[DeTomaso] Garage floor options...

Garth Rodericks garth_rodericks at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 13 14:55:46 EDT 2017


Kurt - Please forward this message to the list if it doesn't get through.  Thanks!


Hi Bobby,

Perfect timing, as I just did my garage floor this weekend.  First of all, don't waste your time and effort on a cheap hardware store epoxy kit. After a little online research you'll find tons of forum posts and videos of these systems failing.  The most popular hardware store kit is the Rustoleum Rock Solid Polycuramine (whatever the hell that is?!) kits. Note that they are only 1-2 mil thick when cured, compared to most professionally installed high quality coating options which are 8-10 mil thick, or thicker, depending on whether you do light flake or full-rejection (complete coverage) flake coverage.

The tiles in Ed's pictures look like standard Armstrong Commercial Vinyl Tile - probably the least expensive option for a durable surface. I was first planning to do this - even went so far as to purchase all the material at my local Lowe's, then talked with a friend who did this in his garage about his experience. Found that if done in colder weather, the tile glue took weeks to fully cure and set.  When he moved is car into the garage 3 days after doing the job, all the tiles the car rolled on moved!  He spent considerable effort re-setting those tiles to get everything back into it's proper place. His floor is beautiful though, but don't expect to do the job and put everything back into the garage in a day or two.  I then decided to go with a "epoxy" floor - not I'm using the term generically as there are 3 main types of "epoxy" systems - epoxy, polyaspartic, and polyurea.

I went with the Nohr-S system from Legacy Industrial. Their primary business is durable industrial coatings for the marine, oil, medical, and lab environments. The primary benefit of the Nohr-S system is that it has unlimited pot life, so you're not rushing to get it on the floor before it cures in the tray. 

Attached is the finished floor pic, taken this morning. And here's a link to see more pics of the process.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxCZNwRStKBoQlFEekx2RUlJREU

For patching the cracks in my concrete I used the hardware store Rustoleum patch kit - huge mistake as this stuff takes 24 hours to set up and cure, which means that I spent way too many waiting for the patch to cure so I could grind it smooth. Be sure to use the professional crack patch kit from Legacy (or whatever vendor product you choose) as it sets and cures within 30 minutes - would have saved me days!  I also found that since the weather has still been cold, the primer coat took a full 36 hours to cure before I could top-coat it.  

Regarding the flakes and not being able to find a nut or screw if dropped - very true according to friends who have done this. BUT, the solid color floors show ALL the flaws in the floor!!!  I spent days (weeks) grinding, and patching cracks and small inconsequential chips in my floor that I probably shouldn't have spent the time on, and I was surprised at just how bad my floor looked when the solid primer coat cured. Every chip and ding from tools being dropped over the last 40 years stuck out like a sore thumb when it was in solid color primer - and I thought I went to the anal extreme fixing all this stuff. The flakes hide all the blemishes in the floor and are attractive, and now it looks like a new floor!  I could have done a better job dispersing the chips in a more even uniform pattern, but it was more challenging than I thought to toss those things evenly - tossing smaller handfuls would have been good.  However, once all my crap is moved back into my garage you'll never see that the flakes are thicker and thinner in different areas - it's only obvious with nothing in there now.

Do you plan to do this yourself?  If so, second set of hands this is VERY helpful; almost a must!  In hindsight, I almost wish I hired a contractor to do this - they would have come in with a crew of 4 and knocked it out in a day or two. The two contractors I called for estimates didn't call me back for over a week so I passed on them and decided to do it myself.  I spent over $1,300 on the materials alone, and another $160 renting a professional grinder for a day to prep the concrete. I also acid etched it 2 weeks before applying the coating.

Email me directly if you have any other questions. I'm happy to share my experience.

Cheers!
Garth
#4033




-------------- next part --------------
   Kurt - Please forward this message to the list if it doesn't get
   through.  Thanks!
   Hi Bobby,
   Perfect timing, as I just did my garage floor this weekend.  First of
   all, don't waste your time and effort on a cheap hardware store epoxy
   kit. After a little online research you'll find tons of forum posts and
   videos of these systems failing.  The most popular hardware store kit
   is the Rustoleum Rock Solid Polycuramine (whatever the hell that is?!)
   kits. Note that they are only 1-2 mil thick when cured, compared to
   most professionally installed high quality coating options which are
   8-10 mil thick, or thicker, depending on whether you do light flake or
   full-rejection (complete coverage) flake coverage.
   The tiles in Ed's pictures look like standard Armstrong Commercial
   Vinyl Tile - probably the least expensive option for a durable surface.
   I was first planning to do this - even went so far as to purchase all
   the material at my local Lowe's, then talked with a friend who did this
   in his garage about his experience. Found that if done in colder
   weather, the tile glue took weeks to fully cure and set.  When he moved
   is car into the garage 3 days after doing the job, all the tiles the
   car rolled on moved!  He spent considerable effort re-setting those
   tiles to get everything back into it's proper place. His floor is
   beautiful though, but don't expect to do the job and put everything
   back into the garage in a day or two.  I then decided to go with a
   "epoxy" floor - not I'm using the term generically as there are 3 main
   types of "epoxy" systems - epoxy, polyaspartic, and polyurea.
   I went with the Nohr-S system from Legacy Industrial. Their primary
   business is durable industrial coatings for the marine, oil, medical,
   and lab environments. The primary benefit of the Nohr-S system is that
   it has unlimited pot life, so you're not rushing to get it on the floor
   before it cures in the tray.
   Attached is the finished floor pic, taken this morning. And here's a
   link to see more pics of the process.
   [1]https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxCZNwRStKBoQlFEekx2RUlJREU
   For patching the cracks in my concrete I used the hardware store
   Rustoleum patch kit - huge mistake as this stuff takes 24 hours to set
   up and cure, which means that I spent way too many waiting for the
   patch to cure so I could grind it smooth. Be sure to use the
   professional crack patch kit from Legacy (or whatever vendor product
   you choose) as it sets and cures within 30 minutes - would have saved
   me days!  I also found that since the weather has still been cold, the
   primer coat took a full 36 hours to cure before I could top-coat it.
   Regarding the flakes and not being able to find a nut or screw if
   dropped - very true according to friends who have done this. BUT, the
   solid color floors show ALL the flaws in the floor!!!  I spent days
   (weeks) grinding, and patching cracks and small inconsequential chips
   in my floor that I probably shouldn't have spent the time on, and I was
   surprised at just how bad my floor looked when the solid primer coat
   cured. Every chip and ding from tools being dropped over the last 40
   years stuck out like a sore thumb when it was in solid color primer -
   and I thought I went to the anal extreme fixing all this stuff. The
   flakes hide all the blemishes in the floor and are attractive, and now
   it looks like a new floor!  I could have done a better job dispersing
   the chips in a more even uniform pattern, but it was more challenging
   than I thought to toss those things evenly - tossing smaller handfuls
   would have been good.  However, once all my crap is moved back into my
   garage you'll never see that the flakes are thicker and thinner in
   different areas - it's only obvious with nothing in there now.
   Do you plan to do this yourself?  If so, second set of hands this is
   VERY helpful; almost a must!  In hindsight, I almost wish I hired a
   contractor to do this - they would have come in with a crew of 4 and
   knocked it out in a day or two. The two contractors I called for
   estimates didn't call me back for over a week so I passed on them and
   decided to do it myself.  I spent over $1,300 on the materials alone,
   and another $160 renting a professional grinder for a day to prep the
   concrete. I also acid etched it 2 weeks before applying the coating.
   Email me directly if you have any other questions. I'm happy to share
   my experience.
   Cheers!
   Garth
   #4033

   [cid:632cceb9-0524-6146-bb94-321a4c8d1179 at yahoo.com]

References

   1. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxCZNwRStKBoQlFEekx2RUlJREU
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