So what you are telling me is that your knees are destroyed and possibly your back too And no, there are not coatings capable of that. I have spent over 35 years as a professional welder and welding instructor and I will destroy any coating you care to come up with. Welding sparks and slag thrown off from a cutting torch are quick death to any coating, leaving burn marks and melt tracks or blisters etc etc.
If you had been asking about floor color for a new concrete pour, I would have advised you to look into concrete mix in coloring -hardener powder. It puts a nice color all the way through the concrete mix and leaves a nice hard colored surface after finishing. There are lots of colors available and we did the floor in my fathers shop with a nice brick red color. It looks amazing and is durable and can stand up to pretty much anything a welder can throw at it. Much superior to any kind of coating.
The USA put a man on the moon. More than once. And you honestly don't believe we can come up with a coating that can withstand a few sparks? Really? With all due respect, you fellows up in the Great White North need to step into the 21st century....
Did you really ?? I thought it was a hollywood style set in a secret location And no, no coating like that. And I'm talking about more than just a few sparks. Welding makes a sparks, some processes more than others. A cutting torch is something all together different and we are talking much more than a few sparks. Add a plasma cutter into the mix and we are talking floor coating death.
GO TO HOME DEPOT BUY LATEX PORCH AND CONCRET FLOOR PAINT ABOUT $15 A GALLON, YOU WILL NEED 2 GALLONS FOR A 900 SQ FT SHOP. it works great, i use light grey color. holds up to welding and grinding. once a year blow out the garage and repaint,,,it takes about 40 minutes,,,i just pour a small amout on a small section of the floor and roll it out with a roller,,,as fast as you can roll is how fast it gets done. easy cheap,,,holds up to gas and brake fluid... epoxy floors are expensive and they chip and burn,,and they take a lot of time.
Nope. Sorry. You're still wrong. We have coatings here that can quite literally withstand more heat than the concrete that it's applied to. It deflects the heat. Similar situation as our spaceships (that's why I mentioned it in a previous post). It's a coating that uses ceramic bead technology. Flaking, spalling, and cracking of the concrete substrate can, and will take place if you apply the heat directly from a plasma cutter or torch directly to the concrete itself (without any coating). At least that's what happens here in America... I have no idea what you are doing north of the border with your own personal torches and concrete, though... <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
The best longest lasting most rewarding floor coating I have found is just cover your existing floor with more old cars and trucks. For most of us paint will do. Best if done before it is occupied.. These are mostly small shops and garages, not lobbies in five star hotels. Enjoy the build, enjoy your ride, sweep the floor!
When it came time to coat the new cement floor in my garage I did ask a lot of questions and eventually purchased a two part epoxy finish. Bought all the prep materials that were recommended and it turned out just beautiful. I will not mention the product name because I do not think it was the product rather it was an important point that someone on the first page mentioned and that is a vapor barrier under the concrete. I missed that step although the foundation was built to code no one ever mentioned the barrier. I parked my car over the winter and in the spring the coating came off in sheets under the car and anywhere things were stored. Water had wicked through the concrete and simply and neatly removed the coating. I am not sure if it is lack of air movement or perhaps temperature changes under stored items but it did not work. To redo the floor to add a vapor barrier would be prohibitively expensive. While you can leave concrete natural the problem is dust, I do not think it ever end until the floor is gone, swept away. While some claim that there are materials that will withstand the welding process I doubt there are any that will withstand water wicking through concrete. I will add that this is probably a geographic thing however I am positive it is not a "north of the border" thing. Maybe I should have had the Canada Arm mix the epoxy and our contribution to the space program could have been but to a real test!!! Good luck with you choice and perhaps you will update us over time to let us know how it all worked out.
On burning the finish, I've worked on some really nice floors. In one shop we had these burn blankets for car protection, and when a job required a torch or plasma I'd cover the floor with one of em to keep it nice. Barring that, a piece of used sheet metal could make a nice barrier too. If it's an all welding/burning shop then floor coating might be a moot point, but many of us do more than that. Just a thought...
Nope..... But I did spill some POR 15 gas tank sealer on my shop floor maybe 10 years ago....... Still there and looks like I did it yesterday.
I used Pittsburgh Paint Polyamide Epoxy two-part paint on my floor 15 years ago with very good success. No problems with solvents, brake fluid, etc. I try to wipe them up when I see them but no real problems with the paint.
I am not an expert but the best way i determined after seeing lots of different ideas and products was to grind, stain, densify, polish and then put a sacrificial sealer on it like wax. That's the thinking behind a polished floor system. Go to www.wrmeadows.com I did a lot of research then used there products. I have seen too Many epoxy floors have to be removed. Heres the floor I did in my garage First pic is of it ground exposing the aggregate and leveling it Second is of it stained. Then it got the densifier Then it was polished from 200 grit to 3000 grit pads The sealer on top "basically" a wax that wears to protect the floor was belletrix Hope that helps Last pic is it done Dave Hitch FBBF
I agree. I built a new shop last summer . did a lot of reserch on floor coatings. found what is called concrete dinsifier. I used this product on the floor it was easy to apply.it leaves the natural finish . the thing I like most is oil spills kind of bead up dont soak in and cleans up easy. great product.
Before buying any product - read the small print concerning what's under the floor. Most coating will not last if there is too high of moisture in the ground under the concrete. To keep this from happening today contractors put a heavy mil poly sheeting down before pouring the concrete. This is noted in most all warranties of concrete coatings.
Found some negative reviews for this company and there product on line. Problems with the product not adhering to the floor as well as customer service problems when trying to resolve the issue. In light of this and after considering many of the points brought up in this thread I have decided to explore some of the better options that have been suggested in this thread.
Check out LegacyIndustrial.net. I recently applied their HD-015 product in my new garage. Happy so far. I do a lot of welding and grinding in my garage and haven't seen any burns yet. Good luck.
Of course the name and source of this magical mystery coating will never be revealed. And if it was you would find that the price per square foot to coat your floor would be similar to coating your floor with hundred dollar bills.
Simply Google: "ceramic coatings" ... All the information your little heart desires is right at your fingertips. Or is this too difficult of a task for you to perform?
As we can see the "mystery coating " with the magical properties has still not been revealed. All we get is "look it up " Seems a little fishy to me
What's with the drama, dude? What is your problem? Just grow up, for god's sake... I used a concrete finish by Super-Krete with ceramic beads. Held up to everything that I could throw at it. There are dozens of proprietary products out there by dozens of companies. Do I need to hold your hand? Why are you attempting to argue about something that you are so obviously uneducated about?
My $.02 is this. If you want your shop to have a shiny floor to slip and fall down on, it won't apply. Put a vapor barrier down before mud is poured. Have the guys running the power trowels make a smooth, but not polished finish. Let it dry, spray it with whatever sealer that will wear off eventually. Own a warehouse grade broom that looks like a house broom, but rougher broom corn and not cut at an angle. Use the wide pushbroom when you need to cover acres instead of under and around stuff. Make a pushbroom from a broom handle and a 2x4 to grind in your oil dry clay stuff, to grind out stains from where you've worked. You may need to just get down on your knees with a short piece of 2x4 to get down on it. Painted floors=bust your *** when wet with water and worse with oil. Damn, keep it simple. Makes for a little more work, but less work in the long run.
Finally That was like pulling teeth from chickens I still don't believe that stuff would survive an industrial welding shop, no way.
We could tell you, but Homeland Security would fry our ***es. Chill out dude, Ed was a flooring contractor for years, consider the possibility he just might know what the hell he's talking about....eh.
You must have an awful lot of time on your hands to ask questions that you already know all the answers to. If your mind was already made up, why did you bother to ask? Simply for the drama? That is childish, and serves no purpose. This forum is for traditional hotrods and customs. This thread is only very borderline on-topic, but thanks to you it stopped being relevant long ago....
****ing girls..... Bottom line is any paint/coating you put on the ground will come up. Eventually. I acid stained my concrete and put a solvent based clear over it. It is blotchy, chips, and scratches. It looks old and I think it is perfect, love it. My next shop will be the sand and polish option, no coating. And yes, I have been a painting contractor for 25 years.
So you've never worked in a facility where someone actually spent the money and time to put down a real industrial epoxy floor. Not our fault.
Most of us will never do more than maybe a 3 car garage at best. Maybe 600sqft. That's not a lot of labor or expense if you really want a bright clean floor. I recently did 8000sqft, the hard way like I mentioned earlier, and fork lifts, trucks, snow and salt, dragging pallets, none of it pulled or damaged the finish. It's more sensitive when it's new. Years ago I did 4000sqft in my 1st shop, then 5000 in the next one. Do what works and don't try to save a buck on mat'l. That's the biggest "secret" to a good coating. In all of those experiences, just like an automotive finish, material thickness is a key element. Too much will peel very easy, especially when you drop that heavy chunk of iron on it to get the chip started. "Stain" the concrete, get it to soak in, you'll have no issues for decades. The things that stain the epoxy range from washer solvent to paint, long term brake fluid exposure (like an overnight leak), and layout dye like machinist bluing. Not much else will hurt it. The vapor barrier is something that's probably figured out in new construction. None of us need a nice floor so bad that we'll re-pour for that. But, if you soak the concrete even that's a moot point. If you think about it, it's pretty obvious. What nobody metioned though, and most likely the number 1 cause of catastrophic failure, is when the etching solution is not completely neutralized. Within a year the concrete will react with the etching mat'l and lift as much as 1/4" of floor, turning the concrete to dust and stone. Water and ammonia or TSP (trisodium phosphate) will kill the etch and preserve your labors. I rinsed the last floor, all 8000sqft, 3 different times to be sure, and I used ammonia to kill the acid. Stick with the basics and you'll never go wrong.
This thread has been prettty informative.I used a company called Epoxy coat, good stuff but has issues. Cant take a heavy socket being dropped without chipping, and welding sparks leave a trail till its mopped. but one thing I have found out in the past 5 years about my floors is you can spend all your time worrying about your floors or you can just build your cars. Somtimes I just wish that my floors were plain jane. I think that every coating will give somebody a heartache in some way
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