need advice

[ranczar]

I'm new to the forum and in need of advice on what I should and should not do about my garage floor.
Background:
In 2010 the floor was 25 years old and moderately pitted from salt drippings, compliments of our Michigan winters. I had it diamond ground and epoxy coated (100% solids, gray with paint chips and silica beads) by a national company advertizing locally claiming to use PPG products. It looked great when done and into the next year or so, then I noticed it flaking in spots. I had them come back to recoat the flaking areas under warranty in 2012.
Current:
Warranty is expired and although the repaired areas appear to be holding up well, I have many more areas of flaking in the original epoxy.

What are my options at this point?

Here are some photos of the floor.


Thanks.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Grind it. Start over.
If you send some close ups we might be able to tell you what happened.

 

[ranczar]

Thanks for the quick reply. I can get some photos posted Wednesday.

Some flaking started with a tiny lifted area, about a quarter inch square, with the very thin epoxy piece lying nearby, like it had popped off. When I got on my hands and knees to get a good look, I noticed a few tiny holes, appearing as if the epoxy retracted in a circular way to create the hole. Around the hole the epoxy had lifted from the cement floor and could be popped off with a pin.

To me it looked like the epoxy wasn't put down thick enough, but there are some areas, like where some of the salt pitting is, that look fine. Other pitted areas are flaking.

What can happen when epoxy is put on a floor that doesn't have a vapor barrier beneath it? I'm not the original owner of the house, so I have no idea.

Photos added to post #1

 

[ranczar]

Photos of flaking floor added. Still looking for opinions on a possible cause for this issue, and for options going forward:
1. repair
2. grind it off and start over
3. forget it, because the problem that caused the flaking will have the same effect on anything I put down
4. something else?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Heavy grinding, pre-fill all the pocks, prime, base coat, urethane topcoat.
Looks like a primer wasn't used and the lack of adhesion coupled with those pocks caused a dis-bonding. I'd like to see the under-side of a loose piece of epoxy.

I would pull (flat squeegee) a slurry across it of silica sand and 100% solids epoxy.

If it's only in a few spots you could repair them and move on.