Work place clean room floor coating?

[Tuff240]

I think the most common statement in this forum is, "my head is spinning".
I have been reading about floor coatings and floor coating experiences for almost 3 weeks now and guess what, now my head is spinning also.

I have a freshly poured (about 45 days) 12 x 36 slab that is 5-6" thick. Hand troweled, no sealer. So I'm trying to cover 432 sq ft. Moisture test is in place right now, so I should have those results tomorrow.

This space will be a "clean room" type work shop for restoring/working on my cars. It will see lots of floor jack and jack stand use. A fair amount of engine stand, cherry picker use as well as occasional grinding (sparks). Some welding, but I'm willing to use a welding blanket and other precautions for that. Gas, oil and coolant spills happen when working on cars, but I always stop and clean them up immediately.

Not having a very big budget for professional floor coating job, but wanting it to look nice and clean, I started looking into the DIY route. I started off considering the Big Box store stuff (Rustoleum's products mostly) as $200 was easily within my budget. Then I started looking at their "better" products like Rocksolid and the price has suddenly climbed to $350-400.

Now at those prices I'm getting close to the actually better products that are supported here by Armorpoxy, GarageFlooring and Legacy.

I really can only afford about $400-500 for materials.

What I want is a reasonably durable somewhat shiny solid light grey to medium grey floor. Super shiny wet look is really nice, but I worry about it scuffing and dulling with jack use. I'm painting walls this week and would like to start on the floor towards the end of the week (or at least have product ordered).

I don't mind acid etching or grinding the floor if needed. I understand prep and how important it is very well. But the Rust Bullet is appealing with minimal prep and the 1 part stir and apply.

I guess what I'm asking is for an exact product recommendation for my stated use and what I want it to look like visually. Cost should be preferably under or right around $500.


This floor coating would be perfectly acceptable to me cosmetically (Rust Bullet 3 coats, no clear is what the thread said):

What I'd love it to look like, but realistically can't afford and wouldn't be very ideal for a "work place":

It would be cool to be able to see the underside of my cars in a shiny floor.

What I enjoy most is building super clean engine bays. This was my daily driver (rain, snow, dirt roads or wherever I had to go) with about 16k miles on the engine bay restoration. Chassis had 610k miles on it at this point.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

We can probably squeeze you into a Tri-Coat epoxy/urethane system with your budget.
Will give you the rich, glossy look you are showing in your pics.
Call in and ask for me.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I would look at Rust Bullet Gray, multi coat. Happy to work with you to get you what you need http://www.garageflooringllc.com/rust-bullet-concrete/

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi
We can easily get you into our 3 layer 100% solids Armorclad system which will look like the glamour shot you like for around $1.00 per sq ft including the GJ discount. Call us for firm pricing/ordering info. Thanks!

 

[Tuff240]

We can probably squeeze you into a Tri-Coat epoxy/urethane system with your budget.
Will give you the rich, glossy look you are showing in your pics.
Call in and ask for me.

That sounds great, but I worry about the glossy finish showing scratches easier and quickly becoming marred from floor jack use. How does this combination do with work use?

Also I tried looking up urethane on your site and couldn't easily find it. Any links for information on it or someones garage journal that has used it so I can do some reading on it?

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Tuff240]

I would look at Rust Bullet Gray, multi coat. Happy to work with you to get you what you need http://www.garageflooringllc.com/rust-bullet-concrete/

I really like the Rust Bullet for ease of application. I'm really leaning this way to be honest.

What would be the procedure for a recoat if I wanted to add more layers later or re-store a scratched up section? (The slab has 3 12x12 sections, so it would be fairly easy to just recoat one section)

 

[Garage Flooring]

110 grit sandpaper and lightly scuff it. You would then recoat. Real easy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tuff240]

Hi
We can easily get you into our 3 layer 100% solids Armorclad system which will look like the glamour shot you like for around $1.00 per sq ft including the GJ discount. Call us for firm pricing/ordering info. Thanks!

Thanks! You have so many options I was really not sure which one to check out. I'll read up more on the Armorclad system now.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

That sounds great, but I worry about the glossy finish showing scratches easier and quickly becoming marred from floor jack use. How does this combination do with work use?

Also I tried looking up urethane on your site and couldn't easily find it. Any links for information on it or someones garage journal that has used it so I can do some reading on it?

Thanks,
Patrick

Pat:
We have an entire category for urethane coatings on our site.

http://www.legacyindustrial.net/products/urethane-coatings/

These systems are used in auto-repair facilities and home shops across the country. Most epoxy installations include a urethane topcoat or equivalent.

Do yourself a favor and do some research on coating systems, using the search tool. Plenty to read and learn from.

 

[Armorpoxy]

The honest answer is that any coating can scratch if something sharp drags on it. A urethane protective topcoat is a good solution (ours are pigmented if using a solid color and no flecks) and can be easily re-applied years later with a light sanding or scuff pad for prep.

Our ArmorUltra urethane with Ultrawear powdered metal additive is super scratch resistant and not slippery. Remember that a very high gloss with no non skid can be very slick if wet or oily. Unfortunately there is no free lunch with non skids..

 

[Tuff240]

Okay, I've been doing a lot of reading and researching. I think I'm going to pass on the Rust Bullet as I'm going to need to grind my concrete (see pics below) and that will require more Rust Bullet to get sufficient coverage which effectively prices it out of my budget. I also saw a few people's floors I've read about here have had roller marks if it wasn't applied perfectly with only 2-3 coats. More coats seems to help, but again, puts it out of my budget. Roller marks would drive me nuts, so I'm going to go with a 3 step epoxy. I'm still not sure which company I'm going to use of the 3 previously mentioned. I guess it will be a combination of customer service and price. I'm choosing one of those 3 because of their frequency of support and encouragement here on GJ on EVERY post I've read. They all seem to have a good product for what I want.

Plan is as follows:
1. Diamond grind (rent from HD)
2. Clean with water and squeegee (psi washer and Simple Green type cleaner)
3. Let dry for 48hrs.
4. Primer
5. Epoxy light-medium gray, no flecks (2 coats?)
6. Urethane clear top coat with anti-slip additive (still undecided on the coarseness and type of the anti-skid).

My slab has less than a stellar finish, so I'm going to diamond grind it (rental from HD) to remove most of the trowel marks and imperfections and hope the epoxy will fill 90% of the rest of the flaws. I understand it won't be perfect, I just don't want it to be obviously bad. Am I thinking correct here?

Here is the shop as it sits now. Since it's so long, it looks narrower than it is in person. It's plenty comfortable to work on 1 car at a time. (The unfinished wall will be another garage door in a couple months.)

Here is the floor surface I'm dealing with. (Penny for size reference.)

I'm doubting this low spot will come out all the way, but I think grinding will help it blend a little better. Of course it's right in front of the man door.

 

[Tuff240]

For those wondering why orange.... the orange is color matched to my favorite car. Also all 3 of my boys' cars will be the same orange or have a stripe in the same orange of some sort. So I guess I kind of like orange and it's been my signature color for my personal cars for a long time.

My car:

 

[Shea]

I suggest that you rent the 10" Edco diamond grinder from Home Depot and not the Diamabrush for your floor. The Diamabrush is excellent for prepping smooth to fairly smooth concrete, but it's not the best choice for smoothing out all the imperfections that you have in your floor.

The Edco will be a little slower going, but it will knock down your high spots, ridges, and other troweling imperfections much better. Since you are going without flakes, it will important to get the surface as even as you can. You won't have the flakes to hide the issues with the surface.

 

[Tuff240]

Thanks for the advice Shea, the articles on your website have helped me a lot. Really appreciated.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Agree with Shea, definitely the Edco is the way to go if you need grinding.

 

[Tuff240]

My floor is all done. As of tomorrow, I can start moving stuff back in. Overall I'm very happy.

I decided to go with GarageFlooringLLC's products. After talking to Justin I ordered their TL015 TrueLock WB Primer, TL707 High Solids Epoxy in light gray and the Aliphatic Urethane Topcoat.

As recommended above, I rented the Edco grinder. That didn't go very well for me. It was cutting way too much off and for a first time user never having done any contractor type work, it was very hard to not gouge the slab. In flat areas it worked great and was fine, but around any uneven surfaces (which my poorly finished slab has lots of) it was very difficult to make it flat and smooth. After a few hours of trying different techniques I gave up and returned the grinder before I did real damage. I then rented the "floor maintainer" with the diamabrush attachment. That seemed to be exactly what I needed and with a thorough going over and presssure wash clean I had the floor ready for the next step.

I didn't order flakes since I wanted a solid color floor. I knew my concrete wasn't very "pretty" so I was waiting to see how the grinding went to decide if I needed flakes to hide the concrete finish. Well, I did need flakes so I went to Home Depot and bought Rustoleums "Domino" flakes. It would have been much cheaper to order from Justin, but I wanted them right away because of my weather window.

After the pressure wash, I let the floor dry for 48hrs. Then applied one coat of the primer around 3pm on Friday. Saturday around noon one coat of the epoxy and flakes were applied. Sunday morning around 9am one coat of the clear urethane top coat was applied. It's been sitting that way for a week now to let it all fully cure.

I'm very happy with all of the products and the customer service. GarageFlooringLLC was great to deal with and always replied to emails and calls right away.

I'm really looking forward to using my new floor and putting it to the test!

Now the part most care about, the pics:

Pic of the Edco that got the better of me

And you'd never guess this had a nice floor inside

 

[Tuff240]

Few more things I just thought of.

I talked to ArmorPoxy, LegacyIndustrial and GarageFlooringLLC. All were very nice and helpful so I wanted to say thanks for putting up with my inquires. All 3 of you do a great job with the customer service side of things.

What I learned:
1. The Edco grinder is not for noobs with uneven concrete.
2. Try on, adjust the straps and walk on the spiked shoes BEFORE you start so you know what they are like.
3. If you want a showy solid color floor, it starts with the contractor pouring the slab.
4. The flakes hide a lot of flaws. Whoever came up with that idea is a genius.

 

[indebt]

Looks great. Tough choice on what to put down and tougher to decide between what Vendor to use. All 3 have great products. I chose garageflooring as well.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Nice job!!!

 

[Tuff240]

Reason I'm popping back in is because I posted a pic of some wheels I picked up this last week on a car forum I frequent and someone complimented me on the nice floor.

So here it is 20 months later and I couldn't be happier with the floor. I haven't had a single problem with it and it's been very resistant to all kinds of oil/gas/chemical spills. Even some that have sat over a weekend before being noticed. I drag a floor jack and jack stands across it all the time. It's seen a few engine pulls with a engine hanging from the hoist. I've even done some light welding on it. The high traffic areas show no wear or dulling at all. The only complaint I can even kind of think of is when you drop a nut or bolt it disappears in the camouflage of the flakes and you have to get your eyes down to floor level to find them sometimes.

Big THANKS! to Justin of Garage Flooring LLC!

 

[ed2hess]

So what will this cost for 500 sq.ft. available in Austin?

 

[Armorpoxy]

A 3 layer 100% solids epoxy flooring kit like our www.armorcladepoxy.com would run in the $1.00 per sq foot range.