Time to make a decision on a floor coating

[AA7483]

I built my pole barn a few months ago. Concrete has been done for about 6 weeks now. This is going to be a general purpose shop. I'll be doing some metaworking/welding as well as storage for my HVAC business. General woodworking and I'll also have a small office. The floor has been power troweled. I'm hoping to get away with just acid etchiny and not having to grind. Something easy to put down and somethjng that will hold up.
Thanks

 

[OsoOC]

Stay away from do-it-yourself epoxy flooring kits. Even after acid etching the floor after pressure washings, they don't hold up that well. Hot tires and road gunk on them removes the epoxy. Next time... might just polish them and let the concrete shine. Add some garage strip rugs as needed such as by work benches.

 

[FJ4FUN]

I respectfully beg to differ with OsoOc.

Well, maybe not "beg".... ;-)

Properly applied quality, high solids, epoxy systems (many of which are represented here on this forum) over properly prepared concrete substrate will NOT fail due to "hot tire pick up" or degrade due to contamination from "road gunk".

If by "do-it-yourself epoxy flooring kits" you are referring to the variety of products sold in kit form off the shelf at your local hardware store then I would agree with you but they are not in the same class as the materials offered by the majority of vendors here.

We (AlphaGarage / Wolverine Coatings) consider mechanical grinding to be the gold standard when it comes to prep. About the only time we deviate from that is new concrete where no sealers have been applied. That being said many of our customers etch (and properly neutralize) their floors and do just fine.

 

[AA7483]

Thanks. Yea this is a brand new floor never sealed or coated.

 

[AA7483]

Anyone else have any input? Epoxy? Polyurea? Please someone point me in the right direction.

 

[AA7483]

This is the floor. I wound up with some white blotches here and there. They started as dark spots and as the concrete cured the got lighter than the rest of the floor. Not really sure why and doesn't really matter as it will get covered up. Hoping some of the forum sponsors will chime in on some product recommendations, whether etching only is appropriate on my power troweled floor and also how I should handle filling (or not filling) my saw cut joints.

 

[Mmattia]

If you plan on filling you saw cuts I would use a product from Legacy called Xtream Set 100, I just filled mine yesterday and will be grinding this weekend. The stuff is pretty amazing.

 

[AA7483]

Thanks I'll check it out.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

If you plan on filling you saw cuts I would use a product from Legacy called Xtream Set 100, I just filled mine yesterday and will be grinding this weekend. The stuff is pretty amazing.

 

[AA7483]

Can you suggest one of your coatings for me to use that will play nice with my power trowelled floor?

 

[Kaizen]

My floor was power troweled as well. Glad I ground it. You really want to spend all that money and not go all the way with prep?
I used epoxy-coat and happy with the performance so far.


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[AA7483]

Hate to mess with the smoothness. That's all.

 

[Kaizen]

Hate to mess with the smoothness. That's all.

It will feel smoother after grinding and any bumps or issues will level out.


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[AA7483]

Maybe what I meant to say was flatness. Was hoping to get some feedback from the vendors on their products.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Can you suggest one of your coatings for me to use that will play nice with my power trowelled floor?

Frankly the Power Troweled floor is a PIA.
It does us little good to have a super tough layer that needs to be made porous.

We deal with it using diamond grinders and it's fine.

Any of our coating kits will do the trick.

SD is better for more weathered floors because it hides more sins.

 

[Kaizen]

Maybe what I meant to say was flatness. Was hoping to get some feedback from the vendors on their products.

State that next time save me the trouble of helping. Maybe solicit them directly?
All epoxy will be flat


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[Armorpoxy]

Hi
A power troweled floor since it is not very porous should be mechanically prepped using a diamond grinder or Diamabrush you can rent from Home Depot. Don't get hung up on the appearance of the floor right now since it will be coated.

On a grinded floor we recommend our 100% solids www.armorcladepoxy.com with primer and 2 part Military Grade topcoat. Tens of thousands of satisfied users, and many on the GJ.

Please contact us directly at below for tech info, pricing, etc.

 

[AA7483]

State that next time save me the trouble of helping. Maybe solicit them directly?
All epoxy will be flat


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Well I'm sorry to have troubled you. I was looking for specific product advice as well as the advice of experienced members which is why I posted in the open forum.

 

[AA7483]

Frankly the Power Troweled floor is a PIA.
It does us little good to have a super tough layer that needs to be made porous.

We deal with it using diamond grinders and it's fine.

Any of our coating kits will do the trick.

SD is better for more weathered floors because it hides more sins.

Thanks I'll go with the grinding then and I'll check out your kits. Should I look at the epoxy or polyurea?

 

[AA7483]

Hi
A power troweled floor since it is not very porous should be mechanically prepped using a diamond grinder or Diamabrush you can rent from Home Depot. Don't get hung up on the appearance of the floor right now since it will be coated.

On a grinded floor we recommend our 100% solids www.armorcladepoxy.com with primer and 2 part Military Grade topcoat. Tens of thousands of satisfied users, and many on the GJ.

Please contact us directly at below for tech info, pricing, etc.

Thanks I'll check it out!

 

[AA7483]

Anyone ever deal with a pole barn with corrugated metal on the inside. Seems like it's going to be a pain to cut in between each rib.

 

[Jaguar Fan]

Anyone ever deal with a pole barn with corrugated metal on the inside. Seems like it's going to be a pain to cut in between each rib.

I didn't have that specific issue, but I did have a similar one. See the pictures. I didn't remove my water softener to apply the epoxy, and needed to get the epoxy behind it and between the resin tank and the brine tank.

My solution was to apply epoxy close to but not touching the water softener. Then, after epoxying the floor, I got some paint that matched the color of the epoxy and with a 1/2 inch brush I painted those areas. I can see them if I look hard but others will never notice.

 

[AA7483]

I thought about just painting the epoxy up to the siding and then putting some rubber cove molding around the building but that may not look great.