To clear or not to clear !!!!! Epoxy coat

[BIGSHOT]

Hi,

I'm in Montréal QC and I went to Lowe's in NY to get some Epoxy Coat because this is not available in Canada.
The problem is that at Lowe's there is no clear from Epoxy Coat ...

I'm wondering if some of you regret not putting a clear or regret putting one on ... !

Thanks for the help !

 

[kyles974]

I'm not going to put a clear on. At least for now. (putting an epoxy down in the next few weeks)

.....one thing I was just educated on is that you can put a clear on at a later date. (I used 1yr later as an example)

....but one reason I won't put a clear down at this time is:

I slipped and fell a few yrs back, fractured my L1. To slip and fall again scares the **** out of me. So, If "I" was going to put a clear on "I" would want an anti-skid down, but then wouldn't want the anti-skid down for cleaning reasons, etc.,

I know this isn't who you asked but just my input, sence I went threw the same thinking.

 

[abstamaria]

Bigshot, the contractor put a clearcoat on an epoxy floor he applied for me. It was a white floor, and the clear coat gave it a yellow tinge. They had to sand the clear coat off. It looked better without.

Kyles concern about slipping is valid.

In time, you will also chip and scratch your epoxy floor. I have used white paint to fill in chips and sometimes wet sand scratched areas with good effect. The new epoxy floor we put in another section last year has no clear coat either, but has some sort of top coat. I just posted a photo of the new floor in the "Best Floor Covering" thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90007&page=2

 

[BIGSHOT]

Thanks for the input !

 

[tomd]

are you adding paint flakes to the floor? If so, then I would recommend the clear coat.

 

[BIGSHOT]

I was thinking about putting the flakes that comes in the kit ...

 

[csp]

are you adding paint flakes to the floor? If so, then I would recommend the clear coat.

What's your reasoning behing this? Lot of us have flakes without clear coat, myself included.

 

[kyles974]

What's your reasoning behing this? Lot of us have flakes without clear coat, myself included.

yea, I was not going to clear and use flakes.....

....so I second that?

 

[rugerlady]

A clear coat is not necessary even if you use flakes. If you use a heavy density of flakes, the floor will not be as shiny, so you may want a clear coat.

 

[desmo907]

I just painted my floor. I used a moderate amount of flakes I used non-skip additive to the epoxy as well. Afterward I could feel some of the flakes (by hand and barefoot) and some would flake off (remember you just shower them so some don't really embed well in the epoxy).

I then used the clear coat and added the non-skid to it as well. My floor is not slippery at all and the flakes (and I imagine the epoxy) is well protected. So far I was very happy -- I used the Sherwin Williams product (the clear was expensive but I put a lot of effort into prepping and painted so the incremental cost was worth it to me).
The floor sweeps and cleans (e.g., stains) easily.

 

[BIGSHOT]

Would you have the Sherwin Williams product code ?

Thanks !

 

[rugerlady]

When using a thinner (DFT) epoxy, the flakes my not imbed completely in the wet epoxy, hence the need for a clear coat. When using a thicker coating, the flakes should imbed in the epoxy, if anything sticks up, it will break off.