Surface Prep Poll

[Seamless Floor Coatings]

I would like to get a feeling for what you guys are doing for surface prep.
As you know this is the most important thing to do before any thing is applied to the floor. there is alot of misconceptions In floor prep and what should and should not be done.
In a little bit we will go into proper surface prep. and the do and donts of prep.

 

[TLR67]

Wouldn't it depend what is already on the floor? Or are you talking a brand new floor?

 

[Seamless Floor Coatings]

Wouldn't it depend what is already on the floor? Or are you talking a brand new floor?

Good question. For this discusion we will focus on a new or old slab uncoated

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

I ALWAYS diamond grind.

IF there is a Gooey paint or glue I use a PCD cup wheel.

This CUP kicks ****!

Youtube VID:

I use a 7" "Hum-B" with a 12-20 diamonds and a Medium Bond 18 Long/Short Segment. I am getting 40-50 garages PER CUP WHEEL with these!! $.006/SF !!!

I also have a 19" Lite Prep with 30-40 Medium Bond.

We do MOSTLY garages, The 110v 19 is about right for power and weight. ANY bigger and we would need 240v a generator or tap into other power. this is just easier.

As you may know there are several jobs where I can do the floor MUCH FASTER with the 7" because the floor is SO uneven or damaged.

Only about Half the time does the 19 come out. It is SOMETIMES faster but diamonds are more $$ Around $.05 / SF!!

 

[Dave88LX]

I voted 'Acid Wash' because that's the only option I could find when I did my floor. I searched for a shotblaster all over the Baltimore area and could not find one. That's what I would have rather done.

I suppose the diamond grinding would have been the next best choice, but I went with acid. We will see how it all works out in time.

 

[mkc68]

I voted 'Acid Wash' because that's the only option I could find when I did my floor. I searched for a shotblaster all over the Baltimore area and could not find one. That's what I would have rather done.

I suppose the diamond grinding would have been the next best choice, but I went with acid. We will see how it all works out in time.

Any problems so far? I am also thinking of doing acid wash. We are getting ready to sell our home and I want to spiff up the garage, without blowing the budget or getting into total overkill for prep if I don't have to.

 

[KnightFire]

None of the above?

My floor was virgin, I simply waited the prescribed amount of time for curing, gave it a good cleaning after it cured, then let it dry, and started to apply the products.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I voted acid wash. I had over an inch of grease on the floor, but I did use 6 gallons of purple power and two boxes of TSP first. I used Valspar from HD, and it doesn't have a single chip or flake in 6 years of fabrication/woodworking/vehicle traffic. Works for me. I would never spend the money on a professional floor for what I use my place for. I didn't even fill cracks or chips in the concrete first, just didn't matter.

 

[JD in DFW]

We have two 24" dual disc Edco gas grinders(their names are Mary-Ann and Ginger). I replaced the 11hp Honda engines with 13 hp with electric start a few months back and boy what a difference. We can prep and grind a typical 2 car garage in about 35 min. and the diamond grinding blocks have lasted well over a year now and will still go another year I'm sure. We use a 7" hand held for the edges, we also have dust collection on both grinders. I picked up all of our grinders on line and would be embarrassed to tell you the deal we got on them.

We also do alot of prep work for other flooring guys in tile and overlay work in our area, and have done pretty good with that when the garage stuff is a bit slow from time to time.

 

[sixty4]

When I did my floor in my 10 year old house this is exactly how I did it!

Gave a good rinse with a broom used for putting down Aspault sealer.
Shot it down with etching acid and rinsed.
Shot it two more times with Simply green and rinsed..
Let it Throughly dry and appiled my Rocksolid Polyurea floor.
Don't spare any of the above! The biggest PITA was burning the fibers from the fiber cement as they would keep standing up.

Came out well INMHO, and has held up extremely well!

I know you only asked about prep, However I went with one extra coat of clear at the end. It was not slippery as some suggested it may become. However without the chips I could see this being the case!

 

[Dave88LX]

Any problems so far? I am also thinking of doing acid wash. We are getting ready to sell our home and I want to spiff up the garage, without blowing the budget or getting into total overkill for prep if I don't have to.

Too early to tell, it's only been down a couple months. I don't think I'm going to have any problems though.

 

[Beertestr]

I am converting the old garage... which had been converted into an office, back into a garage. The garage door is going to open into my main garage, but I have not opened up the wall since I want to do the floor in the next week, and it's too cold.

The area is heated with central heat (and central AC ), so I have it at 60 degrees right now.

I have some grease on my floor, and I just pulled the carpet out of the room, and there are just a few sections of the floor where the paddind was glued down. I want to get the best surface possible, but a lot of hosing down may be problematic. There is also some paint splatter and drywall residue that I am attempting to scrub off the floor with a mop and stoff scrib brush on a broom handle.. there has to be a better way.

Looking at the above options, I like the buffer idea. If I rent a buffer, what media should I use? Heavy Scotch Brite padding? If not that, what? What other rentable tools can I use? I am not incredibly worried about the baseboard molding, so I can run right to the wall with the buffer. I have used them before on screen/recoat jobs on my wood floors.

How's that for a first post? !
Thanks!

Michael