Shop Floor Epoxy's, Which ones to use/stay away from. Also Drylok ?

[carmedic310]

Sherwim Williams makes an awesome epoxy floor coating tough as nails after it cures

[ptgdigger]

Did the garage floor at work in 2005 , Municipal garage in snow country, when you put a salt shaker away for the night the melting snow and calcium additive will drip out on the floor overnite in such high concentration that the sealer the concrete supplier chose just for this job was gone in 3 months. We needed a new solution as salt in this concentration will spall concrete in weeks ,the RustOleum water base epoxy is not very chemical resistant , some brake Kleen , lacquer thinner and some other stuff will attack it, not good enough.

So we contacted the local Sherwin Williams who sent a man to the garage, he said the rest of the sealer had to come off , then a strong acid etch - the concrete needs to feel like 100grit sandpaper, if we weren't willing to do that prep then we shouldn't use their product. He guaranteed it would hold up to the salt as long as we repaired any damage we did that exposed the concrete (plows, forgetting to put mats for tire chains ,etc.) Long story short 7+ years later the floor still looks good , the salt still drips on it and grows crystals an inch thick by the following day and it doesn't hurt a thing Welding and torching will put some marks on it but it doesn't destroy the integrity of the coating, I have yet to see any chemical make any type of mark on it, it's not really easy to chip, we did have to put a board under the metal bandsaw so the drops don't chip it.

Sherwin Williams Armor Seal 1000HS
It's a good bit more expensive than RustOleum , it really needs 2 coats , the first coat needs reduced 10% so it flows into the pores better , it stinks pretty bad while your putting it down, it's oil base and probably bad for the environment and it's the only thing I'll ever use on a garage floor until they quit making it


Ray

[JOE G]

Does the epoxy affect Radiant heat at all?

[Coyote machine]

Does the epoxy affect Radiant heat at all?

I would think it would depend on what type of radiant heat you're referring to, and when it was installed, re: methodology of install. I'm NOT professing to have the answer to your question- and I too would like to know what effect if any the epoxy coating would have, since I too have a concrete garage floor which is heated by radiant.
My best guess would be none whatsoever, but that's just my best guess.....

[ptgdigger]

No effect in the garage I addressed above , pex in 6" slab heated by a small nat gas boiler, highest floor temp I've ever measured was 87f. 40x60 x14ft ceiling pole bldg, 6"fiberglass in walls,36"cellulose in ceiling, 2" styro under slab, drywall walls, metal ceiling. 62~64f thermostat setting, if you wet the floor and bring the humidity up it gets a little too warm to work in a t shirt.


Ray

[Tractor Seabee]

Voice of experience here. I worked for a Navy Public Works Dept for 26 years in facility planning and maintenance. We tried epoxy and it always failed. It is hard and brittle and chips easy. We finally zeroed in on the urethane products. They are somewhat flexible and take abuse of dropping tools and larger stuff as what happens in shops. We also went with a white color for the reflective value of light up into the work area. It lasted a long time. Any product will fail if the manufacturer's instructions for prep and coating are not followed to the letter. We had contractors try shortcuts and they were back in the one year warranty period stripping and redoing at their cost. There are no shortcuts. A good job is time consuming and expensive but worth it if the floor is used a lot and subject to abuse. A home garage, don't waste your money, I am talking about full time maintenance or production shops.

[ptgdigger]

A home garage, don't waste your money, I am talking about full time maintenance or production shops.

So a home garage we should just surrender it to the oil stains and spalling from de-icing salt dripping from the cars?

[don45640]

A home garage can have a variety of protection coatings. If you're not burning,welding, on the floor, a properly prepared epoxy coating looks pretty good.
My new garage floor would just get Lapidolith or Euclid SURF-HARD(must be 10 day old crete or more) or equivalent,for superior hardness and resistance to chipping. Then it would get a total cleaning and Super Diamond clear applied.Clean and reapply in 5 yrs. don-ohio (:^)

So a home garage we should just surrender it to the oil stains and spalling from de-icing salt dripping from the cars?

[rrrkkk]

Try u coat it wonderful product any color chip addative to create about any floor you would want. Not cheap$$$ but doeswhat it says it will do. I know of several race shops that have been down about 4 years and the stuff is indestructable.

[JOE G]

If I poured it in October and I will not be able to coat it till at least may due to the weather so that should be enough cure time right?