Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy?

   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #71  
if you are putting sealer on a bare concrete floor..it will likely take alot. if sealing over a paint or epoxy top coat.. it will take much less.

soundguy
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #72  
It's a brand new barely cured concrete floor. Should I ROLL it for max coverage or POUR and squeegee it so it soaks in by the gallon.....:confused:
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #73  
i'd for sure use a roller when coating concrete...

soundguy
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #74  
It's a brand new barely cured concrete floor. Should I ROLL it for max coverage or POUR and squeegee it so it soaks in by the gallon.....:confused:


I used Ben Moore brand. The sealer was thinner than the epoxy. But was thick enough too squeegee, which is what I did.

I did run a epoxy damped roller over the epoxy to get out the squeegee lines. Can't remember if I did that w the sealer or not.

BTW, the sealer is just a lower viscosity un-colored/clear type of epoxy. Like what you see on the floor at Lowe's or HD.


.
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #75  
the sealer I used was sprayed on using a pump up garden sprayer worked great, just start off the concrete and dont stop keep pumped up as much as possible...

mark
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #76  
speaking of concrete sealers, anyone here ever use sodium silicate? ( water glass )

I think you can still buy it here in places like walgreens in the glass 1qt 'mayo jars'

soundguy
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #77  
Soundguy Iv e never heard of its uses like this, would need more information on it

guy at work was talking about something similar though he couldnt remember what the guy told him it was made from. said the pole barn floor was made from compacted river gravel (rounded flattened stone) that was deep and highly compacted then some sort of epoxy looking material was poured over it filling it in glass smooth. He ran a delivery truck for HD and delivered some materials for the guy. the guy told him it had been in for close to 10 years and still looked like it was a water flooded shiny & clean.

not talking the little pea gravel stuff you see at the fair it was large quarter to dime sized flattened rock...

said it was somewhere in cleveland suburb hinkley or rivenna area
mark
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #78  
i've seen people do the rock and glue treatment. not my style as it is very porus and would hold dirt and oil forever at my place. :) looks nice around a pool though!

soundguy
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #79  
I used to do a lot of work with specifying concrete finishes for military warehouses and maintenance shops. Did a lot of research. They best we found was Urethanes either one part or two part. The one part is easier as you do not have to mix it, use it right out of the can. We did a lot in white as the reflection value reduced the amount of auxillary lighting. Urethane is flexible so resists cracking. Epoxy is hard and chips when you drop something on it. Urethane cleans easy. Either product is available in a non-slip version. We used it for kitchens and bathrooms also. Good all-around product. Best thing for exterior painting of metal as it is UV proof and maintains its color and sheen for almost ever. There are many variations of products from paint grade to trowel down for covering old floors. Prep and primers are critical to end product life but so is everything else.

Buy from a Paint Dealer not a big box store or hardware store and listen to their advice. There are many AG uses for the product as you can see. The urethane sealants are also a superb product; use rather than silicon products.

Hope this is helpful. As a former construction worker, facility manager for the military, Navy Seabee experience, and construction manager now turned gentleman farmer I hope I can be a good resource for others. I will answer specific questions the best I can, try me.
 
   / Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy? #80  
I have epoxied 3 workshop floors and highly recommend epoxy over sealer. A couple of thoughts:

- The first floor i used the Rust oleum brand from the box store and it held up pretty good for the first year then started to fail. The other two i used the industrial epoxy from Pittsburg paints and it has held up for well over 3 years. The idustrial epoxies have 75 to 90% solids vice the 25 to 40% in the Rust Oleum brands so after the solvent evaporates you end up with a thicker coating. The industrial cost more up front but if you calculate the cost of three coats of RO, the industrial version is cheaper in the end.

- Even new concrete needs to be etched. You can by the acid etch materials at your paint supplier. You mix it with water and flood the floor and then rinse when done bubbling. The sales rep recommended scubbing it into the floor while it is bubbling in order to ensure it get a good etch for the paint to grab hold of. I rented a floor buffer from HD and used it to go over the floor several times while the etch solution was bubbling. Depending on the size of the floor a stiff shop broom will work too.

- The epoxy recommended that you use a squeegy so you get the right thickness, but you can use a thick nap roller if you want. The key is that you have to apply it thick enough to cure and seal properly. Different brands will recommend the roller nap thickness.

- No matter what expoxy or sealer you use it will be slippery when wet if you don't use some type of additive. My personnal experience is that the paint chips spread ontop of the wet paint will tend to last longer. The silica additive provides better traction initially but tends to breakdown over time if you have any shearing action, ie. sliding material across the floor.

- No mater what what product you use, the prep work is the most important part of the process.

Good Luck,
Dave
 
 
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