My Rust Bullet Garage Coating Experience!

[dudley123]

Hello everyone! I'm finally getting around to posting about my garage coating experience.. I'm located in the NW and had issues laying epoxy down due to temps.

Ran across Justins thread about the Rebate program and we struck up conversation regarding the white floor I had wanted, etc. After I had ordered the product, I had a change of heart and wanted to add color chips on the top layer. Originally had planned on 2 coats of base grey and two color coats in White.

Used Rust Bullet spot remover on some of the oil stains. House was built in 2003 and the pad was in really good shape aside from some leveling issues at the expansion joints.

700sqft 3 car garage

3.5 Gallons of Base
3.5 Gallons of White
4 Gallons of Clear shot
18lbs of Color Chips
GarageFlooring Antiskid .5lb
Legacy HD821 Gel Filler
5" Harbor Freight Special grinder and Diamond cup wheel
Amazon.com universal 5" dust shroud (worked fantastic)
Shop Vac w/dust collection bag


I should have left the garage in White as the finish looked fantastic. I became worried about tire marks and scratches so figured the color chips would help break it up if something were to occur.

I sprayed the clear coat on using an airless sprayer on top of the color chips.. I would not recommend this as the clear just hung out in the air/garage/hvac, was a mess. Really needs to be rolled on!!

Legacy Gel Filler HD821 used here. I ground about 1/2 down on one side of the pad due to leveling issues and should have ground the gel down farther as you can see the patch line in certain spots:




White color coat after the 2coats of Grey, you will want 2 coats of color on top of the base if you want the airplane/hangar effect:






Color chips now on top of the white, sprayed the first 2 gallons of clear(notice color chips not really "under" any clear this is why it needs to be rolled on instead of sprayed in my opinion)




Once everything tacked up, I went about 12-14hrs in between recoats however with the spiked shoes I was able to lay the base coats within 6hrs of eachother.

Here is how it looks after the last coat of Clear was "ROLLED" on.











Product rolled on extremely easily. Justin was on the ball when I emailed or called him regarding ANY questions.. I had to email him frantically on sunday morning and had a response back within 20minutes. ( I ran out of clear all my fault)

What I would change:
1. Should have ground down the gel a bit more so I wouldn't see the seam come through the coating.

2. Not used Color chips or done less of a broadcast as I struggle with the "thick" spots. (helpers didn't understand feeding the chickens, instead of just throwing it down) I'm a bit OCD and the broadcast of chips really pisses me off.

3. Purchased respirators for everyone, including the neighbors. Seriously this stuff stinks, close the windows and HVAC otherwise your entire house will wreak of solvent. (only lasts for 3-4hrs then most has dissipated)


Would I use the product again in lieu of an epoxy solution? Yes, for the climate I applied this in and the garage use that I have, this will be perfect. I detail/basic maint/performance mod installs as this is not a working professional garage, I didn't think a full blown epoxy solution was warranted!


Thanks for reading through my rambling! I love the look of my new garage, now I just have to let it cure and move everything back in!!

Thanks to everyone on GJ for pics and testimonials and most importantly Justin from Garageflooring as he went above and beyond helping me with any questions or concerns I had.

Chris

 

[Garage Flooring]

Hello everyone! I'm finally getting around to posting about my garage coating experience.. I'm located in the NW and had issues laying epoxy down due to temps.

Ran across Justins thread about the Rebate program and we struck up conversation regarding the white floor I had wanted, etc. After I had ordered the product, I had a change of heart and wanted to add color chips on the top layer. Originally had planned on 2 coats of base grey and two color coats in White.

Used Rust Bullet spot remover on some of the oil stains. House was built in 2003 and the pad was in really good shape aside from some leveling issues at the expansion joints.

700sqft 3 car garage

3.5 Gallons of Base
3.5 Gallons of White
4 Gallons of Clear shot
18lbs of Color Chips


I should have left the garage in White as the finish looked fantastic. I became worried about tire marks and scratches so figured the color chips would help break it up if something were to occur.

I sprayed the clear coat on using an airless sprayer on top of the color chips.. I would not recommend this as the clear just hung out in the air/garage/hvac, was a mess. Really needs to be rolled on!!

Legacy Gel Filler HD821 used here:




White color coat after the 2coats of Grey, you will want 2 coats of color on top of the base if you want the airplane/hangar effect:






Color chips now on top of the white, sprayed the first 2 gallons of clear:





Once everything tacked up, I went about 12-14hrs in between recoats however with the spiked shoes I was able to lay the base coats within 6hrs of eachother.

Here is how it looks after the last coat of Clear was "ROLLED" on.











Product rolled on extremely easily. Justin was on the ball when I emailed or called him regarding ANY questions.. I had to email him frantically on sunday morning and had a response back within 20minutes. ( I ran out of clear all my fault)

What I would change:
1. Should have ground down the gel a bit more so I wouldn't see the seam come through the coating.

2. Not used Color chips or done less of a broadcast as I struggle with the "thick" spots. (helpers didn't understand feeding the chickens, instead of just throwing it down) I'm a bit OCD and the broadcast of chips really pisses me off.

3. Purchased respirators for everyone, including the neighbors. Seriously this stuff stinks, close the windows and HVAC otherwise your entire house will wreak of solvent. (only lasts for 3-4hrs then most has dissipated)


Would I use the product again in lieu of an epoxy solution? Yes, for the climate I applied this in and the garage use that I have, this will be perfect. I detail/basic maint/performance mod installs as this is not a working professional garage, I didn't think a full blown epoxy solution was warranted!


Thanks for reading through my rambling! I love the look of my new garage, now I just have to let it cure and move everything back in!!

Thanks to everyone on GJ for pics and testimonials and most importantly Justin from Garageflooring as he went above and beyond helping me with any questions or concerns I had.

Chris

Outstanding floor. Nice work!

 

[alberto]

Hello everyone!

Used Rust Bullet spot remover on some of the oil stains. House was built in 2003 and the pad was in really good shape aside from some leveling issues at the expansion joints.

700sqft 3 car garage

3.5 Gallons of Base
3.5 Gallons of White
4 Gallons of Clear shot
18lbs of Color Chips

Chris

Was this the only prep you did? Did you wash the floor, etc? Was the coverage about what was predicted?

 

[fishnugget]

Thanks for sharing Chris,

I am getting ready to do the same thing with my garage. The white coat looks really nice, but its not practical IMO if we do work in the garage. I think I would be constantly cleaning the tire marks off the floor.

I did want to ask you questions on the expansion joints, I would like to fill mine as well but every time someone posts their rust bullet pics I am seeing the seam which I know would bother me. Can this seam be smoothed out and out of sight? I know you stated you should have grinded it down more. So does that mean you should have grinded both the filler and a part of the concrete to have it covered better? Or only the filler.

Also, what did you use to smooth out the expansion joint when filled. angle grinder? Thanks again for sharing.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

I'm a little confused. Did you use epoxy? or something else?

 

[Garage Flooring]

I'm a little confused. Did you use epoxy? or something else?

He used Rust Bullet garage floor coating that he purchased from us . It's a one part urethane that does not require the prep epoxy does.


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[Vernon29RW]

Justin,

I see it's not required but is adhesion increased if the surface is prepped like in an epoxy floor coating? I'd have to do some sort of prep anyways cause I have some nasty oil stains soaked pretty bad into the concrete. It also has a very smooth finish to it. Not a clear coat but it seems the concrete was smoothed out very nicely when it was originally poured. I would think a rough surface would help the coating adhere better no?

Steve

 

[Garage Flooring]

Steve,

Over a dry clean concrete floor there is no need to grind at all. Your case, not unlike many, the floor is 'well used' and grinding it may just be the easiest way to get to a fresh surface. Some of the oil stains may still need to be dealt with though. The metal blast product works well for that. Pour n restore works well.

If you are able to get your floor clean and dry without grinding and it has no 'gloss' to it grinding won't hurt but there is no evidence for this system that it helps.


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[dudley123]

Was this the only prep you did? Did you wash the floor, etc? Was the coverage about what was predicted?

The only prep was with Rust Bullet Metal Blast on 3 areas about 20x20". Aside from that, just swept very well and made sure the expansion joints were spotless before filling. One thing to note is that you can have ZERO moisture present on the pad otherwise you will see bubbling. Drop of my sweat went down as I was rolling it on and had a really cool 1" bubble about 3hrs later. (popped it and was rolled over on 2nd coat)

Thanks for sharing Chris,

I am getting ready to do the same thing with my garage. The white coat looks really nice, but its not practical IMO if we do work in the garage. I think I would be constantly cleaning the tire marks off the floor.

I did want to ask you questions on the expansion joints, I would like to fill mine as well but every time someone posts their rust bullet pics I am seeing the seam which I know would bother me. Can this seam be smoothed out and out of sight? I know you stated you should have grinded it down more. So does that mean you should have grinded both the filler and a part of the concrete to have it covered better? Or only the filler.

Also, what did you use to smooth out the expansion joint when filled. angle grinder? Thanks again for sharing.

We are on the same page in terms of the "White floor", looks amazing but the second I get tire marks, I'd be upset. I have more work into the expansion joints than I did the floor honestly. I used a Harbor freight cheapo 5" angle grinder with a universal dust shield from Amazon, hooked up to a nice shop vac, worked wonderfully. I had some serious leveling issues with one of the slabs, the joint was 1/2 higher than the slab right next to it.

I ground the pad level with the other and fanned out about 6" so the angle wouldn't be to extreme. I think the problem I had was not allowing the HD821 to cure long enough as it was gumming up really easily when trying to grind/sand it down. I used a trowel/spackle knife to lay the gel down on the expansion joint. I also added a 2nd layer of gel as I had read it will settle but honestly I think that's where a lot of the higher build came from and I didn't really need it.

I'm a little confused. Did you use epoxy? or something else?

Product called, "RustBullet" that was purchased from Garageflooring. I'm going to be doing my mothers garage in this stuff as its a perfect solution for a normal garage and virtually PREP free application which is huge for me not wanting to deal with renting a grinding machine, etc..


Sorry for the late responses!

Chris

 

[fishnugget]

We are on the same page in terms of the "White floor", looks amazing but the second I get tire marks, I'd be upset. I have more work into the expansion joints than I did the floor honestly. I used a Harbor freight cheapo 5" angle grinder with a universal dust shield from Amazon, hooked up to a nice shop vac, worked wonderfully. I had some serious leveling issues with one of the slabs, the joint was 1/2 higher than the slab right next to it.

I ground the pad level with the other and fanned out about 6" so the angle wouldn't be to extreme. I think the problem I had was not allowing the HD821 to cure long enough as it was gumming up really easily when trying to grind/sand it down. I used a trowel/spackle knife to lay the gel down on the expansion joint. I also added a 2nd layer of gel as I had read it will settle but honestly I think that's where a lot of the higher build came from and I didn't really need it.





Chris

Thanks for your response Chris. Is there a reason why you chose HD821 over garage floorings joint filler? I was planning on buying garagefloorings joint filler.

I am kind of on the fence about filling in the joints but I will probably do it. I can't stand those joints because they accumulate debris. Did you add backer rod to your joints? Lastly, did you have trouble with your shop vac clogging up from the fine powder when angle grinding? I read concrete can do this and clog the filters. So you have to be repeatedly cleaning the filter.

 

[Shea]

Thanks for your response Chris. Is there a reason why you chose HD821 over garage floorings joint filler? I was planning on buying garagefloorings joint filler.

The Legacy HD-821 is a special 2-part epoxy that has a very high elongation rate. This means that it will flex without cracking as the joint moves. It's also sandable. Once it cures, you can grind it down smooth so that the joint repair does not telegraph through the coating. They are not the only ones who make such a product, but we know from experience that it works extremely well.

The latex garage joint fillers that you find at your local home improvement centers will shrink and crack over time and you can not sand them.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

The only prep was with Rust Bullet Metal Blast on 3 areas about 20x20". Aside from that, just swept very well and made sure the expansion joints were spotless before filling. One thing to note is that you can have ZERO moisture present on the pad otherwise you will see bubbling. Drop of my sweat went down as I was rolling it on and had a really cool 1" bubble about 3hrs later. (popped it and was rolled over on 2nd coat)







We are on the same page in terms of the "White floor", looks amazing but the second I get tire marks, I'd be upset. I have more work into the expansion joints than I did the floor honestly. I used a Harbor freight cheapo 5" angle grinder with a universal dust shield from Amazon, hooked up to a nice shop vac, worked wonderfully. I had some serious leveling issues with one of the slabs, the joint was 1/2 higher than the slab right next to it.



I ground the pad level with the other and fanned out about 6" so the angle wouldn't be to extreme. I think the problem I had was not allowing the HD821 to cure long enough as it was gumming up really easily when trying to grind/sand it down. I used a trowel/spackle knife to lay the gel down on the expansion joint. I also added a 2nd layer of gel as I had read it will settle but honestly I think that's where a lot of the higher build came from and I didn't really need it.







Product called, "RustBullet" that was purchased from Garageflooring. I'm going to be doing my mothers garage in this stuff as its a perfect solution for a normal garage and virtually PREP free application which is huge for me not wanting to deal with renting a grinding machine, etc..





Sorry for the late responses!



Chris

Hee hee, you guys kill me with this prep-free notion. Have you ever seen MCU peel? Think of Saran Wrap.


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[Garage Flooring]

I did like Ryan's post on white floors. We posted some pics of white project to our blog. I'm just. It clean enough

 

[Scott r c]

Started my 1900sq ft floor today. I got the first coat done. I called garageflooring today because I had a question about anti-skid additive. Justin answered on a Saturday. I was impressed with that.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Started my 1900sq ft floor today. I got the first coat done. I called garageflooring today because I had a question about anti-skid additive. Justin answered on a Saturday. I was impressed with that.

We try to please. Kristi, one of our customer service people and I split Saturday's from our cells. Thanks for the kind words!


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[funks]

Looks really good!

 

[dudley123]

Scotty,
I'll be sure to let you know when this starts peeling up like saran-wrap

Thanks for the support!

Chris

 

[dudley123]

Thanks for your response Chris. Is there a reason why you chose HD821 over garage floorings joint filler? I was planning on buying garagefloorings joint filler.

I am kind of on the fence about filling in the joints but I will probably do it. I can't stand those joints because they accumulate debris. Did you add backer rod to your joints? Lastly, did you have trouble with your shop vac clogging up from the fine powder when angle grinding? I read concrete can do this and clog the filters. So you have to be repeatedly cleaning the filter.

I used a combo of backer rod and silica sand for the joints. NO issues with shop vac clogging as I used a dustbag liner from HD.

 

[PipeLayaz]

The dust bag liner is just a bag inside the dry vac which is totally separate from the filter inside the dry vac correct?

The floor looks great, Chris! Nice GTR as well!

 

[esvee]

How does rust bullet take to things like sparks and fluids? All the recent posts about it have me very curious about it. Not looking to have an immaculate floor as much as having a floor that is one color, flat, and doesnt soak up everything I spill on it.

 

[UserNameAttempt3]

From my past coatings experience... throwing the flakes up to hit the ceiling and letting them flutter down worked rather well for even coverage... or even using one of those garden seed spreaders that you crank by hand.

Nice job by the way though. Looks good to me!

 

[Garage Flooring]

It does very well with fluids. Pics of it soaking in diesel for 7 years. Submerged in brake fluid for a couple weeks before having an issue.

Sparks. If we are talking about welding its going to damage the floor. Any coating. In general it is very heat resistant. Can maintain continuous exposure up to 313 degrees and temporary exposure at 600 degrees.


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[twarren]

Is Rust Bullet available in Ontario Canada?

Shipping from the US can be quite expensive.

Warren.....

 

[Garage Flooring]

Yes it is. Pm me your postal code and I can find the closest dealer. Also typically the promo code we have right now it's cheaper to buy and ship it --crazy and not always true but most of the time. Also made in USA so falls under NAFTA exemptions of job is under $2,500


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[BigNuge]

How about a freshly poured floor, should there be a waiting period before using this product? I'm seriously considering this in my workshop build. I'm early in the project, and haven't even poured the new center section of the floor yet. Coating the floor will never be easier than before I get all the equipment in it...lol

Can someone PM me so I can discuss some accurate pricing & prep expectations?

Thanks!


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[Garage Flooring]

How about a freshly poured floor, should there be a waiting period before using this product? I'm seriously considering this in my workshop build. I'm early in the project, and haven't even poured the new center section of the floor yet. Coating the floor will never be easier than before I get all the equipment in it...lol

Can someone PM me so I can discuss some accurate pricing & prep expectations?

Thanks!


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You need to wait a minimum of 30 days and need to make sure the concrete is dry. I would suggest at least a simple clear sheet moisture test

 

[12ozd]

Looks Nice !
Great job

 

[navin]

Justin..

Thoughts on applying RB over a previously epoxy floor. The epoxy hasn't peeled up it just looks bad because of a lack of clear coat used, and sun exposure. Also had some paint spills on it and what not, but I was planning on renting the Thompson floor buffer + sanding screens to rough up the epoxy anyways, possibly for another coating.

But after reading these posts about RB, I thought I might give it a try.. just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

[Garage Flooring]

Justin..

Thoughts on applying RB over a previously epoxy floor. The epoxy hasn't peeled up it just looks bad because of a lack of clear coat used, and sun exposure. Also had some paint spills on it and what not, but I was planning on renting the Thompson floor buffer + sanding screens to rough up the epoxy anyways, possibly for another coating.

But after reading these posts about RB, I thought I might give it a try.. just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

Rust Bullet will stick to most coatings if they are sanded first, but my opinion is it is not best practice. I would see if they have the coatings removal tool to put on that Thompson Buffer and just take the old stuff off. If they do not, we have a 16" removal tool that we lend out. Attached to most 17" counter-clockwise buffers.

At the end of the day, anytime you apply one coating on top of another coating, it is only as good as what it is stick to.

 

[dudley123]

The dust bag liner is just a bag inside the dry vac which is totally separate from the filter inside the dry vac correct?

The floor looks great, Chris! Nice GTR as well!

Yessir, just a separate bag that you place inside of the canister.. Regular filter wasn't even dirty when I removed the Dust bag.

Thanks on the GTR from a fellow gearhead

From my past coatings experience... throwing the flakes up to hit the ceiling and letting them flutter down worked rather well for even coverage... or even using one of those garden seed spreaders that you crank by hand.

Nice job by the way though. Looks good to me!

I tried that! Hitting the ceiling definitely helped but I purchased a seed spreader and it was literally useless.. Maybe the Paint chips were too large for the spreader but no dice.

Looks Nice !
Great job

Thank you sir!

 

[Scott r c]

I'm about done with my RB floor, 1900sq. ft total. I used about 4 gallons each for each of the 2 base coats. I used 5 gallons whiteshell for my topcoat, no flakes, just 6oz. of anti-skid. I came up about 100sq. ft short on my top coat so I would suggest if your a perfectionist order enough materials for 2 topcoats. I will need to order another gallon and scuff the remaining section. All in all I am really pleased with the looks of the product. I would post pictures but not sure how to do it from my phone.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Hey Scott! Glad to hear you are about done but sorry to hear you ran short. Sounds like a quart will cover you. Give me a call in the am and we'll get one out right away. Can't wait to see some pics!


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[Scott r c]

Just an FYI to guys looking at the RB product. Justin went out of his way to help me big time without me asking on a re-order. This guy and his company are top-notch.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Just an FYI to guys looking at the RB product. Justin went out of his way to help me big time without me asking on a re-order. This guy and his company are top-notch.

Thank you. We appreciate you and your kind words!

 

[Garage Flooring]

Just an FYI to guys looking at the RB product. Justin went out of his way to help me big time without me asking on a re-order. This guy and his company are top-notch.

So Scott Just sent me his picture of what he had done so far

 

[dudley123]

Yep! love the all-white finish.. Should have kept it at that but afraid of tire marks.

 

[fishnugget]

Yep! love the all-white finish.. Should have kept it at that but afraid of tire marks.

I gave in...

Just ordered Rust Bullet with a white coat. I figured I can abrade the white top coat off later if it gets too cumbersome with tire marks. Ill be sure to post in a couple of weeks, can't wait.

 

[vintagespeed1956]

...Sparks. If we are talking about welding its going to damage the floor. Any coating. In general it is very heat resistant. Can maintain continuous exposure up to 313 degrees and temporary exposure at 600 degrees. ..

it just so happens that i'm frantically getting my Triumph together at the moment, was welding off/on all day yesterday. i will do a good close exam of the floor to assess what kindof damage was done. i've been grinding on it for weeks, but didn't throw any slag 'til the past weekend.

so far it looks so good after sweeping up that i hadn't looked any closer!

edit:

and sorry OP for jacking your thread, the floor looks great to me, i should've done white!

 

[benwah]

Doesn't this come in a clear resin also? I would apply the clear to keep your white vibrant and looking good.

Down the road when you want to touch it up, you could just apply the clear again. Either way, just a suggestion.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Doesn't this come in a clear resin also? I would apply the clear to keep your white vibrant and looking good.

Down the road when you want to touch it up, you could just apply the clear again. Either way, just a suggestion.

Rust Bullet does come in and we do offer clear.

Both the clear and the white can be roughed up and re-coated and they are both high gloss. We do have people who have done it both ways but most of the ones that have used clear used a little flake -- or a lot in some cases.