Ugly Concrete Repairs before Hellfire Install

[zc15]

Welp, went ahead and painted the garage and added new light fixtures. The place looks like a thousand bucks! The floor really detracts from the whole thing now.

I think I've decided on @LegacyIndustrial Hellfire coating because of the ease for DIY install plus its chemical resistance.

However, I am working with a 40 year old slab. 75% of the slab is in great condition, so i think a nice grind down would suffice.

The remaining 25% (front and center in this picture) is full of spalling and exposed aggregate, probably from 40 years of cars dragging in snow and salt. You can see some previous owners repairs, which seem to be bonded nicely but they arent pretty nor level. Please excuse the cardboard.


I know Legacy is going to recommend their FiveTon Epoxy Patch product to repair the areas before coating, but I'd likely need around $1200 in epoxy before even before buying the coating.


Are there any less expensive repair options? I was looking into ARDEX CP, CD, and Feather FInish. It seems like anytime ARDEX gets brought up, people always yell "Rip out the concrete and repour." Unfortunately that is not in the budget. Currently the garage is almost empty, at least the is the most empty it's been since we bought the house a few years ago, so I think I just want to get the floor done now and avoid having to move everything back in and out again later.

 

[zc15]

Bump

 

[FJ4FUN]

I would recommend thoroughly degreasing the floor, make sure that any suspect/compromised concrete (potentially including the previously patched sections) is removed and apply our TrowelEase 1162, grind and go from there. You could then do anything from a economical, but very durable and chem resistant sealer, like our AcryliSeal 3501, to a simple BondTite 1101 (tinted if you prefer)+ EnduraShield 2254 combination of products.

 

[zc15]

I would recommend thoroughly degreasing the floor, make sure that any suspect/compromised concrete (potentially including the previously patched sections) is removed and apply our TrowelEase 1162, grind and go from there. You could then do anything from a economical, but very durable and chem resistant sealer, like our AcryliSeal 3501, to a simple BondTite 1101 (tinted if you prefer)+ EnduraShield 2254 combination of products.

Do you by chance know the coverage data on that? Sqft at a given thickness

 

[CFSI]

I would always recommend using epoxy and or polyurea repair materials. The bond strength is far superior to any cement based products, especially if the concrete condition is questionable. I would also recommend using a penetrating epoxy / polyurea to repair cracks as opposed to topical gel repairs. At least, with a penetrating material, you are attempting to glue the crack back together again full depth as opposed to a topical bandaid. Our CFS-Fast set epoxy crack filler is an example. We also have epoxy floor kits available too. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[FJ4FUN]

Do you by chance know the coverage data on that? Sqft at a given thickness

That gets a little bit tricky as it depends on the desired consistency of your mix. We offer a kit, TrowelEase 1162 PK, that comes with 1gal of Trowelease + 38lbs of engineered aggregate. When mixed at the 1:1:6 ratio it yields just above 4 gal of slurry. 1 gal will fill about 150sf to a thickness of 10mil (there are 125mils in 1/8"). So, you can see where this is going, the spalled / divots are not going to be uniform in depth or shape so some constructive guesstimating will be required ;-)

 

[FJ4FUN]

BTW, You can see the TrowelEase product in use in this article "Concrete repair using TrowelEase" but note that this application was in a rigorous duty environment with lots of daily vehicle traffic. It represents the worst case scenario application, for typical residential use you would not need to prime with our BondTite 1101 primer before applying the TrowelEase 1162 patch.

 

[Andy Smith Jr.]

Welp, went ahead and painted the garage and added new light fixtures. The place looks like a thousand bucks! The floor really detracts from the whole thing now.

I think I've decided on @LegacyIndustrial Hellfire coating because of the ease for DIY install plus its chemical resistance.

However, I am working with a 40 year old slab. 75% of the slab is in great condition, so i think a nice grind down would suffice.

The remaining 25% (front and center in this picture) is full of spalling and exposed aggregate, probably from 40 years of cars dragging in snow and salt. You can see some previous owners repairs, which seem to be bonded nicely but they arent pretty nor level. Please excuse the cardboard.


I know Legacy is going to recommend their FiveTon Epoxy Patch product to repair the areas before coating, but I'd likely need around $1200 in epoxy before even before buying the coating.


Are there any less expensive repair options? I was looking into ARDEX CP, CD, and Feather FInish. It seems like anytime ARDEX gets brought up, people always yell "Rip out the concrete and repour." Unfortunately that is not in the budget. Currently the garage is almost empty, at least the is the most empty it's been since we bought the house a few years ago, so I think I just want to get the floor done now and avoid having to move everything back in and out again later.

Repairs are going to be expensive but they are necessary. Epoxy, although expensive, is an excellent material to use for patching due to its tensile strength.

 

[zc15]

@CFSI I do believe epoxy repair products would be best. I think for my application the slurry may almost be necessary.

I left out the worst of the photos mistakenly. The threshold is about 3/4” lower than the slab for the entire 16’ length of the door opening, and about 2’ wide.

Doing the math here, I’d estimate I’ll need about 2 cubic feet of material just for the threshold.

 

[zc15]

@FJ4FUN thanks for the ratios . The 1162PK is only 1 gallon and not 5 gallons of resin/hardener?

Running through the math on this product, at 750 mil for 32 sqft, I’d need approximately 15 gallons at 1:1:6 ratio?

 

[zc15]

Someone before had mentioned using Racedeck, but I think I would still need to level out the threshold and redo the uneven previous patch before that

 

[FJ4FUN]

Oh... yeah... you may consider cutting, breaking out that apron and repouring, then grinding/repair/coat less severely damaged interior areas.

 

[CFSI]

I agree with Alpha, remove and replace would most likely be the best option for the apron at least.
Any patch is only as good as what its bonded to and it doesn't look very good as far as substrate condition goes.

 

[FJ4FUN]

@FJ4FUN thanks for the ratios . The 1162PK is only 1 gallon and not 5 gallons of resin/hardener?

Running through the math on this product, at 750 mil for 32 sqft, I’d need approximately 15 gallons at 1:1:6 ratio?

The 1162 PK is .5gal Part A + .5gal Part B + 38lbs Part C/aggregate, when all combined just over 4 gal of slurry.
Yes, that's a good approximation on volume needed.

Should mention that if you chose to go with an epoxy mortar system like the TrowelEase, I would recommend sourcing aggregate locally to you. No need to pay for shipping ~600lbs of it.