So you put down VCT and clear epoxy...

[ScaldedDog]

... and after a year, or five, or fifteen, the epoxy yellows. How do you fix it? Grind it off?

While we're on the subject of fixing VCT/epoxy floors, can you easily replace a tile that's been epoxied over? It seems like you could, but I don't know what all is involved in patching clear epoxy.

I've been back and forth on what to do with my floor and, since inexpensive grey porcelain tile doesn't appear to exist, epoxied VCT is back under consideration. It needs to stay down 'till I'm dead, though, so I'm worried about how to fix the inevitable yellowing.

Mark

 

[JimVonBaden]

Don't epoxy it. Use the factory sealer and polish it once a year. Strip it, polish it and forget it, once a year. Unless you have a huge garrage, that is makes the most sense to me.

Jim

PS I am not going to do anything but a simple coat of sealer to mine. I am not that much worries about shine.

 

[rburke65]

You are going to epoxy over VCT?

 

[ScaldedDog]

Unless you have a huge garage...

It's about 1500sf, which sounds like more than I want to polish, though I've never polished a floor, and don't know how quickly it goes. I don't much care about shine, either, though looking clean would be nice.

Mark

 

[draglink]

Don't epoxy it. Use the factory sealer and polish it once a year. Strip it, polish it and forget it, once a year. Unless you have a huge garrage, that is makes the most sense to me.

Jim

PS I am not going to do anything but a simple coat of sealer to mine. I am not that much worries about shine.

^^^^^^^^^^

RedMax Pro makes great products. You can get them from Lowes.....they have a whole section in the cleaning products isle

 

[JimVonBaden]

It's about 1500sf, which sounds like more than I want to polish, though I've never polished a floor, and don't know how quickly it goes. I don't much care about shine, either, though looking clean would be nice.

Mark

Yeah, that would be a lot to strip and polish once a year. Mine is only 400 sq ft.

Jim

 

[BMEP]

I'm totally with you on wanting ceramic tile... I seriously considered it for my 1,000 sq ft garage... just too much cost. Epoxy over VCT seems like a decent option if you're not going to have heavy use (I opted for expoxy).

Seems like the clear epoxy yellowing wouldn't be any more of an issue over VCT than it is on all the other multi-coat/step epoxy floors with clear top coats (like mine, for example). Some clear coat epoxies are resistant to UV and (so they say) won't yellow. As for replacing a tile, you'd need to cut along the tile edges to get the tile out, I'm sure. To get a seamless repair with clear, you'd have to feather the edges back to get rid of the ridge and then coat the larger area with fresh clear... just like auto body work. While I've never done it, it sure seems to me like clear coat on a VCT floor would be hard to patch to the point where you couldn't see it if you were looking for it, but I bet you could get it good enough that only you'd know. The higher the gloss, the harder it will be to get it "perfect".

HTH