THE PARALYSIS of ANALYSIS

[Rickb1873]

I have been lurking on this site for several months to absorb as much information as possible as I plan to epoxy coat my garage floor.



Over the winter I have been upgrading the GARAGE-MAHAL with upgraded
electrical, Sheetrock, Slat wall and of course paint.
I am now at the stage of the project of putting down an epoxy floor,
and I am in the "Paralysis of Analysis" phase.

What I have found is:

 Floor Prep Options:
o Shot Blasting:
 This method is very aggressive and can leave impression marks in the floor
o Diamond Grinding:
 Does a very effective job of prepping the floor and cleans well; You need to use the right diamonds to achieve the desired results
o Muriatic Acid:
 Dilute 1:4 with water; Will do an effective job of prepping the floor (similar to 180 grit sand paper)
 Problem with a garage without a drain (I do not have a drain) is the residue washed out onto the driveway will stain the driveway.

o Recommended solution is to use the Diamond Grinding approach
 (grinder can be rented locally)



 Epoxy Options:

o ArmorSeal 1000:
 Solvate epoxy (71% solid) will lay down a 6-9 mil covering
 (this is not heavy enough to cover floor imperfections or grind marks from shot blasting
 Comes in pre-packaged colors or can be ordered in any color
 Covering is too thin to apply flakes
 Can be applied with or without a clear coat
 Cost for an 850 Sq Ft area is about $700 (without clear)

o ArmorSeal 650/33 (Epoxy / primer)
 100% solid; Cures by chemical reaction
 limited pot life; so a crew of 3-4 is recommended to spread quickly
 Apply by pouring / squeegee / roll
 can be applied with flakes
 apply primer coat; color coat; flakes; scrape off excess, then clear coat
 Cost for an 850 Sq Ft are is about $1300n (with clear)

RECOMMENDATION: Go with ArmorSeal-1000


At this point I am somewhat confused and would like to solicit any
Experience you may have on this topic.
At this point I am ready to:
o rent a Grinder from Home Depot and get the floor prepped
o order the Sherman Williams product and epoxy the floor
o Hope I do it right

 

[TheBanker]

I am just wondering why Armorseal? What about Wolverine or Epoxy-coat?

 

[Ruddy]

At one point I was looking at Armorclad, which I think is really the same product. They had a $812 900 sqft kit that gave you 13.7 mil thickness. A $970 1000 sgft kit, including clear from Epoxy-Coat gave me 19.4 mils.

 

[Rickb1873]

The reason I decided to use ArmorSeal is based mainly on references from friends who have used is successfully.
Quite frankly, with all of the products available I didn’t know which way to go. I want a good looking garage floor that is durable and I want to ensure that I do it right the first time. I have found this discussion board tremendously helpful as I move forward with this effort to do the flooring for my upper and lower garages (that has space for 9 cars plus workshop space).
My engineering background makes me the type that does a lot of research before I move forward, and I find the experiences gathered from the members of this board to be of tremendous value.
So my question is not whether you are a Ford guy or a Chevy guy, but Is Epoxy-Coat or Wolverine a better product than ArmorSeal??

 

[Ruddy]

As long as it 100% solids epoxy and the money to thickness ratio is close, you can just choose the website/color/kit/ease that you like.
One outfit I can't remember had a notched squeegee. Now that sounds minor, but after pulling the product over concrete, I could see where that might help. I used Epoxy-Coat, but I see people who put down Wolverine and putting down that primer/bondtite first seems to make more sense now, since now you come back after with the color on a much smoother prepped surface. This like when i did the clear, which was much easier over the base color coat.
Go with your gut!

 

[TheBanker]

I agree with Ruddy. Just do your research. We all have gone through the same thing you are going through. I think the reason I did not go with Amorguard is that their clear is one part epoxy instead of two and its cost is a bit more than Epoxy-coat. That being said I think there are better products than the armor line. Just list the 100% solids and that cuts the list down quite a bit then find the one you like.

 

[Rickb1873]

Well I have finally come up with a plan to do a portion of the garage floor. If this works out as planned, then I’ll go ahead and do the remaining of the 9 car garage space.
The solution:
• ArmorShield 1000 with Charcoal Flakes.
• Haze Gray
• Clear with Poly Clear
Material (for 750 Sq Ft):

• 6 - Gallons of Armor Shield 1000 Haze Gray (220-250 Sq Ft. coverage per Gallon)
o 3 – Gallons of A
o 3 – Gallons of B
• 3 - Gallons of Armor Shield High Solids Poly Clear (1 – 3 gallon Kit/
• 1 - Gallon of Armor Shield 1000 Reducer (R7K54)
o For reducing first coat and clean up
• 1 - Gallon of Armor Shield Urethane Reducer (R6K30
o For reducing the clear coat
• 3 - Cans of Shield Creek Flakes
Application:
• Acid Prep the floor
• First Coat:
o Reduce the Armor Shield by 15% (using R7K54)
o This will not provide good looking coverage of the floor
• Second Coat:
o Wait 4-6 hours after 1st coat is down
o Apply full strength Armor Shield
o Broadcast Flakes
• Clear Coat:
o Apply Armor Shield High Solids Poly Clear (reduced by 10% with R6K30)