New building. Has mixed automotive & warehousing. I would like to know what people are using for floor coatings and how they like them? Interested in like a gray with the sand like non skid type surface.

 

I've used Ucoatit on two houses so far and am pleased with it. Though if you try to use beige or light grey, plan on at least 2 finish coats. Otherwise you won't get good coverage.

 

Whatever you do, don't do the paint flake thing. If you drop a bolt or nut it's impossible to see against the texture.

 

Also interested in this.

 

we have used color chips and have been happy with it so far

 

That colorchips site looks interesting (www.originalcolorchips.com). Do you guys run forklifts over it ever?

 

The ucoatit looks interesting as well. About the same cost as the colorchips.

 

Whats the approx price per sq meter/yard/foot?

 

Has anyone tried the Rustoleum brand 2 part epoxy? I think its called industrial or professional floor coating.

 

We just used Sherwin Williams for half of our new shop. Five days later it was flaking up. Sherwin Williams rep has been handling it.

The stuff has a great quality to it, but it's all about the rep forumulating it right for your conditions to establish proper adhesion.

It appeared we used about 9 gallons to cover 3.5k-4k sq/ft at about 175.00/gallon. We used some cheaper stuff that was a three part primer, sealer, coating that seemed to work better for us than Sherwin Williams' all in one solution. With the three part stuff it came out to about 125/gallon but took three times as long to apply so paying staff is a consideration.

 

Something was wrong with your job, too much moisture in the floor or not prepped or just bad mix like you said. We did our 5000 square foot shop with Sherwin Williams product 3 years ago. I run forklifts across it, spill all kinds of fluids, beat it to death and never had any come up.

I have worked in shops with other types of flooring paint and nothing has held up like this. I would recommend it to anyone. But make sure your rep comes out and looks at what you are doing first. Ours was able to make many suggestions and came during the entire process to confirm it was going good. I am 100% pleased with the product and service.

 

I just knowticed you said it was one step??? it must not have been the same product we used. We did a thinned down base coat. Then a full strength top coat added the flakes on this step. Then did 3 coats of polyurethane I believe.

 

The owner of the building who I am leasing from covered the job when I offered to go into a lease option to purchase. His crew did the job and I think they half assed the prep. On the other hand, the Sherwin Williams did some test patches and felt they established the formulation we needed. No sooner is it laid on and there's bubbles. They changed the mix, bubbles are reduced but not gone.

Like I said, the rep is handling it. Sherwin Williams is at fault apparently though, because they are issuing refunds and new material so. It's too bad too, because the stuff is nice where it actually sticks....lol.

 

Surely now the nightmare is getting up the flakey stuff? Assuming its flaking in places and stuck in others.

 

Make sure you prep the concrete! It needs to be cleaned and then etched with muriatic acid. It's just like painting bare steel. The U coat it and Griot's garage both seem to be some of the best.

 

How soon after you acid wash the floor does the coating need to go down?

 

Immediately after. The acid wash is more for pH neutralization than etching. With the ucoatit products the bond to the concrete is made by laying the first coat on a damp floor. So some of the epoxy actually soaks into the concrete.

 

www.garagejournal.com
Go on the forum and read through the flooring section.

 

i used the POR-15 floor coating. did it in my personal garage which is roughly 1500sqft. haven't come across any problems yet

 

I Used Benjamin Moore, we did the prep right, so no chips or anything to deal with however it stains very easily. If I were to do it over I would use a concrete stain and not an epoxy.

 

I just used "epoxy-coat" in our new garage. so far I love it. 100% epoxy, not water or petroleum based like most are.

 

I used a PPG A&B product on my garage floor. It has held up very well over the past few years. Gasoline, oil, etc. I don't recall the name but i went into Pittsburgh paints and asked them for their best stuff.

marcin

 

For a commercial building look into products from General Polymers, which I believe is a division of Sherwin Williams. I work for an architectural firm and we spec this stuff sometimes for bathrooms, labs, and some industrial facilities that need a textured surface for slip resistance.

We most recently spec'd the General Polymers TPM #115-U4 troweled mortar system with their Novo-Flo textured chemical resistant topcoat for a laboratory at a Valvoline manufacturing plant.

http://www.generalpolymers.com/products/pdf/tpm115u.pdf

The sales rep for your area can help you determine the best application for your facility. I just recently saw the Valvoline lab and the floor came out really nice.

 

You are referring to the EpoxyShield product they sell at Home Depot, right? I actually just laid that stuff down on my new shop in November. I rent my facility on a (new) two-year lease, and after researching and pricing it all out I decided that I didn't want to drop a ton of cash on something that I may not be using in two years' time. My floor is about 3000 ft*, burnished concrete in relatively good shape, with a couple of oil stains from storage of my stuff before I moved my shop in. I threw out the citric acid that came with the kit and bought a bunch of phosphoric acid from HD. Vaccumed the whole floor, twice, and got all the dust out of the rest of the building to the best of my ability. We then rinsed the floor with the acid and a mop, let it sit for a while (keeping it wet with extra water), diluted with a hose and sucked it all up with a shop vac. After a couple days of drying (there was no heat at the time) my roommate and I rolled out the whole floor in one shot with regular paint rollers, and had my girlfriend sprinkle the paint chips on as we went. I let it sit for a week before walking on it, and didn't start using it for real for a couple more weeks after that. A couple of months later I am extremely impressed with how well this stuff has held up. I have one spot that lifted because I wasn't paying attention and used the MIG on something that was on the floor, it got very hot and melted the epoxy in that one spot. Other than that the floor has seen daily use for both fabrication and mechanical work, had tons of stuff dropped on it and dragged across it, still looks good when I actually clean it up.


Here's a mid-painting shot: