Innovate1
Well-known member
Have read up some on this type flooring and still have a few questions. We had our detached "shop" building done a few years ago but I wasn't very happy with it. The guy power washed the floor and only waited less than 24 hours as I recall to put down the epoxy and I had a number of small bubbles as might be expected - actually surprised it wasn't worse. We parted on bad terms but the floor has held up better than expected - the bubbled settled down after a few days and the floor hasn't seen much hard use but I have no bad spots yet. My main complaint is the floor is rough - the edges of the flakes stick up and aren't really covered by the top coat. He applied a second top coat but it didn't do much. Thinking there are two causes. First I doubt the floor was scraped to knock off the edges of the flakes that were sticking up and I think this is normally done. Second the top coat may have been thin.
Now looking at getting our detached garage done and looking to pay what is needed to get someone that knows what they are doing. The slab is in good shape with just a few small divots. 20 years old and has paint that was applied at that time. Have a couple companies coming out to have a look and quote. When they poured the slab they didn't push quite enough concrete into the corners by the OHDs so the corners are slightly low and in the winter snow melt runs there. Not a huge problem as the water drains around the edge of the slab but would be nice to fix this if practical. Wondering if the corners could be built up or if whatever is added would likely crack off. With the epoxy I expect the edge gap would be sealed so either need to build up or leave a hole for drainage.
One company said the top coat would be polyaspartic to avoid yellowing. They said they need 4 days and 240V for their grinder. They said that they don't run the epoxy out beyond the door due to chance of water getting under the coating and lifting it. So they cut a shallow groove where the epoxy ends and do something else for the exposed edge - I need to ask some more questions on that. The shop is coated to the edge and so far the exterior part has held up. Is the coating typically stopped short of the exterior or run to the slap edge?
Another said they would charge extra to remove the paint with a grinder before doing their standard surface prep of shot blast. Then 5 layer process with engineered siloxane. He went on about his chemical engineering background and their custom process but talk is cheap and I was put off a bit by that.
We are planning to paint the walls (now drywall but just got primer originally) before the floor work - just seems like less worry about getting paint on the new floor.
These are my main questions:
How is the exposed slab which extends beyond the OHD normally done and what is recommended?
Shouldn't the top coat cover the flakes and make the floor smooth - maybe not completely flat but no edges sticking up? Isn't scraping the way this is addressed?
What might be done with the low corners for drainage? They aren't visibly low but just enough that water flows to corners.
Now looking at getting our detached garage done and looking to pay what is needed to get someone that knows what they are doing. The slab is in good shape with just a few small divots. 20 years old and has paint that was applied at that time. Have a couple companies coming out to have a look and quote. When they poured the slab they didn't push quite enough concrete into the corners by the OHDs so the corners are slightly low and in the winter snow melt runs there. Not a huge problem as the water drains around the edge of the slab but would be nice to fix this if practical. Wondering if the corners could be built up or if whatever is added would likely crack off. With the epoxy I expect the edge gap would be sealed so either need to build up or leave a hole for drainage.
One company said the top coat would be polyaspartic to avoid yellowing. They said they need 4 days and 240V for their grinder. They said that they don't run the epoxy out beyond the door due to chance of water getting under the coating and lifting it. So they cut a shallow groove where the epoxy ends and do something else for the exposed edge - I need to ask some more questions on that. The shop is coated to the edge and so far the exterior part has held up. Is the coating typically stopped short of the exterior or run to the slap edge?
Another said they would charge extra to remove the paint with a grinder before doing their standard surface prep of shot blast. Then 5 layer process with engineered siloxane. He went on about his chemical engineering background and their custom process but talk is cheap and I was put off a bit by that.
We are planning to paint the walls (now drywall but just got primer originally) before the floor work - just seems like less worry about getting paint on the new floor.
These are my main questions:
How is the exposed slab which extends beyond the OHD normally done and what is recommended?
Shouldn't the top coat cover the flakes and make the floor smooth - maybe not completely flat but no edges sticking up? Isn't scraping the way this is addressed?
What might be done with the low corners for drainage? They aren't visibly low but just enough that water flows to corners.