Again, I'm not commenting on this particular project directly, clearly it's been beat to death.
We did have a DIY job that went seriously south. Talking with the client it sounded like he did everything right, when recounting the application it was almost as if he went even beyond our detailed instructions, taking steps even our most conscientious pros didn't take. And he was so detailed in his explanations I thought that he certainly would have spent at least half as much energy applying the product - right? So what could have gone wrong? Material defect? Environmental contamination? Abrupt weather changes? It was a real puzzler, so we had one of our pros stop by and check it out. His conclusion was solid and conclusive because the problem was very obvious in person. The job was simply one of the sloppiest applications he'd ever seen. The applicator simply did not take the time to properly prep, there were heavy brush strokes, stuff was 40 mils thick in one spot, and see through thin on another. There were clear signs that product wasn't mixed properly. It was easy to see where there were attempts to patch holes and cracks because there was no attempt made to feather the edges. It was just a crappy application. Reviewing the photos that the contractor sent it was clear his analysis was spot on.
Sloppiest? Really? Do you remember why it looked like that? Because I took your advice on trying to patch it. You told me to scrape off the sections that were bad, and the re-apply more epoxy. So I did, and I paid again for more epoxy. And that's why it looked like ****. It was clearly obvious that it didn't blend well. Those attempts to patch holes were done by YOUR recommendation. I spent over 40 hours scraping that ruined **** off my floor. Burned up two sanders, and nearly called a guy to scrape it all off and say the hell with it. The thickness in some spots was because I had to try and blend an edge into the holes from the ****. So yeah, there would be overlap. Would you like me to post those pictures again? They are on the first page.
Didn't properly prep? I spent a lot of money on industrial grade grinders, gallons of cleaners, and hours of time prepping that floor. I did dust and moisture tests in 4 different places on that floor. I've got pictures of all that too.
The materials for that job were over $1,000, Nope, try again. By the end of the project I had over $4,000 invested in this floor.and it was puzzling why someone would spend that amount of money on the job, and then expend zero energy to make it work out.
Again, I'm curious as to how you come up with this summary. Where you there? Do you know what I went through trying to get this to work? I bought every gadget recommended. I didn't shortcut any tool or item. If you said I needed it, I got it. If you said do something, I did it. Do you think I like throwing money out the window for fun?
Again, mistakes happen, to DIYers and even pros! Fortunately most people are upfront and honest and tell you exactly what they did, and from that usually we can pinpoint what went wrong and help turn it around.
But every now and then in life you come across **** that makes no sense. You ponder and try figure out why some people do what they do, why some people enjoy the pain of others, why some people seem to lie so much that they actually believe it, why some have no problem stealing from others. There are the clueless and the evil, and they will hurt others accidentally or intentionally. Fortunately they're in the minority and the vast majority of folks, especially guys on this forum and groups like this, are a joy to work with.
Be careful here Fred. Did you just call me a liar? And a thief? You tell me where I lied. And then tell me where I stole from you! Not once have I asked from anything from you other than support when I ran into this problem. I paid for everything I asked for, and then paid again for more material. You tell me where I stole from you. You can call me a *******, you can call me a terrible floor installer, I don't care. But don't you dare call me a thief and a liar.
Back to floors... How can you avoid this?
We have helped with around 1,000 Garage Journal floors, and over the years we've got a lot of great feedback (we regularly call for follow-ups) that we've reviewed and evaluated, so we have a pretty good idea on what it takes to have a successful outcome:
Read the directions, pay attention, don't take shortcuts, don't cheap out, read the directions again, follow them, and... Enjoy your great looking floor.
In other words, enjoy your floor, if it fails, it's your fault not ours. Period.
