wreckdiver1321
Well-known member
Good afternoon all,
This will be an install, initial impressions, and long-term review thread detailing my experience with Legacy's HellFire floor coating. I thought it was a good idea to get it documented here too so everyone could see, as well as add a little bit to the knowledge base on this product since internet details are somewhat sparse.
@LegacyIndustrial, thank you for such a great product! I'm very pleased with the end result and the help you have provided along the way.
For those that don't know, I have had a hell of a time with my workshop floor. I tried to stain it, and when that failed I ground the floor, then tried various methods of oil/stain removal, then tried staining again with poor results, then tried more cleaning and grinding, then tried a final stain, which did not work. I sold the polyurea kit I got to finish off the floor, and bought @LegacyIndustrial's HellFire as my plan B. HellFire is an extremely tough opaque coating, so I should be able to cover the nastiness that my floor has become while providing even better protection than my Plan A. Unfortunately, winter arrived and brought cold, dry air. So I gave up for the winter months and focused on working on other projects.
Recently, the weather turned in my favor, so I decided it was time to get the floor sorted once and for all. I moved my Land Cruiser project to the garage, pulled out all of my tools and and equipment, then cleaned and etched the floor. I allowed two days for the floor to dry and was ready to go.
Per Legacy's instructions, I needed to maintain 60-90% humidity in the workshop for the floor to properly cure. To further complicate things, I wanted to ensure I got the coating underneath the overhead door, so I needed to seal the shop's environment while the door was open. To that end, I took the tarp I had underneath the Land Cruiser outside and nailed it around the doorframe.
Using rocks to hold the tarp down, I flattened the tarp against the doorframe and needed to seal it against the siding. To that end, I tested a few tapes to use in order to seal the tarp against the door opening. Aluminum HVAC foil tape held the best, so I taped the perimeter of the tarp up and called it good. My 4 year old helped me by handing me the strips of tape, the hammer, etc. He had a blast helping daddy work.
I wanted to limit the loss of heat/humidity as much as possible, so I opened the door about eight inches and put a block underneath it to hold the door open before starting to humidify the space. I used the biggest, baddest humidifier I could get at Target, as well as the one we happened to have at home already. It's a big area that's now not perfectly sealed, and Montana is a dry state, so I wanted to make sure the space maintained the proper level of humidity. It worked really well actually.
I let that sit overnight, and by Tuesday morning, I was in business.
I gathered all the necessary (and some not so necessary) supplies. If you plan on doing this coating, you need to take every precaution to keep your skin covered up. Long sleeves, pants, and gloves. If you get this on you, it's with you for at least 10 days. You cannot simply scrub it off. The tenacity of this stuff is incredible. Also, I had read about the strength of the smell, but this was something else. A respirator isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity. This stuff is seriously hazardous. It stung my eyes after the first coat.
Beyond the PPE, you need everything you'd normally need for painting a room. I couldn't get my hands on an 18" roller locally, so I just stuck with what I had, knowing I would throw almost all of it away after the fact.
HellFire isn't like paint, it's a lot more watery and tends to "creep" into gaps and cracks. It also needs to be mixed regularly since the particles fall out of suspension a little quickly.
I started by cutting in the edges and the section under the door (by hand, no taping) before painting the expansion joint. Then I moved on to rolling out the floor. Legacy gives a 300-400 sqft/gallon coverage, but I was able to roll my entire 529 sqft with just over a gallon. It took probably two hours though thanks to my tiny roller. The first coat is horribly ugly, so be prepared if you plan on doing this coating.
Subsequent coatings look better and and go down faster as you go, and they use even less product. Thank God for that, because it's kind of a miserable job. After the first coat, walking into the shop stung my eyes badly. The stink was like a living being, clinging to everything it came into contact with. Hair, clothes, skin, everything. It's horrible.
A quick reminder here to be smart about your pattern when rolling. I broke the floor up into quadrants and rolled them individually. I started at the NW quadrant and rolled that, then the SW quadrant, then the NE, then I painted the SE until I had an unpainted section about 3'x5' in front of the door, then went outside and painted the floor after I walked out. I did this each time. Remember to grab anything you might need before you paint it out of reach. Things like your paper towels, gloves, or your phone. Ask me how I know...
Unfortunately, I didn't plan ahead as well as I should have, so my third coat began at 12:30AM and ran until 2. Then I went in, took a shower, and got three hours of sleep thinking I was probably finished so long as that coat looked nice. Well, in the morning, it didn't look nice. The roller marks were very obvious and I wasn't a huge fan of the untinted HellFire. So I started looking at doing at least one more coat.
First, the prep. Knowing I had left the 6-hour recoat window, I followed Legacy's instructions to re-prep the floor: scuff with a Scotch Brite pad, then wipe down with denatured alcohol. To speed this up, I made a Scotch Brite broom. I was able to use this broom to scuff the entirety of the floor in about 20 minutes. For the alcohol wipedown, I got some denatured alcohol on a rag (don't use paper towels, any bumps on the floor will shred them in short order), got some knee pads on, and just wiped it down on my hands and knees. Not a fun job, but pretty quick given the size of the space.
Feeling pretty worn out from the previous day, this was enough for me, so I closed up the shop for the day.
The next morning, I restarted the humidifiers. After work, I started my fourth coat. I poured the final two gallons into a larger container, then dumped the 8 oz tint pack in, giving me the 4oz/gallon maximum stipulated by Legacy. It took a while to mix it in, but I could hardly notice the difference in the can. Once I used the brush to cover the edges and expansion joints, I saw the difference immediately and was very excited. This darker color looked so much better to my eyes than the undyed product.
Finally, the roller marks. I found the best way to combat this is to "back roll". Take your fully wet roller and roll a full line until the roller is pretty dry, then start at the top and roll it back with no pressure on the roller. Instead of stopping and rolling in the opposite direction, pick up the roller and start again. This cleans up the lines pretty nicely, but you still have to be really careful.
I did two coats of the darker color to ensure it was a smooth application. 12 hours later, here is the end result:
HOLY. ****.
This looks fantastic! I cannot believe this is the same floor! The end look is exceptional. I love how smooth it made the floor and I'm really happy with the final color.
I waited a little less than the recommended 72 hours to get in and start working on things, but the higher level of humidity I achieved must have contributed to a faster cure time, so it was pretty well cured by then. I kept the overhead door open for a few hours to air it out. As of 96 hours later, the smell is still there but far less aggressive. I'm sure with some more time to air out it will get taken care of.
This will be an install, initial impressions, and long-term review thread detailing my experience with Legacy's HellFire floor coating. I thought it was a good idea to get it documented here too so everyone could see, as well as add a little bit to the knowledge base on this product since internet details are somewhat sparse.
@LegacyIndustrial, thank you for such a great product! I'm very pleased with the end result and the help you have provided along the way.
For those that don't know, I have had a hell of a time with my workshop floor. I tried to stain it, and when that failed I ground the floor, then tried various methods of oil/stain removal, then tried staining again with poor results, then tried more cleaning and grinding, then tried a final stain, which did not work. I sold the polyurea kit I got to finish off the floor, and bought @LegacyIndustrial's HellFire as my plan B. HellFire is an extremely tough opaque coating, so I should be able to cover the nastiness that my floor has become while providing even better protection than my Plan A. Unfortunately, winter arrived and brought cold, dry air. So I gave up for the winter months and focused on working on other projects.
Recently, the weather turned in my favor, so I decided it was time to get the floor sorted once and for all. I moved my Land Cruiser project to the garage, pulled out all of my tools and and equipment, then cleaned and etched the floor. I allowed two days for the floor to dry and was ready to go.
Per Legacy's instructions, I needed to maintain 60-90% humidity in the workshop for the floor to properly cure. To further complicate things, I wanted to ensure I got the coating underneath the overhead door, so I needed to seal the shop's environment while the door was open. To that end, I took the tarp I had underneath the Land Cruiser outside and nailed it around the doorframe.
Using rocks to hold the tarp down, I flattened the tarp against the doorframe and needed to seal it against the siding. To that end, I tested a few tapes to use in order to seal the tarp against the door opening. Aluminum HVAC foil tape held the best, so I taped the perimeter of the tarp up and called it good. My 4 year old helped me by handing me the strips of tape, the hammer, etc. He had a blast helping daddy work.
I wanted to limit the loss of heat/humidity as much as possible, so I opened the door about eight inches and put a block underneath it to hold the door open before starting to humidify the space. I used the biggest, baddest humidifier I could get at Target, as well as the one we happened to have at home already. It's a big area that's now not perfectly sealed, and Montana is a dry state, so I wanted to make sure the space maintained the proper level of humidity. It worked really well actually.
I let that sit overnight, and by Tuesday morning, I was in business.
I gathered all the necessary (and some not so necessary) supplies. If you plan on doing this coating, you need to take every precaution to keep your skin covered up. Long sleeves, pants, and gloves. If you get this on you, it's with you for at least 10 days. You cannot simply scrub it off. The tenacity of this stuff is incredible. Also, I had read about the strength of the smell, but this was something else. A respirator isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity. This stuff is seriously hazardous. It stung my eyes after the first coat.
Beyond the PPE, you need everything you'd normally need for painting a room. I couldn't get my hands on an 18" roller locally, so I just stuck with what I had, knowing I would throw almost all of it away after the fact.
HellFire isn't like paint, it's a lot more watery and tends to "creep" into gaps and cracks. It also needs to be mixed regularly since the particles fall out of suspension a little quickly.
I started by cutting in the edges and the section under the door (by hand, no taping) before painting the expansion joint. Then I moved on to rolling out the floor. Legacy gives a 300-400 sqft/gallon coverage, but I was able to roll my entire 529 sqft with just over a gallon. It took probably two hours though thanks to my tiny roller. The first coat is horribly ugly, so be prepared if you plan on doing this coating.
Subsequent coatings look better and and go down faster as you go, and they use even less product. Thank God for that, because it's kind of a miserable job. After the first coat, walking into the shop stung my eyes badly. The stink was like a living being, clinging to everything it came into contact with. Hair, clothes, skin, everything. It's horrible.
A quick reminder here to be smart about your pattern when rolling. I broke the floor up into quadrants and rolled them individually. I started at the NW quadrant and rolled that, then the SW quadrant, then the NE, then I painted the SE until I had an unpainted section about 3'x5' in front of the door, then went outside and painted the floor after I walked out. I did this each time. Remember to grab anything you might need before you paint it out of reach. Things like your paper towels, gloves, or your phone. Ask me how I know...
Unfortunately, I didn't plan ahead as well as I should have, so my third coat began at 12:30AM and ran until 2. Then I went in, took a shower, and got three hours of sleep thinking I was probably finished so long as that coat looked nice. Well, in the morning, it didn't look nice. The roller marks were very obvious and I wasn't a huge fan of the untinted HellFire. So I started looking at doing at least one more coat.
First, the prep. Knowing I had left the 6-hour recoat window, I followed Legacy's instructions to re-prep the floor: scuff with a Scotch Brite pad, then wipe down with denatured alcohol. To speed this up, I made a Scotch Brite broom. I was able to use this broom to scuff the entirety of the floor in about 20 minutes. For the alcohol wipedown, I got some denatured alcohol on a rag (don't use paper towels, any bumps on the floor will shred them in short order), got some knee pads on, and just wiped it down on my hands and knees. Not a fun job, but pretty quick given the size of the space.
Feeling pretty worn out from the previous day, this was enough for me, so I closed up the shop for the day.
The next morning, I restarted the humidifiers. After work, I started my fourth coat. I poured the final two gallons into a larger container, then dumped the 8 oz tint pack in, giving me the 4oz/gallon maximum stipulated by Legacy. It took a while to mix it in, but I could hardly notice the difference in the can. Once I used the brush to cover the edges and expansion joints, I saw the difference immediately and was very excited. This darker color looked so much better to my eyes than the undyed product.
Finally, the roller marks. I found the best way to combat this is to "back roll". Take your fully wet roller and roll a full line until the roller is pretty dry, then start at the top and roll it back with no pressure on the roller. Instead of stopping and rolling in the opposite direction, pick up the roller and start again. This cleans up the lines pretty nicely, but you still have to be really careful.
I did two coats of the darker color to ensure it was a smooth application. 12 hours later, here is the end result:
HOLY. ****.
This looks fantastic! I cannot believe this is the same floor! The end look is exceptional. I love how smooth it made the floor and I'm really happy with the final color.
I waited a little less than the recommended 72 hours to get in and start working on things, but the higher level of humidity I achieved must have contributed to a faster cure time, so it was pretty well cured by then. I kept the overhead door open for a few hours to air it out. As of 96 hours later, the smell is still there but far less aggressive. I'm sure with some more time to air out it will get taken care of.
(oh the mental anguish)!