Hello all- I've spent the last couple of years lurking on this board planning all the details of my new shop and, of course, the floor was one of the most imprtant decisions to make. After reading every single thread on here about all the various floor options plus doing a bit of independent research I came to the easy conclusion that, for a coated floor, Wolverine is the way to go. It is by no means the least expensive option but, in terms of quality and durability, it will be right up there at the top.
The first thing to mention is that Fred from Alpha Garage could not have been more helpful. He was very responsive and answered all of my dumb questions before and even during the project itself. I don't know if Fred sells other products through his business but I would definitley take business to him again in the future.
First, some of the project statistics: the shop is 36 x 36 (1296 square feet) and the concrete was poured about a year ago so slab mositure was not an issue. The concrete condition was pretty much as originally poured (plus being covered with all the residue from sheet rocking, texuring, and painting).
After a call to Fred, we decided on the following quantities:
10 gallons of OrganiPrep
9 gallons Bondtite 1101
9.75 gallons LiquaTile 1184 (Light Gray)
70 lbs Deco Flakes (mix of white, black, navy blue, and dark gray)
With waste, etc. factored in, this results in a nominal coating thickness of about 23.5 mils which is slightly thicker than Wolverine's recommendation of 22 mils for shop floor applications. I also decided to go with OrganiPrep for etching the concrete as I simply didn't want to deal with Muriatic Acid.
After placing the order here's what showed up in my driveway in Boise about a week later:
And, here are a couple of "before" pictures of the shop:
So, the first thing I did was power wash the floor to remove all the mess from sheet rocking and painting. You'll note from the photos that I papered the walls to protect them from the back splash from the washer...great idea...poor execution. I had never used a power washer before so I had no idea that, by the time I would be done with all the multiple washing steps, the paper would be in ribbons but it still was better than nothing...next time use plastic!
Following the initial washing I applied the OrganiPrep. Here's where my inexperience created another issue. Figuring that if the instructions said to leave it on the concrete for X minutes before removing, I assumed X+Y minutes would be better. That's probably true to some extent but I ended up with a ton of white residue (calcium) stuck to the concrete as a result of the OrganiPrep drying out...the main mistake I made was in applying all of the OrganiPrep at once...I should have divided the floor into sections to etch and clean in smaller pieces. The end result was despite many hours of balsting away with the washer, I still had a lot of the white residue on the concrete. After a quick consultation with Fred on the phone, I ran down to my neighborhood Lowes and picked up a gallon of Quikrete's acid etch (phosphoric acid) which I mixed very light and sprayed on the floor. This brought the calcium up and I was then able to (more or less) easily remove it with another washing.
About that time I decided that I wanted to change my mind about filling the stress cracks rather than leaving them open. Since I didn't order any of the Integraflex prouct from Wolverine, I went back to the Big Box store and found some self leveling flexible concrete filler. That threw a bit of worry into the process but, after a bit of research I concluded that as long as the filler isn't silicone based, adhesion of the BondTite should be OK. Here's a picture of the garage after etching and filling the cracks.
You can see that there were still a few white streaks where there was a bit of calcium left but it was so much better than before I let it go. In other threads there have been comments that this might be a problem but, now that I have actually applied and seen the results of cured BondTite, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it. For the most part, the concrete had the color and feel of medium grit sandpaper so I think I'm in good shape.
At this point, I'm two full days and a couple of evenings into the process. Just as an aside, to do this correctly, requires a lot of time.
Now on to the initial layer of BondTite. After dividing the total supply in half (since you use it as the base and clear coat) I mixed up the first batch. From reading previous posts I was prepared for a short pot life (it was also in the mid 90's) so I decided to apply it in 3 quart batches. As luck would have it, I had a disaster with my very first batch. After mixing, I immediately started cutting in the edges and around the garage doors. After only about 5 or 6 minutes, the container I was using literally got too hot to hold and smoke was coming out of it (I kid you not!). In only a matter of a few more minutes, the entire 3 quart bucket solidified into a solid mass. At this point I'm thinking I have big problems....then all of a sudden it occured to me...instead of a nylon bristle brush I was using one of those foam brushes which I noticed had turned into a gooey mess as well....apparently the foam acts as some kind of "super catalyst" and really gets the reaction going....Wolverine's instructions DO say to use a nylon brush...they don't say anything about NOT using foam but, take it from me....don't use foam. Once, I got past the initial shock, all the rest of the batches went down very nicely. I did have more difficulty than I would have liked in rolling it out to a uniform thickness...I ended up with spots that were noticebaly thicker than other areas even after going over the areas many times with the roller. Here's a picture with the BondTite base coat applied.
After letting the BondTite cure over night, I then moved on to application of the LiquaTile. I again mixed it in 3 quart batches and it went down very nicely. Whether it's the viscosity of the product, the type of roller I was using, or my own ineptness with the BondTite; for whatever reason, the Liquatile went down beautifully with a very even coating. Follows is a photo with the first couple of sections applied.
I had also ordered a pair of the spiked shoes so, at this point I strapped them on and threw out the flakes. Even after reading countless threads about how to apply the flakes (tossing them lightly in the air in an overhand upward arc) I still had a hard time getting them nice and even...I ended up with a few clumps here and there. For my case, it doesn't matter too much as I put down a pretty heavy layer of flakes so the clumps aren't very noticeable at all. There has been a lot of debate about whether or "to flake" or "not to flake" but I personally really like the look of a heavy flake layer. Also, the flakes help hide my ineptitude in rolling a nice even layer of BondTite. Here's the floor with flakes applied.
After letting the floor dry over night again, the next step was to sweep up the excess flakes. One tip that I learned here is that if you are applying a heavy flake layer you really want to do so while the LiquaTile is pretty wet. Tacky is good enough for a light layer but a thick layer really needs the glue. After a surprising amount of sweeping (it seemed like the flakes just kept coming and coming) I ended up with about 4 pounds of rejects (seen below).
The final step was to apply the BondTite top coat. Because I had ruined the intial batch I was worried that I wasn't going to have enough to finish the job. As it turned out, Wolverine ships a bit more than stated volume and the amount I ordered was for the gross dimensions of my shop. With the footprint of my cabinets and compressor closet subtracted from the gross square footage, I ended up with just enough to complete the job. As with the intial application, my end result of the top coat did not turn out to be as evenly applied as I hoped. The good news again, is that the heavy flake coating pretty much hides it from the visible eye...I just hope that the areas with the lighter coverage have a sufficient coating. I suppose I can always go back and put another layer on if I decide I need to. Here is what the finished floor looks like plus a close up.
Total time for the project was 4 days plus a couple of evenings. Despite the noted flaws, I am thrilled with the floor. Having never done anything like this before, I am amazed how nice it looks. Even though I didn't do everything perfectly, at the end of the day its a shop, not a living room! It will look great once it's loaded with cars and tools.This board is a great resource and I'm looking forward to learning even more from it in the future.
Bill Eisinger
The first thing to mention is that Fred from Alpha Garage could not have been more helpful. He was very responsive and answered all of my dumb questions before and even during the project itself. I don't know if Fred sells other products through his business but I would definitley take business to him again in the future.
First, some of the project statistics: the shop is 36 x 36 (1296 square feet) and the concrete was poured about a year ago so slab mositure was not an issue. The concrete condition was pretty much as originally poured (plus being covered with all the residue from sheet rocking, texuring, and painting).
After a call to Fred, we decided on the following quantities:
10 gallons of OrganiPrep
9 gallons Bondtite 1101
9.75 gallons LiquaTile 1184 (Light Gray)
70 lbs Deco Flakes (mix of white, black, navy blue, and dark gray)
With waste, etc. factored in, this results in a nominal coating thickness of about 23.5 mils which is slightly thicker than Wolverine's recommendation of 22 mils for shop floor applications. I also decided to go with OrganiPrep for etching the concrete as I simply didn't want to deal with Muriatic Acid.
After placing the order here's what showed up in my driveway in Boise about a week later:
And, here are a couple of "before" pictures of the shop:
So, the first thing I did was power wash the floor to remove all the mess from sheet rocking and painting. You'll note from the photos that I papered the walls to protect them from the back splash from the washer...great idea...poor execution. I had never used a power washer before so I had no idea that, by the time I would be done with all the multiple washing steps, the paper would be in ribbons but it still was better than nothing...next time use plastic!
Following the initial washing I applied the OrganiPrep. Here's where my inexperience created another issue. Figuring that if the instructions said to leave it on the concrete for X minutes before removing, I assumed X+Y minutes would be better. That's probably true to some extent but I ended up with a ton of white residue (calcium) stuck to the concrete as a result of the OrganiPrep drying out...the main mistake I made was in applying all of the OrganiPrep at once...I should have divided the floor into sections to etch and clean in smaller pieces. The end result was despite many hours of balsting away with the washer, I still had a lot of the white residue on the concrete. After a quick consultation with Fred on the phone, I ran down to my neighborhood Lowes and picked up a gallon of Quikrete's acid etch (phosphoric acid) which I mixed very light and sprayed on the floor. This brought the calcium up and I was then able to (more or less) easily remove it with another washing.
About that time I decided that I wanted to change my mind about filling the stress cracks rather than leaving them open. Since I didn't order any of the Integraflex prouct from Wolverine, I went back to the Big Box store and found some self leveling flexible concrete filler. That threw a bit of worry into the process but, after a bit of research I concluded that as long as the filler isn't silicone based, adhesion of the BondTite should be OK. Here's a picture of the garage after etching and filling the cracks.
You can see that there were still a few white streaks where there was a bit of calcium left but it was so much better than before I let it go. In other threads there have been comments that this might be a problem but, now that I have actually applied and seen the results of cured BondTite, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it. For the most part, the concrete had the color and feel of medium grit sandpaper so I think I'm in good shape.
At this point, I'm two full days and a couple of evenings into the process. Just as an aside, to do this correctly, requires a lot of time.
Now on to the initial layer of BondTite. After dividing the total supply in half (since you use it as the base and clear coat) I mixed up the first batch. From reading previous posts I was prepared for a short pot life (it was also in the mid 90's) so I decided to apply it in 3 quart batches. As luck would have it, I had a disaster with my very first batch. After mixing, I immediately started cutting in the edges and around the garage doors. After only about 5 or 6 minutes, the container I was using literally got too hot to hold and smoke was coming out of it (I kid you not!). In only a matter of a few more minutes, the entire 3 quart bucket solidified into a solid mass. At this point I'm thinking I have big problems....then all of a sudden it occured to me...instead of a nylon bristle brush I was using one of those foam brushes which I noticed had turned into a gooey mess as well....apparently the foam acts as some kind of "super catalyst" and really gets the reaction going....Wolverine's instructions DO say to use a nylon brush...they don't say anything about NOT using foam but, take it from me....don't use foam. Once, I got past the initial shock, all the rest of the batches went down very nicely. I did have more difficulty than I would have liked in rolling it out to a uniform thickness...I ended up with spots that were noticebaly thicker than other areas even after going over the areas many times with the roller. Here's a picture with the BondTite base coat applied.
After letting the BondTite cure over night, I then moved on to application of the LiquaTile. I again mixed it in 3 quart batches and it went down very nicely. Whether it's the viscosity of the product, the type of roller I was using, or my own ineptness with the BondTite; for whatever reason, the Liquatile went down beautifully with a very even coating. Follows is a photo with the first couple of sections applied.
I had also ordered a pair of the spiked shoes so, at this point I strapped them on and threw out the flakes. Even after reading countless threads about how to apply the flakes (tossing them lightly in the air in an overhand upward arc) I still had a hard time getting them nice and even...I ended up with a few clumps here and there. For my case, it doesn't matter too much as I put down a pretty heavy layer of flakes so the clumps aren't very noticeable at all. There has been a lot of debate about whether or "to flake" or "not to flake" but I personally really like the look of a heavy flake layer. Also, the flakes help hide my ineptitude in rolling a nice even layer of BondTite. Here's the floor with flakes applied.
After letting the floor dry over night again, the next step was to sweep up the excess flakes. One tip that I learned here is that if you are applying a heavy flake layer you really want to do so while the LiquaTile is pretty wet. Tacky is good enough for a light layer but a thick layer really needs the glue. After a surprising amount of sweeping (it seemed like the flakes just kept coming and coming) I ended up with about 4 pounds of rejects (seen below).
The final step was to apply the BondTite top coat. Because I had ruined the intial batch I was worried that I wasn't going to have enough to finish the job. As it turned out, Wolverine ships a bit more than stated volume and the amount I ordered was for the gross dimensions of my shop. With the footprint of my cabinets and compressor closet subtracted from the gross square footage, I ended up with just enough to complete the job. As with the intial application, my end result of the top coat did not turn out to be as evenly applied as I hoped. The good news again, is that the heavy flake coating pretty much hides it from the visible eye...I just hope that the areas with the lighter coverage have a sufficient coating. I suppose I can always go back and put another layer on if I decide I need to. Here is what the finished floor looks like plus a close up.
Total time for the project was 4 days plus a couple of evenings. Despite the noted flaws, I am thrilled with the floor. Having never done anything like this before, I am amazed how nice it looks. Even though I didn't do everything perfectly, at the end of the day its a shop, not a living room! It will look great once it's loaded with cars and tools.This board is a great resource and I'm looking forward to learning even more from it in the future.
Bill Eisinger
And nice writeup, not trying to get off track but what kind of car lift is that? I'm looking for one and I like the way yours is set up.