Recoating epoxy floor

[Thumper68]

Back story info:

10 years ago when I built the shop I coated the floor in Rustoleum epoxy shield professional on one half and Rustoleum epoxy shield basement on the other. No chips just the straight gray epoxy.

The professional side is what I need to recoat according to my son, he would like to do this before I move any more heavy equipment into the shop.

There is no lifting and it seems to be very well bonded to the concrete and has held up very well to all the hell I have put it through, but it is covered in stains, weld/cutting spatter marks and paint over spray.

When installed I did no real prep, approx. 1 year old concrete that had no damage, oil on it that was swept, mopped and vacuumed, I did the epoxy in late November before the infloor heat was set up so I ran 2 electric heaters for a few days before hand and then brought the air temp up to 80 with the propane torpedo heater.

Now my questions are:

What prep should I do before recoating?
What should I use to recoat?

Honestly this is a working shop and the only reason I am considering this is to ease keeping the floor clean, it is getting a bit hard to clean up the oil, sanding/grinding dust and all the other **** that lands on the floor, not to mention that the nice light gray is gone and finding dropped parts is getting harder.

We use this side of the shop for welding, grinding, torch and plasma cutting, auto and small engine work and just about every nasty distructive thing you can imagine.

 

[Armorpoxy]

If your current epoxy is well bonded, we would recommend cleaning it well with a degreaser. Then lightly scratch it up with a sanding stick or pole sander with #150 on it. Just lightly scratch it up for adhesion. Then wipe it down with denatured alcohol, this process will assure good bonding to your coating.

Then coat with our 100% solids Armorclad Epoxy and upgraded 2 part Commercial/Military topcoat with Ultrawear non skid wear additive.

Remember though that any coating, not just ours, can only stick to what is under it, so if in the future your current coating comes up, the coating on top of it would come up with it.

If you email us to [email protected] with sq footage, we can get you a Kit price ready to install.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Back story info:

10 years ago when I built the shop I coated the floor in Rustoleum epoxy shield professional on one half and Rustoleum epoxy shield basement on the other. No chips just the straight gray epoxy.

The professional side is what I need to recoat according to my son, he would like to do this before I move any more heavy equipment into the shop.

There is no lifting and it seems to be very well bonded to the concrete and has held up very well to all the hell I have put it through, but it is covered in stains, weld/cutting spatter marks and paint over spray.

When installed I did no real prep, approx. 1 year old concrete that had no damage, oil on it that was swept, mopped and vacuumed, I did the epoxy in late November before the infloor heat was set up so I ran 2 electric heaters for a few days before hand and then brought the air temp up to 80 with the propane torpedo heater.

Now my questions are:

What prep should I do before recoating?
What should I use to recoat?

Honestly this is a working shop and the only reason I am considering this is to ease keeping the floor clean, it is getting a bit hard to clean up the oil, sanding/grinding dust and all the other **** that lands on the floor, not to mention that the nice light gray is gone and finding dropped parts is getting harder.

We use this side of the shop for welding, grinding, torch and plasma cutting, auto and small engine work and just about every nasty distructive thing you can imagine.

Best practice, IMHO is always to grind away what is there and start fresh. That said, best practice is not always what makes the most sense at the time for people.

An epoxy coating is less than idea for what you are doing, but it seems to be working for you. If I were in your shoes and did not want to start fresh, I would abrade the surface, solvent wipe and go back with the exact same material , followed by a top coat.

 

[benwah]

I agree. Mechanically abrade with 100-150 grit sanding disc then solvent wipe.

1-2 coats of the epoxy of your choice - to achieve at least 10 mils DFT.

1 coat of pigmented polyurethane.

Shouldn't take much product. What's your sq. ft.?

 

[Thumper68]

Thanks for the great responses!

I will be doing 640 sq feet. Have to do half at a time due to all the equipment in the shop

As you can tell I don't really care how it looks, more interested in easy clean up.

 

[benwah]

If you went with a 100% solids epoxy product, you can cover 640 sq. ft. @ 10 mils DFT with 4 gallons (160 sq. ft./gallon). Most 100% solids products come in a 1.5 or 3 gallon kit.

You'll need 2 gallons of polyurethane if you want that extra protection.

 

[Thumper68]

Now another question what would be the best degreaser to use? something that I might be able to get locally.

 

[benwah]

Try Simple Green first. Home Depot has the Heavy Duty version, it's a purple liquid. Give that a shot

 

[Thumper68]

Try Simple Green first. Home Depot has the Heavy Duty version, it's a purple liquid. Give that a shot

Thanks I will.