Rustoleum EpoxyShield Clearcoat

[oldbones]

Ok, here's where we're at. We've applied two coats of Rusto Pro Dark Grey and sprinkled that with the Marble chip mix (black, light grey and white) that has some metallic silver mixed in for good measure. It's looking pretty good so far, the second coat went down nicely, and although you can see roller marks if you look, I think it's coming out pretty darn good.

Next step is the clear, we'll put that down this afternoon. Now, this is my first floor, and I learned a lot between the first and second coats of color. If I were putting down a third coat of the same product, I think I'd have it licked. But, the clear is definitely a different animal, I can tell just by picking up the cans that it's going to be much thinner and runnier than the color was.

Who has used this product, and what tips can you give me to help me get the best finish? Did you use a squeege for the clear (the directions don't call for one)? Did you pour it on the floor or use a paint tray? Any ancient chinese secrets for the perfect "roll"? I'd appreciate any help you might have.

Lastly, we're trying to decide whether or not to use the anti-slip additive. Walking on the 12 hour old floor now, I don't get the impression that it's going to get really slick, but that could certainly change as it cures more, and the clear will definitely factor into that as well. Did you use the grit or not? Is your floor slick or not? Wish you had done anything different?


Thanks in advance!!! Pics to follow, I promise...

 

[boiler7904]

I used the clear coat a couple of years ago. I'd definitely use the anti-slip. My floor turns into an ice skating rink even with the grit in the winter.

It's probably too late for this tip but don't use regular blue painter's masking tape. The epoxy soaks through it easily and bonds it to the concrete (stem wall and edge of driveway apron in my case). I had to carefully use a grinder and wire brush to get the tape up when the floor cured. I heard that duct tape was better for masking the perimeter a couple of days after I finished.

I can't remember if the material itself is thinner than the color coats or not but it starts to set up and thicken a lot faster than the color coats did. You don't have as much open time with the clear. You definitely want to have someone cutting in the edges and any places you can't reach with the roller while you roll the floor keeping a wet edge between the two. Don't let one person get too far ahead of the other.

I used an 18" roller and tray for my clear coat. You can see some roller marks but they aren't too bad. Don't put downward pressure on the roller. Let gravity do its thing.

Make sure that you overlap every pass with the roller. I have two spots that I missed with the clear. Both drive me nuts every time I see them. May not be as big of a problem for you since you're using Gray. My floor is the tile red color.

 

[oldbones]

Done. I think it's going to be good, I'll know more in the morning. Right now, I'm surprised I can type, I'm so high on fumes I can barely see straight.

Regarding the clear, here's how it went and some things I learned (for next time, right?).

First thing I would suggest is when you figure out how much you need, err to the high side, and hopefully buy it somewhere you can return extra if you have it. My amounts turned out to be pretty much perfect, but for a while, I was sweating it thinking it wasn't going to make it. As a result, it may be thinner in those areas that I did while it was looking bad. If I had an extra kit in reserve, I would have felt better about it. My floor is 1440 sf, and I used four kits of the Rustoleum EpoxyShield Premium Clear Coating. Each kit is one gallon. As for the color, I used the two gallon kits of EpoxyShield Professional, and I used three kits for the basecoat, which ended up being just a hair thin in a few spots, and then used three kits for the topcoat. I planned on four kits for the topcoat, but I put it on as thick as I dared and finished with one kit left over. Maybe I should have used 4 kits for coat one, and three for coat two, if anything, that might have made it just a touch smoother in the areas where the acid really did it's job the most.

Ok, second thing. With the clear especially, unless the light is hitting it just right, it's really hard to see where you've done, and if you missed any spots. You want the light coming from around the edges, shining towards the middle, not just bright overhead lights. That makes it MUCH easier to tell how you're doing, and will help you to end up with a better, more uniform finished product. While rolling out the color, I had one of those monster dual head halogen lights on a tripod, and I moved that around as I went. It was GREAT, really glad I had it.

Third, I bought the antiskid additive, but didn't need to because the kits I bought had it included in the box. I didn't notice that when I ordered the stuff up, so you might check into that before you spend the bucks.

The 18" Wooster 3/8" nap Premium rollers ROCK. I used two each for the two color coats, and one roller finished the clear. With the color, I poured, squeegeed and back rolled, and with the clear I bought an 18" tray and just rolled it on. Worked great.

Make SURE you have a good helper, you do not want to try this yourself. I was lucky, in that my wife was willing to pitch in and did a great job. She did most of the mixing, almost all of the brush edging, and donned the spiked shoes to sprinkle the chips. I couldn't have done it without her help.

Did I mention the fumes??? Wow, stronger than I thought it was going to be. I'm sure it wouldn't have been a bad idea to have a respirator, but I don't plan on having kids anyway, sooo.......

All in all, I'm plenty happy with the appearance of the finished product. I was incredibly **** about the prep and application. If it lasts, and I have no reason to believe it wont, then I will be glad I went this direction. I did look long and hard at Wolverine products, but it was going to cost more than twice as much, and at this stage of the project, I just didn't have that extra $1,600 laying around. If this should fail, I will certainly kick myself long and hard, because with the amount of labor that goes into a project like this, that amount of money saved would mean absolutely nothing if you have to go back and start over.

Questions?

 

[menz300]

that seems like a lot of coverage per gallon. Did the can say about how many square feet you should get per gallon? 1440 sf covered in 3 gallons would be 480sf per gallon which seems high to me. I usually figure 200 sf per gallon max for 100 percent solids and when i have used some water based products get about 250sf per gallon. Not sure what Rustoleum suggests as coverage as I haven't read up on their products.

 

[oldbones]

Ok, to be clear...

Coat 1, 3 kits, two gallons each.

Coat 2, 3 kits, two gallons each.

Clear Coat, 4 kits, one gallon each.

 

[awakeinAZ]

pics please - let us know when the smell is 100% gone....

 

[oldbones]

24 hours after finishing the clear, the smell is 80% gone, now completely bearable.

Ok, here goes.

Here's the floor after acid etching and filling the cracks.

My lovely assistant, opening the first box.

Mix WELL! If you are using a cordless drill, make sure your extra batteries are charged up, you will need them!

My outstanding assistant starts brush cutting the edges.

One kit down!

End of the first night. 3 kits covered my 36x40 floor, but a little thin. Perfect for a primer coat, but it wouldn't have been very good as a one coat floor.

 

[awakeinAZ]

Wow- you certainly have all the tools, knee pads, boots, mixer thing and 24" roller with handle, gloves, helper...no masks eh? I did not want to buy all that
stuff then use 1 time and have it take up space so someone else installed mine. Anyway, looks good.

Gonna do some sheetrock?

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

I am REALLY glad to see people like you posting BOTH your successes and your mishaps. A couple 'tips' to determine 'mil thickness' on ANY product regardless of what the 'can' says.

First of all it is a MATHEMATICAL FACT.

1 US gallon = 0.133680556 Cu Ft

1 Mil = .001" thick

SO @ 100% Solids 1 US Gallon will make ONE square foot 1.604166" thick. (.133680556*12")

SO 100% Solids will make ONE square foot 1604~ Mils Thick

OR 1604 Square Feet ONE mil Thick

FOLLOW? :


OK

NOW Using SIMPLE math. IF the product is TRULY 100% solids you will get Approx 400 Sq Ft per gallon at 4 Mils

200 Sq Ft at 8Mils SIMPLE MATH.

Now Again using the same formula IF your product is say 75% Solids You will still apply the same 4 mils WET at a rate of 400 sf per gallon. BUT when it dries you will end up with 3 mils thick (4 mils * 75%)

** The only variable is the substrate 'soaking up' product **

If you have a supplier telling you Different coverage rates, either they FLUNKED MATH or they are deceiving you!

The math DOES NOT LIE. It does not matter if you are applying Epoxy or Mayonnaise, it all works the same.

Next As you stated the 'solvent based' clear coats have a VERY strong Odor. They also, as you stated, are difficult to identify areas you have or have not covered properly.

Using a water based Clear coat makes it VERY EASY to see what areas have been covered and those Still needing coating.

Please ready my NEW post For MORE on Acrylics.

 

[oldbones]

I didn't take any real pics on day two. That's when we put down the second color coat and the paint chips. It looked about 3X better afterwards. I wouldn't recommend doing the rustoleum with only one coat, even though they say you can.

Day three we rolled out the clear.

This shot does not do the finished product justice. I'll get some better pics later. The gloss is outstanding, it really looks deep.

When I walked around out there this morning, I was initially VERY stoked, it turned out as good as I had hoped. After getting to the back of the shop and turning around though, I noticed a spot I had missed with the clear, maybe 8"x10", ugh! Looking around a bit more, and I found a handful more spots that I missed, the worst being a 4" wide strip about 5' long...

It's not really all that bad, but there's an easy solution. I will just mix up one more batch of clear, buy a small roller and touch up those areas. The biggest problem is that I can't find the Rusto Clearcoat locally, only the Quickcrete stuff. I can recoat with no extra steps for another 48 hours, so if I can get the rusto here by Tuesday morning, I'll be good to go. If not, I may call them and ask about the compatability with the Quickcrete clear. If it ends up that I have to wait too long, then I'm just supposed to scuff those areas with sandpaper before painting on the clear. I'm sure it'll turn out fine.

 

[wagonmaster]

Looks great to me! Good work!

 

[oldbones]

Wow- you certainly have all the tools, knee pads, boots, mixer thing and 24" roller with handle, gloves, helper...no masks eh? I did not want to buy all that
stuff then use 1 time and have it take up space so someone else installed mine. Anyway, looks good.

Gonna do some sheetrock?

Sorry Greg, I missed your question. Yes, sheetrock is next. There is an upstairs, 14X40x7. We will finish out the upstairs, the stairway, the bathroom and the lid with sheetrock, and I'm going to do the walls downstairs with OSB. It may not finish as perfectly smooth as drywall, but it will be much more durable and it takes to hanging things on the wall much better. Plus, I can afford it!

 

[majhaw]

Nice garage! I am doing the exact same thing and wanted to confirm whether or not you used the anti-skid material on the final clear coat. If you did, do you still recommend it give the time that has elapsed?