Just cant decide. Epoxy or dye and seal?

[Mr. Demeanor]

I keep going back and forth. I have 2400 sq ft of new construction slab and Im getting near to to being able to finish the floor. Originally I had planned to just concrete dye a light a grey and seal with a urethane sealer. Im a little OCD and I know every time I chip or scratch an beautiful epoxy style floor it will bother me.
The problem is the masonry crew beat the **** out of my floor. We had a discussion when they started about protecting the floor as its the finished surface. No tile or flooring like a house would get. Well I have probably 100 little grooves where some ***** set his saw down blade first with it still spinning. Quite a few chips/chunks where block got dropped as well.

I would still like to just dye and seal if I can repair the damage with something that will take the dye the same as the existing material then seal it all. Ive also read that acid washing after the repairs will even out the slab color and I may not eve want to dye it.

Heres some pics of what I am up against. Yes, I held back some money for the damage. I knew some was unavoidable but this was just careless.

 

[wesman]

When my house was built my house in 2013 the laborers piled all the drywall & framing scraps in the garage. When they cleaned up they used a bobcat with a bucket to pick it up. There were gauges 2.5” wide and as deep as a two nickels stacked. Builder said “there are no structural issues, its cosmetic” and wouldn’t do anything about it. I wanted to stain the floor too, so I left it for a couple of years. Recently had the floor epoxy coated and the first the company did for prep was to come in with an $18k floor grinder/sander and went over it. My wife & I could believe how smooth the floor was when they were done with it. All imperfections were gone! You may want to check it with a company that can do that and you may still be able to stain. However the epoxy color/style I chose is awesome.

 

[346ci]

I'm going through the same and after getting some epoxy costs of $6-12 a sq ft, it's not worth it for my 1600 sq ft shop. I just got the Delta Dye sample kit from Legacy and should be doing that soon with the Nohr-S sealer.

I do believe you would like your floor ground with a diamond pad/flap. I have seen this done on a poorly finished slab and it looks amazing afterwards. You can rent these machines from home depot or other local rental stores.

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Im just wondering what the best product for fill / repair the damage would be.

$6-$12 is insane! You can do it yourself for a fraction of that. Polished and sealed is only about $3-$4.

I used Behr (Hone Depot) concrete dye on a retaining wall I made from Sakrete bags and it came out very very nice.

Dye and seal would be very inexpensive.
https://www.behr.com/consumer/produ...finishes/behr-premium-decorative-concrete-dye

Im not sure what the advantage of acid stain vs dye would be. Acid stain looks a lot more labor intensive.

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Armorpoxy has complete everything you need kits for under $2 sq ft but I read a few reviews that epoxy like this can yellow and mine will get a lot of sunlight.

https://armorpoxy.com/products/job-pallet-complete-ready-install-system-armorpoxy-ii-per-sq-ft/

 

[Shea]

Im just wondering what the best product for fill / repair the damage would be.

$6-$12 is insane! You can do it yourself for a fraction of that. Polished and sealed is only about $3-$4.

I used Behr (Hone Depot) concrete dye on a retaining wall I made from Sakrete bags and it came out very very nice.

Dye and seal would be very inexpensive.
https://www.behr.com/consumer/produ...finishes/behr-premium-decorative-concrete-dye

Im not sure what the advantage of acid stain vs dye would be. Acid stain looks a lot more labor intensive.

I highly advise not using the stain you are referring to. This article explains why: https://allgaragefloors.com/fake-concrete-garage-floor-stains/ Additionally, polished and sealed concrete costs much more than $3 - $4 per square foot.

The gouges and broken concrete at the joints in your concrete can easily be repaired, but you are not going to eliminate them by grinding alone. That is a lot concrete to remove from the surface to make them disappear. They are just too deep.

Remember that concrete stain is not going to be a solid even color. It will always provide some type of variegated or mottled look depending on the type of stain you use and the varying density of your concrete at the surface. The repairs will just add character.

If you decide to make the repairs and grind the surface, then you will need to use a solvent or water-based stain such as Delta Dye. Acid stains react with the free lime in concrete and grinding removes much of that. The grinding will prep the concrete for a good U.V. stable clear coat, such as polyurea, as well.

If you apply a proper coating system, then the repairs should not show at all if done properly.

 

[FJ4FUN]

Excellent candidate for a nice 100% solids epoxy application...

 

[Toolfool]

I've been happy using Kemiko acid stains on garage floors and radiant slab-on-grade.

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Excellent candidate for a nice 100% solids epoxy application...

How is the UV stability? I live in Florida with two 14x14 doors facing southwest that will be open a lot.

 

[Jason B]

Do VCT, problem solved and will cost you 5 times less.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

How is the UV stability? I live in Florida with two 14x14 doors facing southwest that will be open a lot.

It's poor!
Look to polyurea for this application.

 

[billie]

I call it all character. This is about my favourite look. Altho I prefer better organized.



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