This is my first post here. In the last few days I must have read most of the threads since about 2007 in this subforum.
Polyaspartics seem to be a good alternative to epoxy but I don't have money to pay a professional contractor. I went with 100% epoxy because it seems that there is more info available for the DIY-er.
Last night I finished putting down a second coat of epoxy over the acid stained concrete. The first coat was rolled 3 days ago - diluted down epoxy (20% Xylene) as a primer meant to soak in the concrete. It took 3 days to get tack free. The weather is cold over here right now (28-38F), garage air is 60F, I'm lucky if the floor is 45-48. The cold epoxy got thick in the original containers and it was hard to work with. I read at least 2 posts here about applying epoxy in cold weather and they said that actually the epoxy self levels better when the temp is low (not lower than 40F though). I don't know about the self leveling, but working with it cold is a b**ch.
After the 2-nd coat the floor it's not perfect but it's fine with me. Rolling the epoxy is definitely something that requires experience. I had to dilute the 2-nd epoxy coat with Xylene - about 10% dilution - to make it easier to work with. I know, pretty counterproductive, but I had hell trying to spread/roll the 100% epoxy.
2 questions:
- How do I eliminate dust completely?
The floor doesn't have color chips so every single tiny piece of dirt left on the floor can be seen in the final result. Between the acid staining/neutralizing I rinsed, scrubbed and vacuumed the floor 7 times. Also right before applying the 1-st and 2-nd coats I mopped dry + vacuumed.
I don't see a reason why I didn't end up with a near-perfect clean floor. What do you think?
- How to treat rough concrete areas?
Part of the garage concrete is as rough as a cinder block surface:
http://www.photoshoptextures.com/wall-textures/cinder-block-texture.jpg
That rough concrete soaked 2 coats of 80% and 90% epoxy like a sponge. It doesn't even look like epoxy has been applied over it. What do I do over that area?
Thanks in advance.
Polyaspartics seem to be a good alternative to epoxy but I don't have money to pay a professional contractor. I went with 100% epoxy because it seems that there is more info available for the DIY-er.
Last night I finished putting down a second coat of epoxy over the acid stained concrete. The first coat was rolled 3 days ago - diluted down epoxy (20% Xylene) as a primer meant to soak in the concrete. It took 3 days to get tack free. The weather is cold over here right now (28-38F), garage air is 60F, I'm lucky if the floor is 45-48. The cold epoxy got thick in the original containers and it was hard to work with. I read at least 2 posts here about applying epoxy in cold weather and they said that actually the epoxy self levels better when the temp is low (not lower than 40F though). I don't know about the self leveling, but working with it cold is a b**ch.
After the 2-nd coat the floor it's not perfect but it's fine with me. Rolling the epoxy is definitely something that requires experience. I had to dilute the 2-nd epoxy coat with Xylene - about 10% dilution - to make it easier to work with. I know, pretty counterproductive, but I had hell trying to spread/roll the 100% epoxy.
2 questions:
- How do I eliminate dust completely?
The floor doesn't have color chips so every single tiny piece of dirt left on the floor can be seen in the final result. Between the acid staining/neutralizing I rinsed, scrubbed and vacuumed the floor 7 times. Also right before applying the 1-st and 2-nd coats I mopped dry + vacuumed.
I don't see a reason why I didn't end up with a near-perfect clean floor. What do you think?
- How to treat rough concrete areas?
Part of the garage concrete is as rough as a cinder block surface:
http://www.photoshoptextures.com/wall-textures/cinder-block-texture.jpg
That rough concrete soaked 2 coats of 80% and 90% epoxy like a sponge. It doesn't even look like epoxy has been applied over it. What do I do over that area?
Thanks in advance.
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