat (CO2*) in high concentrations can effect epoxy as it cures.

The mid 40's to 50's range is within spec, if you want to heat things up so that the cure rate doesn't drag out you don't need to augment Mom nature too much.

Play it safe and just use electric space heaters, but not too close to the slab.






* Betcha didn't know Al Gore invented epoxy also.

 

[jmh21586]

Yup - 40f and above you're golden. If you have additional warm air coming in, that won't be a problem. You want to keep any one spot from becoming significantly warmer, or colder, than surrounding area, so avoid hot and cold spots.

A couple fans on low circulating the air should work.

And you also want to avoid contamination, so no leaking oil and especially no silicon products, like silicon lubricants.

I've taken this to the extreme. After the etching and multiple pressure washings, I let NOTHING in the garage. Not even my dog. I even bought a dedicated broom to sweep in there, should I need to, just in case my other umpteen brooms had contamination on them. I also bought a new pair of cheap shoes to wear in there while I work to constantly keep the floor spoteless the last couple weeks. I'm like MR Rogers when I go out there. Change my shoes and everything.

 

[jmh21586]

* Betcha didn't know Al Gore invented epoxy also.

What didn't that A-hole invent??






Did I say that out loud??










When I'm done, and if my nerves haven't been rendered broken beyond repair, I'm going to start some sort of support group for epoxy floor DIY'ers.
We can all sit and retell tales of sleepless nights and nervous tremors.

Hi, my name is Sean.......

 

[krooser]

I did mine in November with temps in the 30's... now I DO have a gas-fired tube heater in the shop but the far reaches of the floor don't get a lot of radiant heat.

I had zero problems with the whole deal.

 

[AlphaGarage]

What didn't that A-hole invent??

 

[NUTTSGT]

* Betcha didn't know Al Gore invented epoxy also.

I heard he designed it to paint everything "green"

 

[thundercow]

What about installing at 50 degrees? I always liked the results I got in cold-weather installations. Of course, I didn't like the 8 days of drying time before hard-cure on the last coat. But cold weather installs, the epoxy has time to flow and level. Installing in in Austin in the heat of summer can sometimes yield an installation that doesn't flow as nicely...

 

[thegarageguy]

There are cold weather polymer formulas out there. Maybe in this case its safer to wait until definite 50 and above weather. Why take the chance? Whats the harm in waiting?

 

[jmh21586]

That was the problem. I didn't want to do it in the heat of summer. We had a lot of 80's and 90's. So I figured I'd do it in the fall in mild temps. Around 60. Well, this year in MN we went from 80's one week to 40's and snow and rain the next. So far we haven't had our usual fall.