I can help a little on this. For starters, I research everything before doing or buying. I don't mind getting stuff cheap or spending extra IF I'm getting the best value for my dollar. Now, let me ask you, do you have a Home Depot with employees that know anything at all about what they're selling? Cause I've never seen one. And what about product technical support? You think if/when you have an issue with the floor there will be anybody to talk to about it? The answer is NO. I Personally went with a sealer from Legacy Industrial and am very pleased with the outcome. I also went this route because when I had questions the reps (from every brand) were here on the forum to answer right away. Even if it's somebody elses product. Just the fact they are ready and willing to help made me want to buy from a forum member. Not to mention I was not willing to take any chances on a product sold at big box stores. I have been in retail and wholesale for 23 years and can tell you for a fact, most products at those type places are NOT the same as other similar products. They are stripped down versions made specifically to sell by the container load to Joe Public to help line the pockets of the CEOs. Anybody that has worked behind the counter can vouch for this.
We couldn't agree with you more. This is exactly why we wrote the following article about why home improvement centers can hurt more than help.
http://allgaragefloors.com/home-improvement-centers/
Ghostshield is $83.40 /gallon, covers 250 sq-ft....
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ghostsh...-Plus-Water-and-Salt-Repellent-8500/205212675
Eagle Natural Seal is $78.92 for a 5 gallon pail, covers 1,000 sq-ft
Since GhostShield costs 4 times more than Eagle natural Seal, yet you say it is an economical price, do you have any hard data that shows its performance is at least 4 times better?
I'm struggling as to why the members here that rep. concrete coverings charge so much for their products?
This is one of the reasons we started our website. Many, many, people are ill informed about concrete coatings and sealers. We don't sell product which allows us to be as impartial as we can when we discuss sealers, coatings, and etc. We think it's great that you are happy with your choice of product, but we want to address your question about the higher cost of sealers from vendors who specialize in these products.
Eagle Natural Seal is good economical sealer for those on a tight budget. It is manufactured and marketed at a low price point to attract the large retail outlets that sell product to the mass public. Is it a an equivalent product to those being discussed? No, it simply isn't.
The reason is that Eagle Natural Seal uses silicone (not siliconate) as it's first ingredient. It also includes a silane/siloxane mix. Silicone is a large molecule sealer that sits right at the surface of concrete. It beads water better than just about any sealing ingredient. This is why you see the initial great reviews and it makes for an excellent marketing tactic.
The problem with silicone, however, is that the large molecular structure that sits at the surface wears away rather quickly. That is why some of the savvy concrete contractors who use Eagle Natural seal tell their customers that it needs to be
re-applied every year or two. This cost of reapplication for continued expected results and the time involved adds up over the long run.
The other issue with Eagle Natural seal is the the low active ingredients (percentage of solids) of their sealer. Most commercial quality sealers that are available ready to apply (not diluted with water) have active ingredient percentages of 8-12% depending on the type of ingredients. Some actually can be higher. Eagle Natural Seal has active ingredients of roughly 5%. We had confirmed this after talking to a couple of concrete sealing companies who are familiar with the product. Eagle does not offer this information, but apparently Home Depot was able to get this info from them and
offer it here. Eagle does offers even less in
their data sheets.
Admittedly, some of these companies are very vague about their active ingredients and GhostShield is one of them. However, GhostShield used to list their active ingredients in their MSDS sheets until they changed them recently. It used to be in the neighborhood of just under 10% if I remember correctly.
The point is, you get what you pay for. The commercial product offered by the vendors here, as well as other specialty concrete sealing companies, has almost double the active ingredients which is the main cost of the product. Eagle doesn't really care. They have a great campaign of providing their product to the home improvement centers who can offer it at a low price point and reap numerous 5 star
initial reviews. Rarely do you find the 5 star long term reviews of their product. To be fair, it's hard to find long term reviews of most concrete sealing products for that matter since people don't come back a few years later to do reviews. However, what you will find are people who have done reviews for a commercial product and mention that they went that direction after the poor long term performance that they received from their inexpensive home improvement purchase.
Hopefully this will help to clear up some of the differences in price point and quality of products.
Always follow the recommendation of the lift manufacturer.
vendors here that are giving honest advice. Don't cheap out and please do a "build therad" Good luck!
) but as far as I know, all hydronic heating systems need a water supply for "make up" water usually controlled by a pressure regulator and it happens automatically. I'm not sure of your exact situation and outlook on these type of things, but I'd put in the pex, finish your build and get the inspector done-gone-signed off. Then just add water later. You could put in a frost proof yard hydrant just outside the shop for car washing (presuming water & elec. will come from the house).
