What is the best epoxy coating(s)

[AlphaGarage]

If you just want a clear look I'd recommend 5 mils of BondTite 1101 for the prime coat, 5 mils of BondTite for the top coat, and 4 mils EnduraShield for the clear coat. Depending on floor size that would be about $1 per ft2. For example, for 420 ft2, $420. But due to package size for 600 ft2 it would be $685.

If the floor will be seeing a lot of impact, tools & parts dropped, dragged, pounding from hammers etc., I'd probably suggest a bit more top coat just to help prevent chip outs.

Yes, we can go over most stains.

If you do little or no work in the garage, and just park the car there, we offer a very durable sealer which works on most stained concrete, AcryliSeal 3501. We believe AcryliSeal 3501 is the best water based acrylic sealer available. Wolverine Coatings was the first company in the world to commercialize this new type of Acrylic technology. To date we are still not aware of any other company that offers this type of novel technology. It’s slightly more expensive than the standard water based products, but it has a HUGE performance increase. AcryliSeal 3501 will give better darkening than the standard water based acrylic sealers but not quite as much darkening as solvent based sealers. But unlike solvent based products AcryliSeal 3501 is environmentally “green,” with no volatile organic compounds. The chemical resistance is awesome, not the same level resistance level of our epoxy based systems, but far superior than either other water based or solvent based acrylic currently available. It’s even resistant to chemicals including organic solvents like MEK, Xylene, Toluene, etc. This product is less than 3 years old and we have not heard of a failure to date. So, the durability is much better than either of the typical solvent based or water based acrylics.

AcryliSeal 3501 can also be used on bare, untinted concrete, it will darken the shade, and give the concrete a wet, glossy look.

AcryliSeal 3501 is sold in a 5 gallon kit, which will coat about 700 ft2 with two layers, which is what we recommend for most situations.

Alpha garage,

Two questions:

If I just clear the floor with your materials, how many mils of material am I looking at?

Can I put your clear over an actual concrete stain safely, or would you only recommend clearing over your materials. What I am looking for is an effect like this.

 

[cartunes]

Acryliseal seems like a good option to get a glossy look. How does it stand up to hot tires and gasoline spills?
thanks

 

[SUPERCOAT]

Hi guys...

I'm afraid I'm going to have to rant a bit... I'm doing this on a personal level as I just get really ticked when companies 'oversell' their products. Everytime I see this kind of deceptive marketing I get really mad. I think it makes our industry and our country look bad!

Really?

This is how you market yourselves? By inaccurately slamming other American epoxy floor coating manufacturers?

I'm not going to stoop to your level and play this game. What I will say, though, is that we have MILLIONS of square feet of SUPERCOAT applied in a wide variety of applications with very few problems. We're not perfect... and neither is anyone else.

However, SUPERCOAT Liquid Flooring is a great product that can be applied by a DIY'er with tremendous results. We do not publish anything that is not completely true. Misleading customers will always come back to bite you in the backside.

http://www.SUPERCOAT.us

 

[MxRider2637]

i have just seen performance epoxy which i believe is 100%epoxy and is 450$ for 1250 sq. ft. with a clear, no tools or chips or non skid. but for the price and if it is the package i think it is, i will definitely buy it.

 

[nathank]

Really?

This is how you market yourselves? By inaccurately slamming other American epoxy floor coating manufacturers?

What Wolverine said actually makes a lot of sense to me. If it's not true I'd like to hear the rebuttal.

Full disclosure : I do not have an epoxy floor, but will be putting one down in the next month. No bias here!

 

[TheBanker]

Maybe vendors should not even address each other. Just talk about the products. Personally I want to hear if one product is superior to another then I can make my OWN decision if I want to pay for a better product. But I am seriously turned off by vendors going back and forth with each other. Makes me not want to use either.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Maybe vendors should not even address each other. Just talk about the products. Personally I want to hear if one product is superior to another then I can make my OWN decision if I want to pay for a better product. But I am seriously turned off by vendors going back and forth with each other. Makes me not want to use either.

I appreciate your sentiments and agree. If you review my posts I'd hope you find that I do make an effort to not address other products, and try focus on ours or general info. I strive to avoid speaking authoritatively about things that I am not 100% certain of.

Now on occasion someone will ask a very specific question about a competing product, if the product has a rep who posts here regularly I probably won't come near the question, if, however, I do know the answer, and there's no rep here, I may respond - although usually with caution and enough qualifiers to satisfy a septic tank full of litigation lawyers.

 

[TheBanker]

In regards to that quote by Wolveriene Coatings, I totally agree with the rant. Some companies out there have stated, 100% Epoxy. That is NOT 100% solids epoxy. That is trickery at its finest and personally I think companies who advertise like that should be punished. I would never do business with a company who tried to mislead consumers that way.

Fred I have appreciated all your input on the forum and look forward to reading more, and respect your knowledge. And no I have not used Wolveriene epoxy, in fact am using a competitor.

 

[rugerlady]

I agree with Fred. Though we have never spoke personally I think he has a wealth of knowledge. I have learned a thing or two on this forum from him and others. I also appreciate the fact that he tries to stay very neutral when competitors are mentioned. Keep up the good info!

 

[SUPERCOAT]

Absolutely. I am not interested in bickering with other vendors. I simply want to interact with folks who are interested in installing an epoxy floor.

 

[J-R0d]

So, I have a couple of questions since everyone seems to have been in this thread. My shop is under construction right now. It is 2500 sq ft. I have one corner (600 sq ft 25x25) that is walled in for my tool room. I will be pouring my driveway, and putting on the garage door in the next week or so. Once the doors are on I'd like to do the floors. I will work on my own cars in the shop. Its not a production shop. I will probably drop some tools from time to time. But, the biggest thing i can see that would mar the floor would be a floor jack being drug across the floor or an engine hoist. The other question is how either system will respond to "sticky tires" (R Compound tires, drag slicks, or "sticky" street tires treadwear of 100 or so).

Fred at Alpha Garage - On the main floor where I park cars I am looking at a either

1) 5 mils of BondTite 1101 for the prime coat, 5 mils of BondTite for the top coat, and 4 mils EnduraShield for the clear coat @ ~$1 per ft2

or

2) AcryliSeal 3501(cost unknown)



I may do a stain on the floor, or some color (in the same coating system system) in the "tool room" area. So, I believe I understand where you stand with regards to clear over a stain


Rugerlady, and Supercoat.


Based on what I have described above what would be your product recommendations for such a project from the products you represent, and what is the approximate cost per square ft?

 

[AlphaGarage]

J-Rod:

Option 1 will work fine for your applications. Your main concern, hot tire lift, is addressed by using BondTite 1101 as the primer. If you read posts here and other places it quickly becomes evident that the main problem after a coating's been down for a year or two is lifting at the concrete line, usually from hot tires, other times from unknown reasons. We haven't had any such failures to date, industrial or DIY.

LiquaTile as a top coat does offer some enhanced benefits - primarily with it's ability to deal with dropped items and very heavy traffic. Light drops will be handled by that extra 5 mil top coat of BondTite, which is actually more flexible, although less hard, than LiquaTile.

The clear coat of EnduraShield will take care of most abrasive activity as well as chemical spills, plus it just looks great. BTW Something I forget to mention is that we do have an optional "High Wear" additive available at no additional cost. Besides increasing the durability even more - it cuts down the glossy finish to a bit, you'll end up with more of a satin sheen.

Option 2 - We do have a less costly solution, which would be AcryliSeal 3501. We believe AcryliSeal 3501 is the best water based acrylic sealer available. Wolverine Coatings was the first company in the world to commercialize this new type of Acrylic technology. To date we are still not aware of any other company that offers this type of novel technology. It’s slightly more expensive than the standard water based products, but it has a HUGE performance increase.

AcryliSeal 3501 will give better darkening than the standard water based acrylic sealers but not quite as much darkening as solvent based sealers. But unlike solvent based products AcryliSeal 3501 is environmentally “green,” with no volatile organic compounds. The chemical resistance is awesome, not the same level resistance level of our epoxy based systems (it's pretty thin when cured, so it doesn't offer hardly any impact resistance), but far superior than either other water based or solvent based acrylic currently available. It’s even resistant to chemicals including organic solvents like MEK, Xylene, Toluene, etc. This product is less than 3 years old and we have not heard of a failure to date. The durability is much better than either of the typical solvent based or water based acrylics, and it's pretty quick and easy to apply.

After waste is factored in a 5 gallon kit ($225) will cover about 1,350 ft2 with one coat, for your situation we recommend at least 2 coats. The first coat can be watered down, which will increase the final gloss, plus push the coverage out to about 900 ft2 for the 5 gallon kit, 2 coats, or 25¢ per square foot.

Fire me details of your project at [email protected] and I'll shoot back instruction manuals, color selections etc.