Re-Epoxy floor

[crazyimport]

Hello Gents...
Im looking to re do my garage flooring.

Right now i have crappy rustolieum epoxy down with the clear/anti skid coat down.
Few years old now and looking for a colour change.

Whats the best epoxy flooring brands out there?
Also can i simply just lay the base on top of my existing flooring and then reclear coat it ?

Id LOVE to do the racedeck flooring but just not in the budget right now

 

[KGA109]

Brands: There are a few companies that are active here (and/or advertise) - check into their products. Just FYI - industrial, or high-end systems are much more expensive than the Rustoleum you used previously.

Prep: Nope. Go to your local Home Depot. Rent their floor machine and their 25 grit Diamabrush. $100/day. Put additional weight on the machine if you can (5 gallon bucket of joint compound worked great for me). Prepare for a very dusty mess, or keep the floor wet. Then prepare for a lot of sludge to clean up.

Grind the floor down to the best of the machine's ability, then hit the corners and edges with a smaller hand tool. Expect to sink at least a full 8 hour day on prep. Probably more.

 

[crazyimport]

Oh wow geez going to be a PITA..

What steps should i take after that is all done to prep it for paint

 

[KGA109]

Oh wow geez going to be a PITA..

What steps should i take after that is all done to prep it for paint

Yeah, PITA, but paint of any kind doesn't bond unless the surface is correct.

In a little more detail - the small hand-held tool can be a 4.5" side grinder with a Diamond Cup Wheel. Take it easy - that thing will shred a hole in the concrete if you want it to. Use this for those edges and corners where the big 16" disk can't reach.

Next up is clean, clean, clean. If you somehow get a floor machine with a good dust shroud and vacuum system, cleanup won't be so bad. Otherwise, sweep up the mess, vacuum, blow off your walls really well, sweep again, then power-wash the floor. This is what I have done with a recent job.

 

[shaun oriold1]

Ythen power-wash the floor.

Avoid this if possible. IF you must, then you'll need to let it dry out thoroughly. Epoxy doesnt like water. The only reason you want to power wash a floor is if you were grinding wet, and the slurry was allowed to dry on the floor.

Grind, vac, blow out, coat!

 

[workhurts]

When you say crappy, what do you mean?

I was always under the impression that if the epoxy is sound as in not flaming and completely not failing or having hot tire pick up issues then simply scuffing up well and treating with denatured alcohol or mek or whatever is sufficient.

As crappy of a product you think rustoleum is because it isn't 100% solids it still serves as a good base primer. Some would in fact suggest that it's a better primer coat.

Only thing I haven't read about is how the anti slip changes the equation.

If the first coating hasn't failed (and has been on for enough time to actually witness a failure) then why remove it?

 

[jaye944]

I was always under the impression that if the epoxy is sound as in not flaming and completely not failing or having hot tire pick up issues then simply scuffing up well and treating with denatured alcohol or mek or whatever is sufficient.

If the first coating hasn't failed (and has been on for enough time to actually witness a failure) then why remove it?

^^^ correct

 

[KGA109]

Avoid this if possible. IF you must, then you'll need to let it dry out thoroughly. Epoxy doesnt like water. The only reason you want to power wash a floor is if you were grinding wet, and the slurry was allowed to dry on the floor.

Grind, vac, blow out, coat!

Good info - thanks. I felt like it would be near impossible to get the surface dust completely removed without a power wash.

 

[KGA109]

^^^ correct

Yep I agree too, I was just under the assumption that it had failed in some way.

 

[crazyimport]

When i say crappy, i mean its not as good as the vendors on here have.
Everyone does complement on my garage floor on how nice it looks though.

Im just wondering why i have to go through the headache of removing it all to put down a different coat on top if there is no issue with the current coat.

Really im just looking to change things up a bit in the garage and go with a different colour/flake. Rustoleum(sp?) Only really offers 2/3 different flake combos and base layer.

The vendors on here offer way more combos

When you say crappy, what do you mean?

I was always under the impression that if the epoxy is sound as in not flaming and completely not failing or having hot tire pick up issues then simply scuffing up well and treating with denatured alcohol or mek or whatever is sufficient.

As crappy of a product you think rustoleum is because it isn't 100% solids it still serves as a good base primer. Some would in fact suggest that it's a better primer coat.

Only thing I haven't read about is how the anti slip changes the equation.

If the first coating hasn't failed (and has been on for enough time to actually witness a failure) then why remove it?

 

[workhurts]

Like I said, I'm not an expert and other will chime in as I don't know how anti-slip interacts with a new coat BUT if that isn't an issue and you've abused the floor to the extent you are likely to continue abusing it at (as in, you aren't redoing the floor and now parking a semi or running forklifts when you hadn't before).

If the floor has been down and you've been doing stuff (parking, dripping fluids, dragging things) and it hasn't failed over a 3-4 years then chances are the floor is sound and you just scuff and re-coat.

You can buy flakes from anywhere. There are a million combinations available.

 

[KGA109]

Like I said I was assuming it had failed in some way which is why you were looking to re-coat.

If it is perfect everywhere, they yeah sure, that would be a sign of good adhesion. BUT you still need to scuff it to provide a bonding surface for the new stuff.

When the time comes I would talk to the manufacturer rep and get their specific prep requirements for coating over an existing epoxy.

As far as flake, there are companies out there that only do flake, like Torginol.

 

[crazyimport]

Oh awesome thanks i didnt realize that there are companies that do only flakes..
thanks!!

 

[Skidddmark]

Hi,
Newbie here, first post...
If the old coating is good and sound on the floor, no chipping, no peeling, no flaking, or blisters, you can simply just sand and recoat it. You can rent a floor buffer and get a couple sanding screens(around 60 grit) that fit the buffer at the Home Depot. Sand the floor good, hand sand around the edges, sweep(make sure no oily residue is on the broom), or vac until good and clean. Maybe wipe with rubbing alcohol like someone suggested above to get any oily residue. Preparation is what makes or breaks the final product. Wipe your feet or just wear socks when you get on the floor and paint with an 18"x1/2" roller frame setup and cut-in(trim) the edges of everything with cheaper china bristle brush. One of the best products to use are PPG products from Porter Paints. Their Aqua-Pon epoxys and Pitthane urethanes are excellent products to use. Pitthane would be great to go over the existing coat you have. Its extremely durable. Sherwin Williams also has good coating systems but I pefer PPG. I have good experience with floor coatings.