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SOS - Need recommendations!

JMoriner

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Nov 15, 2011
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I am the facility manager of a 8000 square foot automotive repair facility. I have been tasked with repairing a floor that would be put out of its misery if it were a horse. The major problem I face is that the facility cannot be shut down for any length of time. Our floors will take a righteous beating. We also assemble engines and transmissions for high performance vehicles so the mess must be kept to a minimum. Please advise on products and methods.
 

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mypov

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Aug 1, 2011
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A lot of variables here -
What is currently on the floor, is it just concrete with sealant? What is the maximum amount of time you can keep the floor free of use? Might have to repair the floor in sections...You could close parts at a time, pour new concrete and treat it to your liking...If you want your "new" floor to be long lasting you are going to have to treat it properly and allow for the needed setup time. Depending on the product you use, a lot of set up times require certain lengths of time without heavy use.
no "quick" fix I'm afraid.
Hope it goes well.
 

LegacyIndustrial

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I am the facility manager of a 8000 square foot automotive repair facility. I have been tasked with repairing a floor that would be put out of its misery if it were a horse. The major problem I face is that the facility cannot be shut down for any length of time. Our floors will take a righteous beating. We also assemble engines and transmissions for high performance vehicles so the mess must be kept to a minimum. Please advise on products and methods.

Love the horse reference! Pictures of your floor would be great. You did come to the right place for help.

We have products that can be walked on in hours and driven on the same day. However, preparation rules the day. You need to prep correctly for a good end result.
 
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JMoriner

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Nov 15, 2011
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They swear they used Epoxy but it looks like they used some kind of general concrete paint and did not set it up well. It is flaking and bubbling up all over. I seriously think it might be concrete or house paint. I could possibly get away with closing parts at a time. I'm looking into Epoxy but my research suggests it needs to be laid all at once for best results.
 

LegacyIndustrial

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You need to section off a piece of the facility and grind the heck out of that floor.
Bare concrete is what you need. If the coatings that we see are oily and greasy you need to degrease 2x prior to hitting with the grinder. Make sure you get a grinder with a vac attachment so you don't dust out your employees or customers.

Once you get those materials off you still may need an oil-stop prior to coating as a fail safe.
 

slickgt1

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Just tile it. You can deff do it in sections, and never worry about it again.
 

thegarageguy

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With the right contractor, it can be diamond grinded and coated in a day with multiple layers of a pigmented and non slip textured polyaspartic system.

Here is an example of a fast food restaurant commercial kitchen that had to be done overnight.

4FoodNYC.jpg


Here is the project folder link http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh209/garageandbeyond/4Food NYC/
 

rlitman

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Oct 18, 2010
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At a company I worked at, we resurfaced around 5000 square feet of warehouse space. It was previously covered in VCT that was long gone. What was left, was a sticky asphalt like residue from the mastik used to glue down the tiles.
Overnight the floor was cleaned using a steel shot blasting machine, which vacuumed up the resultant mess. No dust created whatsoever.
The coating we applied took three days before we could use the floor though (4 coats for the total application).
 

pauls340

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Jan 27, 2009
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North of Motown
That is a simple repair. Mg-Krete by www.spggogreen.com , 11,000+ psi, over 2600 psi in one hour, waterproofs both + and -, impervious to gas, oil, water, glycol, de-icing materials, salt, paint stripers, trans fluid and even pickle juice won't hurt it. You can color it any color you want just use powder only. There's no water in this product. Can apply down to zero degrees. It is the best product I have ever used or tested, better than Sika, Meadows, Mapie, BASF, 5 Star, Ardex, Gemite. You can make it cure in 10 minutes. We drive on it in a hour. :thumbup:
 

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pauls340

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By the way J, if that is oil soaked concrete, the same company who makes Mg-Kret also makes a Microbe oil eating product to get rid of the oil. In most cases we shotblast and treat the real bad areas. We would put a 1/4" min. layer on that floor. Good luck
 

thegarageguy

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pauls340, this product is a resurfacer not a coating system...not sure it would be a good choice for a shop environment
 

pauls340

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By what I can see in the pic, I would say that floor needs to be rebuilt pryor to calling The Garage Guy to put a new coating on top of the MgKrete. If that was my shop, I would have a contractor who is familiar with MgKrete redo that floor with a yellow colored MgKrete mix. 1/4" thick solid yellow.
 

thegarageguy

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By what I can see in the pic, I would say that floor needs to be rebuilt.

I don't see any deterioration that would warrant that type of product, but then again, I am not a product pusher. Looks to me like multiple coats of failed paint but maybe pauls340 sees something I don't in the small pic of approx 50 sqft out of 8000.

A good diamond grind or shotblast, along with some degreasing with an auto scrubber should be enough to prep that.

A good spec for a workshop or mechanic shop would be;

A. epoxy slurry with polyurethane top coat 1/16" to 1/18 " thick floor

B. Epoxy Quartz double broadcast with poly top coat 1/8" to 3/16" floor

C. Urethane concrete with Quartz double broadcast and poly top coat 3/16" to 3/8" thick floor

IMAG0253.jpg


All these floors can be a solid color or multi colored quartz. In the end, choosing the correct spec and the right contractor will determine the quality of your floor.
 

LegacyIndustrial

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I think these are all great recommendations:

A. epoxy slurry with polyurethane top coat 1/16" to 1/18 " thick floor

B. Epoxy Quartz double broadcast with poly top coat 1/8" to 3/16" floor

C. Urethane concrete with Quartz double broadcast and poly top coat 3/16" to 3/8" thick floor.

However, from what I gathered they are trying to save cost by doing in-house, in small sections. I recommended a fast cure 100% Solids (HD-181) as Poly-aspartic may knock them out if trying to work in the coating environment, not to mention it's not as forgiving for a beginner.
 

thegarageguy

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My bad, substitute polyaspartic for epoxy and polyurethane...forgot the timeline thing. Sorry Scott, I didn't read anywhere about keeping a certain budget or keeping anything in house.
 
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JMoriner

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Nov 15, 2011
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Thanks for all the assistance. The bottom line we are facing at this point is cost, manpower, and potential shop downtime. We are settled on grinding off the existing floor with a dual disc grinder and an edger from sunbelt. We are trying to settle on a product that will dry rapidly and make the floor look decent. It doesn't have to be a color. We are going to be severe rookies with this. The floor can be straight concrete with a slight coating to prevent dusting etc. We just need to get rid of the horrible yellow paint. The floors all pretty much look like the picture. Only a few damaged or cracked spots. I would love to pass this off to a contractor. The local guys all quoted us $7k to $11k and wanted to shut down for a minimum of a week and refused to move stuff. So we are doing this in house. Acrylic Sealers??? Any thoughts? Cheap and to the point and quick drying...
 

Falcon67

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Merkel, TX
FWIW - I'm going to use an industrial paint on my shop floor. Kelly-Moore KM-15 light gray

"Product Description

A two component, high solids, chemical resistant amine adduct cured epoxy mastic. Chemical Mastic KM-15 is specially modified with a proprietary blend of selective resins, wetting agents, penetrants and rust inhibitors to provide excellent adhesion and protection of sound, rusty steel surfaces, and to upgrade old, deteriorated coatings. Ideal as a one coat system over marginal or poorly prepared surfaces where blasting is impractical or prohibited. Recommended as a high build primer under a wide variety of topcoats."

Pot life is listed at 3 hrs @ 75F, 1 1/2 @ 90F, tack free 3-4 hr @ 75F. It'll go fast because you'll lose the pot if you mess around. Might be worth a look - check with a local dealer.
 

Edger

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May 18, 2011
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Melbourne Australia
If you use a cheap acrylic you will probably want to grind and start again in a couple of years bashing yourself around the head because you did not put down a better coating the first time.

After grinding off can you not afford the fast curing polyaspartic? You will have to learn how to use it, but it should be quick and ready the next day.

Most likely you will need to degrease as well after diamond grinding. Don't be fooled by the "clean" white surface after grinding. Oils that have soaked into the concrete previously will come back up and discolor the surface overnight. Removing this is important for epoxy and polyaspartic adhesion, but it is doubly important for acrylic adhesion.

Use a strong, (if they say dilute 50:1 with water use it 2:1) alkaline degreaser (water based) in the oily areas applying with a fine bristle nylon house broom and a small amount of agitation - you want the degreaser to do the work, not the broom. Vacuum after 20 mins, apply clean rinse water with same broom, vacuum again, repeat with one more rinse and vacuum. Wipe or mop up any water from under machines etc. Should be dry 1 hr later.

It will not dry at all if you do not use a good quality floor tool with the wet vac. Any residues of unrinsed degreaser will not dry properly and when rinsing if the guys step in and out of the detergent back onto the clean rinsed floor it will all have to be rinsed again. Good housekeeping is important with cleaning and coating.

If you coat with a fast cure product you will have to allow extra labor and time to do all the edges and ask the supplier for lots of advice. With quick cure you may have to mix in small batches continuously, rollers may harden if you stop for a rest, same with brushes, same with mixed batches! Choose a supplier who will give you lots of help.
 

Colen

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Nov 28, 2011
Messages
2
I have two products that may intersest you the first one is AcriTech and the second is Chem Coat. Check out www.cantechcanada.com to get a complete overview of the products. Both of these coatings are excellent alternatives to epoxy based systems. I can be contacted at cmckeever@cantechcanada if you require any assistance.
 

thegarageguy

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Oct 24, 2007
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NJ
acrylic sealer is not a correct spec for that environment....it will keep the dust down but will possibly dissolve if any solvent or vehicle fluid touches it. You may find yourself in a similar or worst situation you are in now faster than you think.
 

dcs Inc

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Dec 13, 2010
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Indianapolis, Indiana
A good alternative finish I use a lot is applying our PT3 water borne epoxy. It goes down around 250 sq. ft. a gallon. Then apply a high wear urethane with aluminum oxide. This will give a semi gloss finish with high slip resistance and it's tough as hell. Now I'm comparing to our epoxies but I normally apply that at 80 to 100 sq. ft. a gallon. I use our Reflector Enhancer metallics a lot with that thickness to give the floor some real depth. thats more for a show room type finish. gene ec-Indy

http://tinyurl.com/799l7ah
 
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