Corporate wanted our shop to install battleship gray epoxy floors, but didn't want to shut down long enough to let it cure and seal it properly, so they spent the money, bought the epoxy, had three of management paint it on, and then it peeled up the first time a car parked on it.
yea … you have to let us … the professionals handle instillation . You have to prep … at bare minimum acid etch … pain in the ass that’s why I grind, blast, or scarify EVERYTHING
Thanks for illuminating the subtle balance of clean design vs hiding dust/dirt. This is an issue in all surface design, including tile and countertops. You want to be able to see dirt when cleaning but not be distracted by it when it’s a tiny amount. I prefer to err on the side of clean/clear design. It’s better to see dirt, so you can clean it more easily and it looks better when it has just been cleaned.
One thing to point out about a solid colour epoxy floor - the epoxy floor has a lot of sheen to it, so any blemishs or damage on the floor, scratches, scrapes etc will be very easily visible.
@ev6558 bull shit I'm looking up how to fix hole In the apoxy from doing wood work in my garage and dropped a hatchet and broke through apoxy and concrete 😂
>> @ev6558 bull shit I'm >> looking up how to fix hole >> In the apoxy from doing >> wood work in my garage >> and dropped a hatchet and >> broke through apoxy and >> concrete 😂 You should have used epoxy then. Apoxy sounds like it is probably a cheap knock-off product. No wonder you're having issues...you get what you pay for.
That is so funny…I hate the fact that you can’t see the dust or small parts dropped on the floor and I personally hate the look of flakes. I think they look cheap. And trashy. I worked in factories that have high vis floors and it makes it so great to keep it clean and find dropped items. As I get older I find I want this feature more and more.
My ship has epoxy floors onboard. It's horrendous for cleaning stations, horrendous for doing maintenance in the flats, and just ugly in my opinion. What's worse though, is that the epoxy isn't level. The installers put down chips and then added enough epoxy to glue it all together, so the floor is bumpy. Meaning it holds dirt and also casts shadows so you'll never find stuff using a low light.
Makes sense to me. I’ve cleaned the locker rooms on a commercial fishing boat where they thought it was smart to use tile and light grey/white grout! Such a pain to clean the grout.
2:45 no joke, you supporting people who want to learn is something I highly appreciate, and if you were near me I would pay for your service. I believe that transparent people believe in the quality of their work and are confident in their knowledge. Plus I want to support ethical businesses
We got StoneKote applied throughout our food production facility and forklifts drive over it 24/7 and this stuff resists every chemical we have in the plant. I wish it wasnt a company exclusive application/per quote basis cause Id love to use it in my garage.
Excellent tutorial, especially on how important it is to hit the recoat window. The time is not the only important variable, it is equally important to monitor ambient temperatures and relative humidity. Tim, you and your crew are truly mastering your craft. -Josh
Great video! I'm gonna share some of my non-literature-supported experience here. Not gonna say Epoxy is inferior to PUrea; it really depends on what you are using it for. Urea's best feature is anti-scratch (hardness, and that's why Line-X uses it as a truck bed liner), and if you are using aliphatic isocyanate to cure then it is UV resistant (and then anti-yellowing). But the biggest problem with Urea is worktime, it cures too fast, and is very very sensitive to water, this brings a delamination issue due to shrinkage of free volume during cross-linking. Another issue with Urea is it cracks if you don't pay attention to flexibility, especially with a concrete substrate, but this issue can be dodged by using a more flexible amine or chain extender (this is where the polyaspartic shines).
For Epoxy the biggest advantage I think is robustness, it adheres well, cures fast but not too fast, it is cheaper than urea (normally speaking), and if today someone asks me to coat their garage and will shoot me if I fail, I will go with Epoxy for sure, especially for a solid color job when all small surface defects are obvious.
@@AndyLuo9 wrote "if today someone asks me to coat their garage and will shoot me if I fail, will go with epoxy..." Thanks for making me laugh today! Don't we all know the feeling with some clients!
Just a thought, are there any mono-color vinyl chips? Something that could match the epoxy color so you could put chips down for the texturing feature but not have such a busy color pattern? It seems like that could be a great middle ground!
Beautiful work. If I ever get a larger shop I would love to have a pure white epoxy floor like aircraft hanger. This way when you drop tools and screws its super obvious where it went. I kid you not I lost 6 ball bearings this week and 1 bolt
I do flake garages full time with polyurea and i always recommend flake over no flake. I have done a few solid color floors with no flakes and it never comes out very nice because it shows so many flaws in the floor and damages very easily. one time i did a solid black floor in a brand new house, a few days later it was completely scratched and damaged from moving stuff around. the flake has a very nice texture if the top coat isnt too thick and helps hide blemishes and inconsistencies. it also is a layer of strength and protection, almost like fiber in fiberglass.
You shouldn’t have those issues if you use a nice high build system (MVB + epoxy + urethane w aluminum oxide). Polyurea isn’t the answer to every project.
I need the solid color in my garage. I wouldn't mind the dust showing because it's a garage that's always used and it's not going to be always 100% dust free but being able to clean the floor very easily and find any bolt that drops easily is a big plus.
You will see every scratch that happens with a solid color epoxy. You would be better off doing a single color flake and getting the durability from it then to do just a solid color epoxy/polyurethane floor
Ill give younsome insight into why a chipless floor is preferred by some customers. You can mop it. With the chips when you mop they tear apart the mop head and leave fiber bundles everywhere leaving the only cleaning method rinsing and squeegeeing. Chipless floors are just so much easier to clean.
No matter how well you explain something, people will have a hateful opinion. Thank you for your video. Great advice from someone with a lot of experience.
It's hard to find things you dropped on the floor? Grap a flashlight or your phone with the light on, turn the room lights off if they're very bright, get on your knees, shine your handheld light along the floor and it gets reaaaally easy to spot even tiny screws as they'll cast a long shadow :)
I loved my shop that had plain colour floors. BUT, as you said, we had a zamboni floor cleaner. Every thing was done so it was easy to move. Skirt some degreaser, add a water soaked mop. Then Zamboni time. Almost every person that entered would remark how you could eat off it. How it looked more like a surgery more than a car shop. On the chop front. It's not horrendous because I don't like clutter in a shop floor. The best thing to find wayward clips, pins, washers etc was to get your eyes at floor level and scan the floor. Everything sticks out above a well finished epoxy floor.
The main purpose of the chips is to reduce slipping when wet not to hide dust or dirt. That said you can buy paint chips that match the color of the floor color so its easy to spot dropped items.
So many UA-cam tutorial videos suck. Bad audio, sped up too fast or not enough, etc. This isn't one of those videos. Nice work on the floor and the video. Thanks.
I never use epoxy - use a concrete densifier that sets up the second hydration. Dust proof - never chips and is so cheap compared to an epoxy. The minute you put a paint on your concrete - whether it be epoxy or whatever - you have a maintenance issue -one day it will fail. I showed a large food manufacturer what to use (and NO - I had nothing to do with doing the job). They were going to put down an epoxy, after I told them about the densifier, guess what they chose - the densifier, and it is there until the day they pull up the slab. Another person I know with a large packaging business used epoxy (he wanted a 'pretty' color on his floor). HA - he now regrets it as it is a maintenance issue from chipping and flaking in some areas. Use epoxy if you think your floor is an art piece, use the densifier if you want a better performing and much much cheaper outcome. And the densifier - no waiting - you can drive on it minutes after applying it. Do some research. In a commercial application - the cost difference can be 10's - 100's of thousands.
Great video and great point about vinyl chip floors. I have a tri-color (White, black, & blue) vinyl chip floor and God forbid if I drop something. I have searched for over an hour trying to find things and have only recovered about 50% of the things I've lost. Looks great, but don't drop any screws, nuts, or washers.
I understand that in this case the MVB was applied because of a moisture issue, but how do you determine when to apply a MVB without having to do a job twice?
I worked in a shop that had one of those amazing poly floors. Every time a vehicle parked on it with wet tires, that section of coating left with the vehicle
The rv park where I live at had the floors coated in assuming it was epoxy when they built the office(concrete slab floor), just some type of clear coating…I think it’s just clear epoxy or sumn Don’t know what the “installer”(some old friend or “a guy” they know did the job…like everything else they have done, that keeps coming apart) didn’t do right, but it’s been peeling and flaking for 4 years now ever since they had it done. We had to vacuum the floor several times a day just so the floors didn’t look like they had a major case of dandruff. Anymore a vac or sweep every few days takes care of the flakes but you can clearly see probably 80-90% of the coating is gone They still want some kind of floor coating but also don’t want carpeting or the same thing to happen again And most of all they don’t wanna pay for the job again…much less at a pro’s price
Thank you for this excellent and informative video! However, I would want to use a better respirator since using epoxy is very bad for one's health. Epoxy resin artists are learning this the hard way, and I imagine the need for protection holds true for professional floor finishers. Tim, what is your opinion on this?
I became an airframe mechanic after having been an asbestos abatement contractor. The other mechanics teased me for wearing a respirator all the time. We worked with all kinds of industrial chemicals, epoxy being one of the most irritating to me. I’m glad I did, wish I could have worn one living next to the Balad burn pits…
Got epoxy floor with flakes in our mall. My biggest complaint is the fact it wears really poorly. People are sliding their feet over it, warehouse keepers slide goods over it, and the flakes are just gone to hell leaving empty ground off spots. In the meantime the 30 years old tile with a similar pattern next to it still looks the same as in the first year of use.
I've have a full "flake" floor for a while in my workshop. Dropping things is not that big a deal, and not very often. For the Dirt Obfuscation it was worth it.
Thanks so much @TimDCVA appreciate you linking me here from your other video. This explanation was very helpful. Really appreciate you taking the time. Great work!
Thank you! Good luck with the new business venture. I have a course that might be helpful. Here is a link if you want to check it out. Decorativeconcreteschool.com
Every winter my car brings in mud and snow. I would be slipping and/or breaking my neck. Where did I love an Epoxy floor? Years ago I lived in a 4 level side split. The lowest level that was completely finished had this floor. It was a laundry room, held the furnace and water heater, I had closets and cupboards for storage, and a floor that was easy to mop up and keep clean.
Be careful who you go with, the guy that did my floor went out of business after a year. Also get references and inspect their past jobs (at least a year old), if they can't provide you with any don't hire them.
I don't like the heavy application of chips - I've found a leaf blower works great to randomize chips and leave an even distribution. The original basecoat the customer chose is more prominent and the chips should accent not cover. No hate, just retired from doing these floors and worked for Axo Nobel epoxy (chemical engineering) for 17 years.
I would want to use a better respirator since using epoxy is very bad for one's health. Epoxy resin artists are learning this the hard way, and I imagine the need for protection holds true for professional floor finishers.
I just want to point out the main issue with epoxy is the sun exposure resistance. That's really about it. Most guys I watch suggest you even do a first coat like you've done then poly over the top. So, it's about doing what's right for the area, not your bias on materials.
I’ll need a light solid color for my Quonset hut shop where I can brown recluse or scorpions walking around when I’m in there. I’m out here in the sticks of Texas and I’ve had a few of those crawl beside me when I’m laying under my tractor.
Polyurea is an elastomeric coating designed to stretch in a marine setting epoxy is designed for durability and is 30 to 40 percent harder than most coatings
*I LOVE my solid color, epoxy floor. I’ve seen the vinyl chip floors, and don’t like them at all. You can drop something as big as hammer, and can’t find it amongst the visual turmoil.*
Did a lot of epoxy back in the Chicago suburbs before moving to Col in '16. Nice video, looks thorough, looks nice. Also, most of my floors were quartz....Loved them Loved them.
Labor on 2 and 3 day application on a garage floor eats into your profits terribly. We use polyurea for the speed of it. We use epoxy when it's over about 2k sf
I did two part epoxy on 60 day old concrete which was power troweled finished, and now I see pinholes everywhere. Called the concrete supplier and he came out to look at it. All he says is, that concrete is porous, which I totally get but porous and pinholes is two different things.
Only real question I have is given that one of my previous jobs kept insisting on these epoxy floors for washdown environments and they became incredibly slippery when wet. IE: used in a small 3 car garage for staging vehicles for customer delivery, where rain and wet leaves can easily get in; then in another location they had installed this same flooring in the wash bay for the detail department and it caused the same problem. Is there a way to add some kind of GRIT to epoxy flooring to make it safer when wet? This is literally the only reason I'm shying away from coating my garage floor at all over it's base concrete out of the fear of slipping and getting hurt from rain water intruding on the space.
That's why I won't use epoxy in my garage. We did it in our previous house and the floor got slippery like walking on ice whenever I drove in the rain. I'll never use it in another garage.
so the answer here about certain complaints is to just dismiss them, ok then........... a good alternative for example would be to use a one color chip to address issues not this but to just say its a feature because you prefer it. theres an old saying "the customers always right," offer different styles and let them decide.
Finding small objects on a chipped floor is as easy as laying a penlight down and rotating. Oblique lighting will find it fast. My garage floor is plain concrete and I still use the flashlight trick.
I have this in my 4 car garage and my only issue is that upon doing the quarterly garage cleaning, when water gets on the vinyl epoxy floor, it becomes very slippery
Great video, but the chips? Not for me. Did my own garage and woodworking shop floors following smart folks advice like yours. But the clips are absolutely maddening for seeing things dropped on the floor.
I like your work very much. I have a question, please. Is there an online course to learn this profession? I live in Canada and I want to get the right experience
Laying epoxy right is like concrete takes skill and practice and someone who owns up to mistakes if any or fixes them. I have been considering epoxy for awhile if only could fix the horrible concrete job that was done originally without it being super thick at one end lol
I think I followed what you were saying but not sure. My garage floor has epoxy on it and it was done over 15 years ago. I would like to clean it really good and it seems like it would need another coat of epoxy with the flakes on it? Is that possible?
We hav wanted to epoxy a hangar floor, but have some animosity for 2 reasons. 1) We do work in it, drop screws, and have heard the ‘hard to find’ argument. 2) I prefer a light color for brightness, yet experience from others has shown that the blue dye in 100LL AvGas will still stain the floor blue. Do you have any input or experience in this realm?
I’m not sure about the blue dye. I have never heard that before. We have access to a wide array of top coats… it’s possible that you would just need a different top coat to keep it from staining. I would suggest contacting a concrete coatings company that does commercial work (not just garage floor coatings). There is most likely a system made for your issue.
3:00 - So by this logic, if you *are* working in your garage/workshop, and you are diligent about cleaning-up, it makes sense to avoid flakes so you don't have trouble finding small items dropped on the floor? Also, I think it makes touching up the floor a bit easier down the track if something happens (a single colour to fix vs multi-colour flakes and clear top-coat.) Thoughts?
I just think it’s personal preference. I personally don’t think most parts you drop while working on cars are so small you couldn’t find them on flakes though. The sheen of the floor makes it easy to find things with a light. Touch ups on flakes are easier to conceal. A touch up on a solid color usually looks pretty obvious. The process is easier for solid color though.
Im much less concern e about dust and dirt visibility than i am the visibility of dropped small objects. That said, i ro believe in texthred floors for stability with wet or slick spills.
So what are you trying to say? You're laughing about polyurea at the beginning, and then you say your top coat for this project is urethane. The only epoxy you used was the moisture barrier, epoxy and urethane are two distinct groups of polymer. Polyurea, polyurethane, and urethane are all in the same group. When it comes to the flakes, the problem is that it looks garish in most cases.
what causes spike marks from your spike shoes to stay in the floor?, we had a company do our bathrooms at work, mens room was a disaster, womens came out good, also it was full coverage flake and was not a smooth finish for either floor. any thoughts?
yes it was primer base coat flake clear top, poor layment all around, i will send pics ,they used the sherwin williams product. i dont why my boss keep on using this company, they do most of the dollar generals floors.
I hate the look of chips, either multicolor of solid. I had a solid light gray epoxy floor done in my last house, solid color chips applied it looked ok for the first year then started to turn yellow (even under a door mat) and the top clear coat wore off from our parked cars. It looked like absolute crap, never again. Contractor that I used when out of business and I don't recall the product he used but it was over hyped and garbage. I'll never use epoxy again, looking at polyura for our new house now but I want to see past installs and what it looks like after at least a year and see how it's held up.
you will always have a critic that wants to complain that is just the way life is great looking floor and being in the automotive industry yes those chips on the floor can be very hard to find something but if you use a bring flashlight on an angle it helps a ton to find it easier
2009, I was at a metal shop that had a glossy white floor coating, idk what chemical it was. Under the bench grinder, there was a big round area where the hot metal shavings were embedded in the coating and and it was a rusty mess. Later, a guy opened the garage door and dragged a piece of metal out to the black top driveway in the rain, he proceeded to cut it w a plasma cutter. I asked the boss why the guy was doing it in the rain, he said the plasma cutter damages the floor worse than the bench grinder.
0:56 Vapor Barrier Epoxy? Sounds like something similar to what I'm looking for... I'm thinking of Trying to Seal My Basement Concrete that has Odor that affects Me with Epoxy. But I Wanna know Will These Epoxy Cover/Eliminate The Bad/Strong Concrete Odor?
im quaryious to know how these epoxy and other resin based floors hold up with automotive chemicals being spilled on them? ie gasoline, brakleen, and SK parts wash.
Could this type of epoxy be used to paint the concrete floor inside a shower with water raining down on it every day? My parents have a shower in the basement, and for some reason they don't want to tile the floor, and they painted it with some junk paint a few years ago, but now it's all peeling off.
I have polyaspartic with blue flakes in my shop. Paid $4200, got a fuel stain about 12" diameter . Called out installation company they claim I should have cleaned it up in 20 minutes or less. This is an automotive shop floor. I now realize I have a floor I can't use for its intended purpose. The floor is 2 years old and installed on newly poured concrete. Could a new coat be applied over top and keep the chemicals from leaching through to flakes. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you Crying in Lakeland, Fl. This is my retirement garage 😢
I DIY’d mine using Versatile “Roll on Rock” flooring. It used a top coat over top of the flakes. Additionally every so often it can be sanded with a new top coat poured on top. With that said, mine is a residential garage floor that holds cars and DIY car projects. After more than 12 years it’s still holding up great with no touch ups required. You may want to google roll on rock floor coatings and see if there is an installer in your area that could help you. Their products are tougher than concrete in my experience.
Corporate wanted our shop to install battleship gray epoxy floors, but didn't want to shut down long enough to let it cure and seal it properly, so they spent the money, bought the epoxy, had three of management paint it on, and then it peeled up the first time a car parked on it.
The industrial coatings employee in me is *SCREAMING.*
Buy once cry once.
yea … you have to let us … the professionals handle instillation . You have to prep … at bare minimum acid etch … pain in the ass that’s why I grind, blast, or scarify EVERYTHING
@@howitusedtobe And you have to hope the concrete is in a good mood that day. And hope the epoxy doesn't have a misalignment with your horoscope.
That's just sad... would have been so pretty if they took the time
Thanks for illuminating the subtle balance of clean design vs hiding dust/dirt. This is an issue in all surface design, including tile and countertops. You want to be able to see dirt when cleaning but not be distracted by it when it’s a tiny amount. I prefer to err on the side of clean/clear design. It’s better to see dirt, so you can clean it more easily and it looks better when it has just been cleaned.
I agree on some projects… but most people don’t want to have to clean their garage every few days.
One thing to point out about a solid colour epoxy floor - the epoxy floor has a lot of sheen to it, so any blemishs or damage on the floor, scratches, scrapes etc will be very easily visible.
Well that shouldn't be a problem since it's so strong you can hit it really lightly with a hammer!
@ev6558 bull shit I'm looking up how to fix hole In the apoxy from doing wood work in my garage and dropped a hatchet and broke through apoxy and concrete 😂
yep several chips in my pro applied 100% solids floor@@sebastianthesaint
@@ev6558 What's apoxy?
>> @ev6558 bull shit I'm
>> looking up how to fix hole
>> In the apoxy from doing
>> wood work in my garage
>> and dropped a hatchet and
>> broke through apoxy and
>> concrete 😂
You should have used epoxy then. Apoxy sounds like it is probably a cheap knock-off product. No wonder you're having issues...you get what you pay for.
That is so funny…I hate the fact that you can’t see the dust or small parts dropped on the floor and I personally hate the look of flakes. I think they look cheap. And trashy. I worked in factories that have high vis floors and it makes it so great to keep it clean and find dropped items. As I get older I find I want this feature more and more.
My home in Houston had a stained concrete floor that looked like leather. It was gorgeous and so easy to keep clean!
du bist doch erst 21,wirst bestimmt diesen flockenboden verabscheuen am lebensende :p
I wholeheartedly agree
My ship has epoxy floors onboard. It's horrendous for cleaning stations, horrendous for doing maintenance in the flats, and just ugly in my opinion.
What's worse though, is that the epoxy isn't level. The installers put down chips and then added enough epoxy to glue it all together, so the floor is bumpy. Meaning it holds dirt and also casts shadows so you'll never find stuff using a low light.
Makes sense to me. I’ve cleaned the locker rooms on a commercial fishing boat where they thought it was smart to use tile and light grey/white grout! Such a pain to clean the grout.
2:45 no joke, you supporting people who want to learn is something I highly appreciate, and if you were near me I would pay for your service. I believe that transparent people believe in the quality of their work and are confident in their knowledge. Plus I want to support ethical businesses
We got StoneKote applied throughout our food production facility and forklifts drive over it 24/7 and this stuff resists every chemical we have in the plant. I wish it wasnt a company exclusive application/per quote basis cause Id love to use it in my garage.
Excellent tutorial, especially on how important it is to hit the recoat window. The time is not the only important variable, it is equally important to monitor ambient temperatures and relative humidity.
Tim, you and your crew are truly mastering your craft.
-Josh
Great video! I'm gonna share some of my non-literature-supported experience here. Not gonna say Epoxy is inferior to PUrea; it really depends on what you are using it for. Urea's best feature is anti-scratch (hardness, and that's why Line-X uses it as a truck bed liner), and if you are using aliphatic isocyanate to cure then it is UV resistant (and then anti-yellowing). But the biggest problem with Urea is worktime, it cures too fast, and is very very sensitive to water, this brings a delamination issue due to shrinkage of free volume during cross-linking. Another issue with Urea is it cracks if you don't pay attention to flexibility, especially with a concrete substrate, but this issue can be dodged by using a more flexible amine or chain extender (this is where the polyaspartic shines).
For Epoxy the biggest advantage I think is robustness, it adheres well, cures fast but not too fast, it is cheaper than urea (normally speaking), and if today someone asks me to coat their garage and will shoot me if I fail, I will go with Epoxy for sure, especially for a solid color job when all small surface defects are obvious.
@@AndyLuo9 wrote "if today someone asks me to coat their garage and will shoot me if I fail, will go with epoxy..." Thanks for making me laugh today! Don't we all know the feeling with some clients!
Just a thought, are there any mono-color vinyl chips? Something that could match the epoxy color so you could put chips down for the texturing feature but not have such a busy color pattern? It seems like that could be a great middle ground!
Yes there are. That's what our contractor is doing.
Yup you can get practically any colour combination of flake
The question I came here to ask. In my mind, a mono-colored flake or a flake that has colors of stone could give a nice "terrazzo-like" appearance.
Torginol is one of the biggest suppliers of flakes. They even have glow in the dark and metallic. Options are pretty extensive
In my garage we have grey scale vinyl chips, so they're black, white and grey. It looks good in my opinion, and it doesn't look too busy either
Beautiful work. If I ever get a larger shop I would love to have a pure white epoxy floor like aircraft hanger. This way when you drop tools and screws its super obvious where it went. I kid you not I lost 6 ball bearings this week and 1 bolt
I do flake garages full time with polyurea and i always recommend flake over no flake. I have done a few solid color floors with no flakes and it never comes out very nice because it shows so many flaws in the floor and damages very easily. one time i did a solid black floor in a brand new house, a few days later it was completely scratched and damaged from moving stuff around.
the flake has a very nice texture if the top coat isnt too thick and helps hide blemishes and inconsistencies. it also is a layer of strength and protection, almost like fiber in fiberglass.
You shouldn’t have those issues if you use a nice high build system (MVB + epoxy + urethane w aluminum oxide).
Polyurea isn’t the answer to every project.
I need the solid color in my garage. I wouldn't mind the dust showing because it's a garage that's always used and it's not going to be always 100% dust free but being able to clean the floor very easily and find any bolt that drops easily is a big plus.
You will see every scratch that happens with a solid color epoxy. You would be better off doing a single color flake and getting the durability from it then to do just a solid color epoxy/polyurethane floor
Ill give younsome insight into why a chipless floor is preferred by some customers. You can mop it. With the chips when you mop they tear apart the mop head and leave fiber bundles everywhere leaving the only cleaning method rinsing and squeegeeing.
Chipless floors are just so much easier to clean.
No matter how well you explain something, people will have a hateful opinion. Thank you for your video. Great advice from someone with a lot of experience.
It's hard to find things you dropped on the floor?
Grap a flashlight or your phone with the light on, turn the room lights off if they're very bright, get on your knees, shine your handheld light along the floor and it gets reaaaally easy to spot even tiny screws as they'll cast a long shadow :)
Also the best tip for cleaning up broken glass!
Or you can avoid using speckled textures and then you can see things without going to the extra steps!
My mom taught me that trick in the early 1960s. I still do it today but now I so it with a powerful LED flashlight sideways on the floor.
Chips or no chips that 10mm socket is gone.
Obviously not a mechanic. When your main goal is to work on machinery, you want high res floors
I loved my shop that had plain colour floors. BUT, as you said, we had a zamboni floor cleaner. Every thing was done so it was easy to move. Skirt some degreaser, add a water soaked mop. Then Zamboni time. Almost every person that entered would remark how you could eat off it. How it looked more like a surgery more than a car shop.
On the chop front. It's not horrendous because I don't like clutter in a shop floor. The best thing to find wayward clips, pins, washers etc was to get your eyes at floor level and scan the floor. Everything sticks out above a well finished epoxy floor.
53,000 subscribers and you have 1 million views in a year? Amazing! As a fellow coating expert I am extremely impressed.
The main purpose of the chips is to reduce slipping when wet not to hide dust or dirt. That said you can buy paint chips that match the color of the floor color so its easy to spot dropped items.
I have noticed you guys are very good to where you don’t tape off walls or anything!
thanks!
@@TimDCVA you are welcome, I started doing floors 3 months ago and it’s awesome the before and after!
Really good painters use the least tape needed for the job. I would use a better brush for the cut in. But I get it. Chip brushes are quick and easy.
So many UA-cam tutorial videos suck. Bad audio, sped up too fast or not enough, etc. This isn't one of those videos. Nice work on the floor and the video. Thanks.
I never use epoxy - use a concrete densifier that sets up the second hydration. Dust proof - never chips and is so cheap compared to an epoxy. The minute you put a paint on your concrete - whether it be epoxy or whatever - you have a maintenance issue -one day it will fail. I showed a large food manufacturer what to use (and NO - I had nothing to do with doing the job). They were going to put down an epoxy, after I told them about the densifier, guess what they chose - the densifier, and it is there until the day they pull up the slab. Another person I know with a large packaging business used epoxy (he wanted a 'pretty' color on his floor). HA - he now regrets it as it is a maintenance issue from chipping and flaking in some areas. Use epoxy if you think your floor is an art piece, use the densifier if you want a better performing and much much cheaper outcome. And the densifier - no waiting - you can drive on it minutes after applying it. Do some research. In a commercial application - the cost difference can be 10's - 100's of thousands.
Great video and great point about vinyl chip floors. I have a tri-color (White, black, & blue) vinyl chip floor and God forbid if I drop something. I have searched for over an hour trying to find things and have only recovered about 50% of the things I've lost. Looks great, but don't drop any screws, nuts, or washers.
So what will happen to the floor when one has a gravel driveway?
There are rocks stuck in the tires.
Will these rocks 🪨 damage the coating?
What type of two-part epoxy did you use? What type of urethane topcoat did you use?
I understand that in this case the MVB was applied because of a moisture issue, but how do you determine when to apply a MVB without having to do a job twice?
I worked in a shop that had one of those amazing poly floors. Every time a vehicle parked on it with wet tires, that section of coating left with the vehicle
The rv park where I live at had the floors coated in assuming it was epoxy when they built the office(concrete slab floor), just some type of clear coating…I think it’s just clear epoxy or sumn
Don’t know what the “installer”(some old friend or “a guy” they know did the job…like everything else they have done, that keeps coming apart) didn’t do right, but it’s been peeling and flaking for 4 years now ever since they had it done. We had to vacuum the floor several times a day just so the floors didn’t look like they had a major case of dandruff. Anymore a vac or sweep every few days takes care of the flakes but you can clearly see probably 80-90% of the coating is gone
They still want some kind of floor coating but also don’t want carpeting or the same thing to happen again
And most of all they don’t wanna pay for the job again…much less at a pro’s price
Great efforts... What is the lifetime expectation for epoxy?!
Thank you for this excellent and informative video! However, I would want to use a better respirator since using epoxy is very bad for one's health. Epoxy resin artists are learning this the hard way, and I imagine the need for protection holds true for professional floor finishers. Tim, what is your opinion on this?
I became an airframe mechanic after having been an asbestos abatement contractor. The other mechanics teased me for wearing a respirator all the time. We worked with all kinds of industrial chemicals, epoxy being one of the most irritating to me. I’m glad I did, wish I could have worn one living next to the Balad burn pits…
@@1AlexanderCole : thanks. There's so much misinformation out there and lack of safety issues. I would wear a respirator any time I could.
Got epoxy floor with flakes in our mall. My biggest complaint is the fact it wears really poorly. People are sliding their feet over it, warehouse keepers slide goods over it, and the flakes are just gone to hell leaving empty ground off spots. In the meantime the 30 years old tile with a similar pattern next to it still looks the same as in the first year of use.
what product is the vapor barrier, and what shoes are those?
I've have a full "flake" floor for a while in my workshop. Dropping things is not that big a deal, and not very often. For the Dirt Obfuscation it was worth it.
Thanks so much @TimDCVA appreciate you linking me here from your other video. This explanation was very helpful. Really appreciate you taking the time. Great work!
Thank you! Good luck with the new business venture.
I have a course that might be helpful. Here is a link if you want to check it out.
Decorativeconcreteschool.com
Yeah still haven't sold me on the flakes. I prefer a solid color. Easier to know if its dirty.
Every winter my car brings in mud and snow. I would be slipping and/or breaking my neck. Where did I love an Epoxy floor? Years ago I lived in a 4 level side split. The lowest level that was completely finished had this floor. It was a laundry room, held the furnace and water heater, I had closets and cupboards for storage, and a floor that was easy to mop up and keep clean.
Can’t stand how thick they lay the chips down. You can’t even see the base coat. I asked for this to be with 1/4 of the chips. Turned out great.
I need to find a company who does quality work like you guys down in Florida!!!
This is motivating to see since I am in Florida and in the process of starting this 😂
What part of FL are you in? I own a coating company here in Fort Myers!
Be careful who you go with, the guy that did my floor went out of business after a year. Also get references and inspect their past jobs (at least a year old), if they can't provide you with any don't hire them.
I don't like the heavy application of chips - I've found a leaf blower works great to randomize chips and leave an even distribution. The original basecoat the customer chose is more prominent and the chips should accent not cover. No hate, just retired from doing these floors and worked for Axo Nobel epoxy (chemical engineering) for 17 years.
I agree that I hate the multi color chips look. It Looks cheap. I would prefer one color or tones that are only SLIGHTLY different.
I really like your squeegee... where can I get the same kind? Thanks!
What do you use for vapor barrier?
I would want to use a better respirator since using epoxy is very bad for one's health. Epoxy resin artists are learning this the hard way, and I imagine the need for protection holds true for professional floor finishers.
I’m wearing an Rz Mask/respirator with carbon filters. I’m not sure what would be better than that.
I just want to point out the main issue with epoxy is the sun exposure resistance. That's really about it. Most guys I watch suggest you even do a first coat like you've done then poly over the top. So, it's about doing what's right for the area, not your bias on materials.
I’ll need a light solid color for my Quonset hut shop where I can brown recluse or scorpions walking around when I’m in there. I’m out here in the sticks of Texas and I’ve had a few of those crawl beside me when I’m laying under my tractor.
Watched a bunch of your videos and was wonder what brand products do you use?
Which brand of 18” roller do you use, can you also use it to paint walls?
Polyurea is an elastomeric coating designed to stretch in a marine setting epoxy is designed for durability and is 30 to 40 percent harder than most coatings
*I LOVE my solid color, epoxy floor. I’ve seen the vinyl chip floors, and don’t like them at all. You can drop something as big as hammer, and can’t find it amongst the visual turmoil.*
So what's the biggest complaint? Slipping on dusty floors or missing small parts?
Did a lot of epoxy back in the Chicago suburbs before moving to Col in '16. Nice video, looks thorough, looks nice.
Also, most of my floors were quartz....Loved them Loved them.
Labor on 2 and 3 day application on a garage floor eats into your profits terribly. We use polyurea for the speed of it. We use epoxy when it's over about 2k sf
I did two part epoxy on 60 day old concrete which was power troweled finished, and now I see pinholes everywhere. Called the concrete supplier and he came out to look at it. All he says is, that concrete is porous, which I totally get but porous and pinholes is two different things.
I think the biggest advantage of polyurea over epoxy is that it's UV resistant.
That's honorable work. Great way to spend the day
Only real question I have is given that one of my previous jobs kept insisting on these epoxy floors for washdown environments and they became incredibly slippery when wet. IE: used in a small 3 car garage for staging vehicles for customer delivery, where rain and wet leaves can easily get in; then in another location they had installed this same flooring in the wash bay for the detail department and it caused the same problem. Is there a way to add some kind of GRIT to epoxy flooring to make it safer when wet? This is literally the only reason I'm shying away from coating my garage floor at all over it's base concrete out of the fear of slipping and getting hurt from rain water intruding on the space.
just sand the top?
That's why I won't use epoxy in my garage. We did it in our previous house and the floor got slippery like walking on ice whenever I drove in the rain. I'll never use it in another garage.
Yes. We add grit to the top coat whenever traction is a concern.
Nice work guys! Very educational! I’m on the fence about solid color or flake.
so the answer here about certain complaints is to just dismiss them, ok then........... a good alternative for example would be to use a one color chip to address issues not this but to just say its a feature because you prefer it. theres an old saying "the customers always right," offer different styles and let them decide.
Finding small objects on a chipped floor is as easy as laying a penlight down and rotating. Oblique lighting will find it fast. My garage floor is plain concrete and I still use the flashlight trick.
I have this in my 4 car garage and my only issue is that upon doing the quarterly garage cleaning, when water gets on the vinyl epoxy floor, it becomes very slippery
How does the vapor barrier stick is there's moisture under slab?
What type of squeegees You use for spread epoxy? Where they can be ordered?
Great videos as usual
That dude had a West Coat shirt on. I absolutely love West Coat products.
Is it advisable to do a concrete basement floor with epoxy, or would there be a problem with toxic gases?
Great video, but the chips? Not for me. Did my own garage and woodworking shop floors following smart folks advice like yours. But the clips are absolutely maddening for seeing things dropped on the floor.
Love your videos thanks for all the useful information! What brand of products do you use
Now, could I get a completely clear version?
We live on a dirt road, so our cars drag in a lot of dirt into the garage. What is the best floor treatment in our situation?
Did you shotblast this floor prior to applying the vapor barrier?
Yes. Grind and then shotblast.
I like your work very much. I have a question, please. Is there an online course to learn this profession? I live in Canada and I want to get the right experience
Thanks!
Yes. I have a course that teaches this:
DecorativeConcreteSchool.com
Laying epoxy right is like concrete takes skill and practice and someone who owns up to mistakes if any or fixes them.
I have been considering epoxy for awhile if only could fix the horrible concrete job that was done originally without it being super thick at one end lol
I think I followed what you were saying but not sure. My garage floor has epoxy on it and it was done over 15 years ago. I would like to clean it really good and it seems like it would need another coat of epoxy with the flakes on it? Is that possible?
I have a m-in law 600 set house and it has a contrite bath and kitchern. never done. Wanted this is it okay for either or should I have softer?
We hav wanted to epoxy a hangar floor, but have some animosity for 2 reasons. 1) We do work in it, drop screws, and have heard the ‘hard to find’ argument. 2) I prefer a light color for brightness, yet experience from others has shown that the blue dye in 100LL AvGas will still stain the floor blue. Do you have any input or experience in this realm?
I’m not sure about the blue dye. I have never heard that before.
We have access to a wide array of top coats… it’s possible that you would just need a different top coat to keep it from staining.
I would suggest contacting a concrete coatings company that does commercial work (not just garage floor coatings). There is most likely a system made for your issue.
Vapor barrier so didnt have to sand? Just apply the urethane?
Hey bud what did you sand with in-between coats ?
A 60-grit screen on a buffer
@@TimDCVA thanks !
I use paint chips very sparingly and it looks so awesome, like mid-century terrazzo tile. The heavy-coat paint chip style just looks tacky.
Damn that concrete looked beautiful when wet from the moisture barrier. Damn
3:00 - So by this logic, if you *are* working in your garage/workshop, and you are diligent about cleaning-up, it makes sense to avoid flakes so you don't have trouble finding small items dropped on the floor? Also, I think it makes touching up the floor a bit easier down the track if something happens (a single colour to fix vs multi-colour flakes and clear top-coat.) Thoughts?
I just think it’s personal preference. I personally don’t think most parts you drop while working on cars are so small you couldn’t find them on flakes though. The sheen of the floor makes it easy to find things with a light.
Touch ups on flakes are easier to conceal. A touch up on a solid color usually looks pretty obvious. The process is easier for solid color though.
Cheers, thanks for your thoughts.
Im much less concern e about dust and dirt visibility than i am the visibility of dropped small objects. That said, i ro believe in texthred floors for stability with wet or slick spills.
So what are you trying to say? You're laughing about polyurea at the beginning, and then you say your top coat for this project is urethane. The only epoxy you used was the moisture barrier, epoxy and urethane are two distinct groups of polymer. Polyurea, polyurethane, and urethane are all in the same group. When it comes to the flakes, the problem is that it looks garish in most cases.
I’m procrastinating again. I have no idea why I’m watching this but it looks cool.
what causes spike marks from your spike shoes to stay in the floor?, we had a company do our bathrooms at work, mens room was a disaster, womens came out good, also it was full coverage flake and was not a smooth finish for either floor. any thoughts?
It’s hard to say without seeing it. Are you sure they did epoxy and not urethane cement?
yes it was primer base coat flake clear top, poor layment all around, i will send pics ,they used the sherwin williams product. i dont why my boss keep on using this company, they do most of the dollar generals floors.
Why no sanding before applying the vapor barrier?
It’s not necessary when you are in the 24-hour re-coat window.
Jesus Christ I love you guys I just did mvb on my slab and I didn’t knew if I could put my base layer right over it , Tks guys😊
I hate the look of chips, either multicolor of solid. I had a solid light gray epoxy floor done in my last house, solid color chips applied it looked ok for the first year then started to turn yellow (even under a door mat) and the top clear coat wore off from our parked cars. It looked like absolute crap, never again. Contractor that I used when out of business and I don't recall the product he used but it was over hyped and garbage. I'll never use epoxy again, looking at polyura for our new house now but I want to see past installs and what it looks like after at least a year and see how it's held up.
That’s not normal… and it’s obviously the reason your contractor went out of business.
The chips also provide texture. Though I'm used to using and prefer sand.
If you wanted to add insulation how would you do that here?
you will always have a critic that wants to complain that is just the way life is
great looking floor and being in the automotive industry yes those chips on the floor can be very hard to find something but if you use a bring flashlight on an angle it helps a ton to find it easier
Haha. Yes that’s true. Appreciate the encouragement. 👍🏻👍🏻
2009, I was at a metal shop that had a glossy white floor coating, idk what chemical it was. Under the bench grinder, there was a big round area where the hot metal shavings were embedded in the coating and and it was a rusty mess. Later, a guy opened the garage door and dragged a piece of metal out to the black top driveway in the rain, he proceeded to cut it w a plasma cutter. I asked the boss why the guy was doing it in the rain, he said the plasma cutter damages the floor worse than the bench grinder.
Can that applied vapor barrier be used in basements?
0:56 Vapor Barrier Epoxy? Sounds like something similar to what I'm looking for... I'm thinking of Trying to Seal My Basement Concrete that has Odor that affects Me with Epoxy. But I Wanna know Will These Epoxy Cover/Eliminate The Bad/Strong Concrete Odor?
i like the sanded finish better than the bubble finish
I hate the multi-color chips. I like a smooth high gloss floor!
Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. Thanks for posting this.
im quaryious to know how these epoxy and other resin based floors hold up with automotive chemicals being spilled on them? ie gasoline, brakleen, and SK parts wash.
Could this type of epoxy be used to paint the concrete floor inside a shower with water raining down on it every day? My parents have a shower in the basement, and for some reason they don't want to tile the floor, and they painted it with some junk paint a few years ago, but now it's all peeling off.
too slippery.
What are Some of the Vapor Barrier Brand Epoxy That Would Recommend?
What does the vapor barrier do? Isn't the epoxy non-water-permeable anyhow?
How slippery are each when wet?
I have polyaspartic with blue flakes in my shop. Paid $4200, got a fuel stain about 12" diameter . Called out installation company they claim I should have cleaned it up in 20 minutes or less. This is an automotive shop floor. I now realize I have a floor I can't use for its intended purpose. The floor is 2 years old and installed on newly poured concrete. Could a new coat be applied over top and keep the chemicals from leaching through to flakes. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Crying in Lakeland, Fl. This is my retirement garage 😢
I DIY’d mine using Versatile “Roll on Rock” flooring. It used a top coat over top of the flakes. Additionally every so often it can be sanded with a new top coat poured on top. With that said, mine is a residential garage floor that holds cars and DIY car projects. After more than 12 years it’s still holding up great with no touch ups required. You may want to google roll on rock floor coatings and see if there is an installer in your area that could help you. Their products are tougher than concrete in my experience.