Single Color Flake - Anyone have photos/experience?

[Colin Len]

TLDR: I know this has been discussed a little but despite doing a ton of searching here and all over the internet I haven't found any photos to help my decision. It seems all the businesses that do epoxy (or similar flaked floors) are of the opinion that a single color flake looks bad. I've only managed to find one photo but it wasn't all that clear and looked just fine to me - basically like a solid color w/o flake but maybe with some traction additive in there for some texture. I know photos can be misleading so I'm not sure whether I should trust the photo I saw or the opinions I've read.

I'd love it if anyone had some more photos of solid color flake floors they could share to help me see this first hand.

A little more explanation for those who need more context:
I spoke with Shea recently and he recommended Roll on Rock flooring for my 320sqft garage. It's an 80yo slab and although devoid of cracks it does have plenty of pitting and places that will need repair/patch. It will also need a grind since it's got all sorts of paint, oil and who knows what else on it. If it was a fresh pour I'd probably just opt to seal it and be done but I think due to the condition a top coating is more suitable. His recommendation included a full broadcast of flakes. After researching and thinking about it more I'm just not sure I want a multi-color flake due to the difficulty of finding small parts on the floor. I've worked on these floors before a couple times and this was always an issue.

This is a working (hobby) garage and I'll be doing mainly automotive work, including some occasional welding, but also any myriad of other projects as I'm someone who likes to tinker on anything and everything. So while I want the garage to look good, performance is more important than looks.

I realize many suggest simply going with solid color epoxy and no flakes. And yes, that's an option. But, I like the idea of the added durability when flakes are used. I know I'm gonna end up dropping some heavy piece of steel on the ground and if flakes will help prevent chipping in a scenario like that then it seems like a smart choice. In my head I just can't understand how a solid color flake floor could look worse than a solid color floor w/o flake. But perhaps I'm missing something? Hopefully y'all can enlighten me.

Thanks!

 

[Shea]

There are a few pics if you look hard enough. The general opinion is that it does not look good (I agree). However, you are the one looking at it, and that's all that matters. I found a thread here that has a pic.

 

[Colin Len]

There are a few pics if you look hard enough. The general opinion is that it does not look good (I agree). However, you are the one looking at it, and that's all that matters. I found a thread here that has a pic.

Thanks, Shea. That is the thread I've already seen and so far I think the only photo I've been able to find - thus the reason for my post. I keep hearing people say it looks bad but to me that floor looks just fine. So it's making me think the photo isn't showing exactly how or why people say these floors look bad.

Sure, not as fancy as a multi-color flake combo but that's a compromise I'd be willing to make. Seems like it'd still hide flaws in the finish and and perhaps even hide dirt a bit better than solid color with no flake - but would also be more durable and have better UV resistance.

So what am I missing? Do people really think that looks terrible? Does the photo just not show how bad it looks? Or are people just exaggerating because it doesn't look AMAZING like a full color floor?

 

[FJ4FUN]

Your reasoning for a solid color flake job makes a whole lot of sense from a durability perspective. From an impact resistant perspective about the only thing that would beat a double broadcast, full flake distribution over a high build epoxy would be a double broadcast quartz floor. Both of these are very expensive and, quite frankly, I just don't care for quartz floors for anything other than bathrooms/locker rooms or cafeterias...

A lot of our customers are working shop environments where function takes precedence over form, they use their shops and the "dropped/lost part" scenario is a legitimate concern so they opt for solid color floors such as our CFLC or our 3 Component partial flake system sans the flakes. But solid color floors have downsides in that application boo-boo's have nowhere to hide as flakes will cover a multitude of sins and, while our LiquaTile body coat epoxies enjoy best-in-class color stability, they will still color shift over time with exposure to UV light. Our EnduraShield hybrid-urethane goes a long way in added UV resistance but, in order to assure 100% color stability you would have to go with a full broadcast of flakes.

I have not personally done this, maybe others have, but if I were to do a solid color flake floor I'd start with a prime coat of our BondTite 1101, then broadcast a solid color flake to full rejection into a 12-15mil coat of our LiquaTile 1184 body coat, let it cure, scrape aggressively and then sand the flakes with a 175rpm floor maintainer / 120grit sanding screens until it's very flat then apply two coats of our EnduraShield 2254 with SpheriTex traction additive in the final coat. Solid color flake floors tend to look very blotchy but my gut tells me that a good sanding of the flake coat would go a long way towards eliminating this. Going with the 1/8"flakes VS the more common 1/4" flakes would probably help as well.

 

[Colin Len]

Thanks for your insights. Sounds about like what I've been reading. Interesting about the double broadcast, I hadn't heard of that before. And similarly, interesting idea about sanding down the flakes. That's likely more effort than I'm willing to go for but we'll see what develops once I start figuring out more of the details of this remodel.

 

[ssjones]

I did a multi-color coating via Ninja down here in Louisiana. I too asked about single color and the sales rep said it just doesn't look good. While I love the look and feel, I've dropped a few screws on my coated floor and they are darn near impossible to find. The positive note is the floor always looks clean.

 

[FJ4FUN]

Thanks for your insights. Sounds about like what I've been reading. Interesting about the double broadcast, I hadn't heard of that before. And similarly, interesting idea about sanding down the flakes. That's likely more effort than I'm willing to go for but we'll see what develops once I start figuring out more of the details of this remodel.

You could get away with a single broadcast flakes and then sand. Sanding is easy but you'll have to rent the floor maintainer and buys some discs, all-in about $125.00. The "risk" with doing this with single broadcast is the potential to sand through the flakes and strike the underlying body coat if an area did not get sufficient flake distribution. This doesn't create a functional issue but a cosmetic one, you might see a web of epoxy within the flakes.

 

[Colin Len]

I did a multi-color coating via Ninja down here in Louisiana. I too asked about single color and the sales rep said it just doesn't look good. While I love the look and feel, I've dropped a few screws on my coated floor and they are darn near impossible to find. The positive note is the floor always looks clean.

My floor looks terrible (and dirty) now so anything will be an improvement. And, at this point I'm pretty sure I'm willing to sacrifice ultimate looks for some practicality. I just wish I could actually find photos to help confirm what these floors look like. Photos can be so misleading that I don't want to make a decision off a single photo.

You could get away with a single broadcast flakes and then sand. Sanding is easy but you'll have to rent the floor maintainer and buys some discs, all-in about $125.00. The "risk" with doing this with single broadcast is the potential to sand through the flakes and strike the underlying body coat if an area did not get sufficient flake distribution. This doesn't create a functional issue but a cosmetic one, you might see a web of epoxy within the flakes.

Ah, that very much makes sense, thank you.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

It looks terrible. There is no helping it.
The bottom line is that everyone thinks their floor is perfectly flat and you will have a perfectly flat floor system.

The reality is your floor is not flat and when you put a solid color, flake on it, the undulations show up and it looks terrible. The multicolored flake hides the undulation and hides all kinds of issues with the floor. Having installed thousands of these, that’s my two cents.

 

[Colin Len]

It looks terrible. There is no helping it.
The bottom line is that everyone thinks their floor is perfectly flat and you will have a perfectly flat floor system.

The reality is your floor is not flat and when you put a solid color, flake on it, the undulations show up and it looks terrible. The multicolored flake hides the undulation and hides all kinds of issues with the floor. Having installed thousands of these, that’s my two cents.

Do you also think solid color epoxy without flake looks terrible? Are these undulations you speak of not visible if you did solid color epoxy without any flakes?

 

[rsanter]

If your floor,is old and Needs to be ground then how about just grinding, then you can seal it or polish is. Perhaps stain it if you want a color.

The floor at work was a headache as it keeps peeling and bubbling as we were getting moisture come up through it. I got fed up and had the concrete ground and polished then we did a pro wax seal on it once a year.
Forklift’s and heavy for traffic was the norm and they floor was about as easy to deal with as one could hope.

Other experiences.
In my past house I painted the garage floor. Nothing special, just grey garage floor paint.
I loved that floor for the easy clean up and the easy to fix/patch nature of it.
The bad side, I got hot tire pick up from the daily driver, I scratched the floor driving things across it.
The good side. It was cheap and easy to patch any damage and the patch did not really show


Current house.
I did the epoxy floor with the flake broadcast.
The floor is note about 13 years old, I have one area by a front tire where the epoxy has lifted and I have some areas of scratches that go through the epoxy. Overall not too bad but to fix it I will have to basically redo the whole floor or it’s going to show that it’s patched.
If I did not have the flake odds are it could be patched and not be as visable, and if it was the garage floor paint/non-epoxy I could touch up a small area without waiting mixed product

Just my two cents

 

[Colin Len]

If your floor,is old and Needs to be ground then how about just grinding, then you can seal it or polish is. Perhaps stain it if you want a color.

The floor at work was a headache as it keeps peeling and bubbling as we were getting moisture come up through it. I got fed up and had the concrete ground and polished then we did a pro wax seal on it once a year.
Forklift’s and heavy for traffic was the norm and they floor was about as easy to deal with as one could hope.

Other experiences.
In my past house I painted the garage floor. Nothing special, just grey garage floor paint.
I loved that floor for the easy clean up and the easy to fix/patch nature of it.
The bad side, I got hot tire pick up from the daily driver, I scratched the floor driving things across it.
The good side. It was cheap and easy to patch any damage and the patch did not really show


Current house.
I did the epoxy floor with the flake broadcast.
The floor is note about 13 years old, I have one area by a front tire where the epoxy has lifted and I have some areas of scratches that go through the epoxy. Overall not too bad but to fix it I will have to basically redo the whole floor or it’s going to show that it’s patched.
If I did not have the flake odds are it could be patched and not be as visable, and if it was the garage floor paint/non-epoxy I could touch up a small area without waiting mixed product

Just my two cents

Grind + sealer is an option, but I'm kinda looking at that as a last resort. I don't think it'll look all that great with all the patching that my floor needs.

And I'm definitely not going to go with paint or any cheaper product that isn't super durable as durability is a top priority.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Do you also think solid color epoxy without flake looks terrible? Are these undulations you speak of not visible if you did solid color epoxy without any flakes?

Its not as bad. A sprinkle of flake on a solid floor will do wonders for it though.

 

[Colin Len]

Its not as bad. A sprinkle of flake on a solid floor will do wonders for it though.

Interesting, so a single color flake will really show more imperfections (undulations) than solid color w/o flake? Thats kinda mind blowing actually. I was assuming single color flake would be a compromise between the two.

 

[hobie18]

320 square feet. Tall ceiling I hope. 16x20? I would maximize space.

 

[Colin Len]

UPDATE: So, I'm now considering hiring this project out. I originally wanted to DIY but after looking at how much prep is gonna be needed I think it might just be wise to trust a pro and save myself a ton of time. This would allow me to focus my time elsewhere, which would be nice. I had one company, Octo Pro Coatings, come by to give me a quote. It might be worth for asking for more details about the products used but they aid they'd have a high solids pigmented primer (acts as a good moisture barrier he said), vinyl flakes and then finished off with a polyaspartic top coat. Price was $8.30/sqft which seams reasonable considering this is only 323sqft.

They had the typical flake offerings but then also some that were aiming for a marble or stone look. They have one called "ash" which is still mutli-color but similar shades so this may be a good compromise for me as well. I took some pics to give myself an idea.

 

[321design]

Late to this conversation, but I'm looking for guidance concerning a flaked floor vs. a solid color because of the "dropped scew" issue. But seeing the hardware on top of the samples makes me think it wouldn't be as much of a problem as I imagined, especially on the Ash flake. I prefer flaked for its anti-slipping properties and ability to hide dirt. My floor is in a new garage, so there are "no imperfections" and it is flat.

Did you use that color, and if so, what was your experience?

Thanks

 

[Colin Len]

Late to this conversation, but I'm looking for guidance concerning a flaked floor vs. a solid color because of the "dropped scew" issue. But seeing the hardware on top of the samples makes me think it wouldn't be as much of a problem as I imagined, especially on the Ash flake. I prefer flaked for its anti-slipping properties and ability to hide dirt. My floor is in a new garage, so there are "no imperfections" and it is flat.

Did you use that color, and if so, what was your experience?

Thanks

I'm running WAY behind schedule on my project. But still tentatively planning on that "ash" color. I feel like it's the best compromise I've found.

 

[FJ4FUN]

Late to this conversation, but I'm looking for guidance concerning a flaked floor vs. a solid color because of the "dropped scew" issue. But seeing the hardware on top of the samples makes me think it wouldn't be as much of a problem as I imagined, especially on the Ash flake. I prefer flaked for its anti-slipping properties and ability to hide dirt. My floor is in a new garage, so there are "no imperfections" and it is flat.

Did you use that color, and if so, what was your experience?

Thanks

Some flake blends are better at camouflaging dropped parts. High contrasting color combos such as our Orbit-H25A and Lighthouse-H69A will make finding small dropped parts more of a challenge whereas blends like our Gravel-H85A and Shoreline-H72A are excellent at making those parts standout without risking the blotchy look of solid color flake floors. You can compare those blends here:
Chip Floor System (just input the project sf)