Two adults mess up epoxy-coat

[BL50]

Horse Pucky.

When you weigh the amount of sales that are made vs. the percentage of "floors gone wrong" the odds are extremely good that you will produce an outstanding end-result.

Very few post the successful floors and nearly all the "floors gone wrong" hit this site.

I am speaking for our company only. However, I would imagine Ruger-Lady (Chrsitine) has a similar story to tell.

Well, I have no idea what the success vs. failure rate is but I do know that if you have a problem with an epoxy floor application it becomes a nightmare.

To each his own, but I'll be calling Christine in the spring to install my floor and then if there's a problem I'll just pick up the phone and ask her to fix it!

 

[buzz4041]

Epoxy floors are something for pros to do using pro materials. There are just too many variables for even an experienced DIYer to be certain of getting the result he wants, and materials intended for pro purchase and use are light-years more difficult to manage than the ****-in-a-box from Lowes. It's not something you can just wing your way through and you're likely to get a satisfactory result only if (1) everything miraculously goes right and/or (2) you have very low standards...

Up your budget for the floor by 50% and call a pro.

I have to agree with you on material selections. I do not agree with the you need a pro to do it though. If you do your homework and strictly follow the requirements of preparation (this is key to success) then the installation of the product is relatively straight forward. Most problems arise from the lack of preparation being carried out correctly. I laid mine around 4 years ago it took me a week to do (prepearation) it but it holds up great to welding, lifts, chassis jigs, engine stands , A frames and anything else I can throw at it.

 

[DGOZ06]

Re: Two adults mess up epoxy-coat-SUCCESS

We did it!!! Sunday am was sunny and warm so it was Go day. Started about 10:30 and finished by 4:30 - just in time to watch the 2nd half of the Packer game.

We watch the instruction video again and think we understood what we did wrong. The part B hardener is clear and rises when the colored part A is added. We think we were looking at the part A and stopped adding it when it got to the top line on the stick. That meant that the clear part B was above the line meaning we had a quart too much part A in the batches. We ran way short of part A and had too much part B left over so that theory made sense.

It is amazing when you use the correct amount of hardener. The product was so different in consistency, working time, and brightness. We used well marked measuring containers this time. For over-50 eyes, it was definately the way to go. Way easier than looking into a tall black bucket.

Checked the floor this am. It is hard, walkable, shiny, gorgeous! We'll wait til the weekend to park the cars on it just to be safe.

Would we recommend this as a DIY project? YES. Just because we messed up doesn't mean we wouldn't have attempted this in hindsight. We were born DIY'ers and have learned to work through adversity. Working through a challenge is rewarding, especially when the desired end result is reached.

 

[richtersrodz]

Congrats..!! Any pictures?

 

[DGOZ06]

Photos - before and after. Note, our spring DIY garage project was insulation and drywall. Next up before it gets too cold is paint and vinyl base. We are thinking of charcoal on lower walls, red trim and keeping the white on upper walls. Onward!

 

[richtersrodz]

Looks great!! My issue would be what to do with all of the stuff that is stashed in the garage, so that I could coat it..

 

[DGOZ06]

It wasn't a problem for us because we have a big shed/workshop (can't epoxy that floor due to excess moisture). Wife didn't care for being without the garage for so long - almost a month. Walking across the gravel driveway in heels before work wasn't her cup of tea. Idea for you might include renting a Pod storage unit for a couple of weeks. If all goes right, you'd have one weekend for prep, one weekend for epoxy, then wait for cure.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

Epoxy floors are something for pros to do using pro materials. There are just too many variables for even an experienced DIYer to be certain of getting the result he wants, and materials intended for pro purchase and use are light-years more difficult to manage than the ****-in-a-box from Lowes. It's not something you can just wing your way through and you're likely to get a satisfactory result only if (1) everything miraculously goes right and/or (2) you have very low standards...

Up your budget for the floor by 50% and call a pro.

I can't say I agree with this at all actually.

I think it DOES depend on quality product and what you are using. That being said I did my garage floor using very quality products and the result came out professional. I did all the prep work, all the installation of the primer, base coat, flakes, and urethane top coats. Everyone that comes into my garage is blown away and asks how much the guy charged me to install it... They are even more floored when I tell them I did it.

My standards of making things look good are probably beyond 90% of people.

A "professional" might get the job done faster, however I usually am never satisfied with how a professional does something because they do it to get the job done. Most people unforutnatly don't take pride in what they do so they do it to make the most profit in the least amount of time. If I screwed my floor up I would have no one else to blame buy myself, however if I paid someone I would always be nit picking at something because I would have wondered why they didn't do it this way or that way..etc.

If you take your time, prep, research, t en I feel you can pretty much take care of a lot of things. Yes experience does plan into a huge part, but it's just that... professionals make mistakes but they either take care of it when you aren't looking so you never knew it happened or they mess up to.

I can only speak on myself but to me it's quite rewarding to take on a challenge that people say should only be left to professionals to only have it come out excellent...

-Nigel

 

[rugerlady]

So glad everything worked out well. Sorry you had the measuring error too. Like Scotty from Legacy said, most people do have floors that turn out fabulous. We have been in business for a long time, if that many people were messing up their floor, we wouldn't be able to stay in business.

 

[DGOZ06]

We in no way blame the Epoxy-Coat product. It was just "one of those things" to us. We view this experience as one more great story to tell. When people come over, look at the beautiful floor, and ask who did it, we can say "Funny you should ask...".

 

[ManxRacer]

Looks great!! My issue would be what to do with all of the stuff that is stashed in the garage, so that I could coat it..

One alternative is to rent a 'Pod' or something similar, place it in your driveway and pack all of your garage contents in it. A friend of mine did this last Summer while he did his floor.

 

[z28dad]

Congrats! The floor looks great.

 

[buzz4041]

Nice job and gratifying isn't it. Sorry you had such an experience but you overcame the problem and look at how well it turned out.