OK, Math Check on Epoxy-Coat Project

[gojackets]

Long time forum watcher, I've just moved into a new place with a "real" garage, and am getting ready to coat the garage floor with epoxy. I have been talking with Christine at Epoxy-Coat about this, but wanted to post on here to get feedback and thoughts on it.

It's new construction, it sat on the market for about 9 months unoccupied prior to us buying it, so the slab is of a decent age to go ahead with the project. It's clean and, once I get the moving boxes off of it, clear. I haven't even pulled a car into it yet, trying to keep it as clean as possible before I coat it. It's a really nice rough finish for the epoxy to adhere to, wasn't sealed or polished. I'm just planning to sweep/blow, acid etch, wash, dry, and start the epoxy from there.

Maybe I'm over-analyzing this, but here it goes. I have a three car "L" shaped layout, drawing attached. It's conveniently got control cuts dividing it into six sections approx. 100 SF each plus a small patch near the steps to the house that's about 25 SF (total is 580 sf, so each section is actually 85-95 sf, not exactly 100). Don't mind the four decimal places on the drawing! That's just the default calculation format for the free "CAD" software I was using! I'm not going to fill the control cuts before coating, just going to try to coat the epoxy into the cuts to let the epoxy crack with the concrete if that's what the slab needs over time.

For logistical reasons, I'm going to do this in two phases: first will be the single car stall (two rectangular sections, 195 sf, planning for a 1/2 kit to be a generous coat on that section) and then the rest of the garage, approx. 385 sf (including the little patch by the stairs), full kit for that section. That should give me about the same DFT coverage on each section.

I've got a little spreadsheet I put together to help me weigh out the chips so each section gets about the right "level" of chips, accounting for the differences in square footage. I know that may be overkill... What I'm not planning on doing is varying the mixing batch size for the epoxy for each section (except maybe that little 25 sf patch). So I know there will be some minor difference in coating coverage for each section but I don't think that will be noticeable. Any thoughts?

Oh yeah, most important, color will be gray, with fine flakes, three color "gray" blend. Boring, I know, but I want it to be nice and low key. Although I did think about "assembly blue" for a while! I had the builder finish out and paint all the walls/ceilings with a flat white paint, so there's plenty of light reflecting surfaces.

I'll keep a status update on the project on the forum, and welcome any feedback on it.

Thanks!

 

[gojackets]

OK, this is the weekend for the floor... Got my 1+1/2 kits from Christine last week, there was a little mix up on the color of the flakes, but great service from Christine to get the replacement flakes out, and they got here yesterday.

I spent last night getting the last of everything out of the garage for the weekend, then spent this morning scrubbing the floor with simple green/water and then doing the acid solution prep that came with the kits. I found that doing the acid in about 3' x 5' sections worked best, if I went with more area, it dried out before I could scrub it in.

Floors are spotless now, clean, and drying out. Epoxy starts in the morning.

Some pics of the floor, cleaned up and ready for coating:

 

[z28dad]

The floor looks ready to go. Good luck with the project. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[gojackets]

Well, it's been raining and cloudy here and is currently 94% humidity outside. After about 18 hours, the floor is still slightly damp to the touch. I've got some fans running on it, just moving around the moist air.

Will see how it goes today after the sun comes up. May have to take a day off this week after it's had some more time to dry out. Bummer, but it looks like no epoxy work this morning.

Oh, well, at least it's football season.

 

[DeuceDude]

You probably don't have enough paint.

If done in two stages you'll probably need two rollers min.

Chips go fast...

If I had it to do over, I would have divided the A and B parts equally per batch, not the stick method. (had left over "catalyst"?) Effectively would have yielded more paint.

Probably would have turned out fine?

Would like to hear if you felt you had enough paint???

 

[gojackets]

Looks like it's still too wet to coat. Will try again maybe on Tuesday. Until then, fans and windows/doors open if possible.

By the way, have worked out a way to do the whole thing at once vs. doing it in stages, but still planning on going through a bunch of rollers.

Chips shouldn't be a problem, I have 18.5 lbs to cover the area. Should work out ok.

Really hope you're not right about running short of paint. I figured 600 sq ft with a kit and a half should be ok.

 

[DeuceDude]

I hope I'm wrong too.
Good Luck!

 

[gojackets]

OK, today was the day. Caught a break with the weather. Wife and I came home at noon, and were done by about 5:30. Just cleaned everything up and ran all the trash to the dump. Epoxy went down great, I was suprised that the squeegee part didn't get a very even coating, but once you start rolling, it's all good. Had PLENTY of paint to cover my 600 sq. ft.

Chips went well, I think I ended up with a little heavier coverage than I originally intended, but I like the look, and it will hide flaws well. I learned my lesson on the first section I did, throwing them in the air in SMALL quantities is the best technique, it takes forever, and there are a couple spots I see that I got a little impatient and threw down too many and got a little dark spot. I'll see those, but oh, well.

Did have a little trouble with some fish eye bubbles coming up, but I used the blower and broke them, seemed to work ok. There are still a few bubble marks, but, again, this granite look really covers the flaws well.

I went to Lowes and got a bunch of 5qt paint mixing buckets, and my lovely assistant was in charge of ratios and mixing. Somehow on the sixth (last) batch we ended up just a little short of "B" and I hope it turns out ok. The sections we started with I actually walked on a little bit just now, so about 5 hours cure time and they are light walkable.

First pics:

 

[z28dad]

Congrats! The floor looks great! I had a very small bubbles in mine also. Mine also was walkable around 5 hrs. Enjoy, Russ

 

[DeuceDude]

Excellent!
Looks awesome!
Glad I was wrong about the coverage!

 

[kyles974]

first, looks great! I like the color.

Do you think you had a problem with the bubbles because of what you did? Over mixing?

I ask because others that have use this brand as had problems. (at least a few I have read, and I know that this does not mean other brands can or can not have the same problem)

 

[gojackets]

Not sure. We mixed well, and maybe we got air in. We had bubbles on several sections, but not all. For some reason, I don't think the bubbles came from air in the mix, as they showed up a good while after rolling/back rolling, etc. The little bubbles from mixing I think you get out when you backroll.

For me, in the end, bubbles were not a big deal because I already had the blower out, so was ready to handle them, and the little flaws they left aren't really apparent. No big deal, IMO.

I also am realistic about the floor finish. It is a garage, after all, and I didn't go to great lengths to fill in every little imperfection in the concrete. Hence the heavy flake coverage. I use my garage, I don't want to be looking at the floor for every little flaw here or there.

Thanks guys for the positive comments, we're pretty happy with how it has turned out.

 

[kyles974]

"I also am realistic about the floor finish. It is a garage"

I agree!

Thanks for the details

ps, I would be happy too!

 

[rugerlady]

The floor looks really good. You should be proud of a job well done! The bubbles are normally caused from the concrete outgassing, sometimes the bubbles come out later if the concrete is porous or that section is porous.

 

[gojackets]

Thank you for your help on this Christine, great service, and I'm pleased with the finished product. I like that fine grade of non-skid, seems to have increased traction without making the floor too rough.

By the way, for everyone else's benefit, the last section that was a little short of hardener, it took a few hours longer, but by the morning it was walkable, and by yesterday afternoon was just as set up as the rest of the floor. I moved a bunch of stuff back in the garage last night since it had been 24 hrs and the epoxy was rock hard. Going to wait one more day before pulling a car in.