transamfan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2011
- Messages
- 79
Hello, This is a review of 2 products I used and the results with each plus a follow up after several years of use.
I had a concrete floor that was rough because previous owner didnt finish it out good enough. I wanted a smooth nice floor.
all the proper prep was followed.
I first tried Rust-Oleum RockSolid Polycuramine garage kit in gray. stuff comes in a bag that you break the inside seal and shake the bag to mix the 2 parts. I was doing 15'x15' sections where the expansion joints were made a clean separation between applications. First coat concrete soaked it up and was thin so added 2nd coat. these 2 coats I applied like directions with foam roller as directed in kit. the foam roller kept falling apart because the stuff was so tacky it pulled the foam apart. This stuff sets very fast and left little time to get it all on the floor while using this roller paint it on form a tray method. It also had air in it from that foam roller I believe that caused little bubbles to come to the surface and pop but the stuff was setting up so fast that popped little area couldnt lay back down and hardened into a little volcano looking thing. On the next 15x15, I tried the professional method of spreading the stuff out, pour it out squeege around and back roll 1 time with a wide fine roller. this worked great and was the method I used throughout the process. the Polycuramine still sets too fast and I still had problems with the little volcano bumps forming. So, I used a sander, knocked them all down and went with a different product.
2nd product was also Rust-Oleum but was the EpoxyShield Silver Gray Professional Floor Coating Kit. Its the better solvent based version. This stuff was much better to work with IMHO than the polycuramine. MUCH less costly and it has a longer set time so plenty of time to get it mixed, spread, back rolled and for it to have time to lay down smooth. I redid the 2 15x15 section with this stuff and did the rest of the shop as well. I did 2 coats of the color followed by 2 coats of clear. I didnt use any of the flakes (a mistake revealed much later) The floor looked great and shiny.... for about 6 months. In a garage where you park a car, its great. In a shop where you work, not so much. grinding sparks left little burnt brown spots all over it. had to MIG wled something in the corner and where I didnt cover floor it got messed up quite a bit. Shows scuffs easliy. Dragging floor jacks around left marks where I slid the jack sideways. all of this damge was easliy seen because I left the flakes out to get a smooth floor. The damage would have been hidden by the flakes quite a bit.
fast forward a couple years and my floor, still smooth and easy to sweep doesnt look so great anymore. The area in the garage door has yellowed from UV exposure. (Professional products have better UV protection) I have torn down my old building and building new. Having to remove the epoxy. The area I used the polycuramine stuff 1st is coming up with a sharp scraper on a pole. The area I used the cheaper epoxyshield stuff, I cant get it off at all. going to have whole slab ground and topped with a self leveling overlay anyway so they can get that stuff off with that machine.
SO in my opinion of the 2 big box home store products I would say skip the polycuramine and just use the epoxyshield. But thats only if you are parking on it. if you are working on it, id say skip epoxy altogether and go for polished concrete.
I had a concrete floor that was rough because previous owner didnt finish it out good enough. I wanted a smooth nice floor.
all the proper prep was followed.
I first tried Rust-Oleum RockSolid Polycuramine garage kit in gray. stuff comes in a bag that you break the inside seal and shake the bag to mix the 2 parts. I was doing 15'x15' sections where the expansion joints were made a clean separation between applications. First coat concrete soaked it up and was thin so added 2nd coat. these 2 coats I applied like directions with foam roller as directed in kit. the foam roller kept falling apart because the stuff was so tacky it pulled the foam apart. This stuff sets very fast and left little time to get it all on the floor while using this roller paint it on form a tray method. It also had air in it from that foam roller I believe that caused little bubbles to come to the surface and pop but the stuff was setting up so fast that popped little area couldnt lay back down and hardened into a little volcano looking thing. On the next 15x15, I tried the professional method of spreading the stuff out, pour it out squeege around and back roll 1 time with a wide fine roller. this worked great and was the method I used throughout the process. the Polycuramine still sets too fast and I still had problems with the little volcano bumps forming. So, I used a sander, knocked them all down and went with a different product.
2nd product was also Rust-Oleum but was the EpoxyShield Silver Gray Professional Floor Coating Kit. Its the better solvent based version. This stuff was much better to work with IMHO than the polycuramine. MUCH less costly and it has a longer set time so plenty of time to get it mixed, spread, back rolled and for it to have time to lay down smooth. I redid the 2 15x15 section with this stuff and did the rest of the shop as well. I did 2 coats of the color followed by 2 coats of clear. I didnt use any of the flakes (a mistake revealed much later) The floor looked great and shiny.... for about 6 months. In a garage where you park a car, its great. In a shop where you work, not so much. grinding sparks left little burnt brown spots all over it. had to MIG wled something in the corner and where I didnt cover floor it got messed up quite a bit. Shows scuffs easliy. Dragging floor jacks around left marks where I slid the jack sideways. all of this damge was easliy seen because I left the flakes out to get a smooth floor. The damage would have been hidden by the flakes quite a bit.
fast forward a couple years and my floor, still smooth and easy to sweep doesnt look so great anymore. The area in the garage door has yellowed from UV exposure. (Professional products have better UV protection) I have torn down my old building and building new. Having to remove the epoxy. The area I used the polycuramine stuff 1st is coming up with a sharp scraper on a pole. The area I used the cheaper epoxyshield stuff, I cant get it off at all. going to have whole slab ground and topped with a self leveling overlay anyway so they can get that stuff off with that machine.
SO in my opinion of the 2 big box home store products I would say skip the polycuramine and just use the epoxyshield. But thats only if you are parking on it. if you are working on it, id say skip epoxy altogether and go for polished concrete.
