In another thread I mentioned that the Subdivision has a new leak, which led to
@Supercharged111 to ask if I'd epoxied the garage floor yet. The answer is no; I have not applied any sealer or coating as I am waiting at least until the bay doors are installed.
His question made me realize that I still haven't completely decided which type of floor treatment to use, and exactly when to apply it. There seem to be different schools of thought on both.
I have been looking at a penetrating sealer like Ghostshield Siloxa-Tek 8510.
siloxa-tek-8510
It's expensive stuff but is oil resistant and water repellant. I also like the fact that it doesn't have a slick finish.
My largest concern with epoxy is that it is apparently very slick when wet, which was most recently mentioned in that same thread by
@termite.
Paint would be comparatively cheap and easy, but according to some here who have used paint, I'd have to repaint occasionally. I don't have a good sense of how long paint would last in my garage.
Ideally whatever is put down will last for 10 years or so. But I don't know if that's realistic.
As for the timing of application, at least one recommendation, by
@thinger2, is to wait months before coating the floor, to allow the concrete to fully cure.
At this point I'm not sure what I'm going to do, or when.
There are a few reasons why you should let the concrete cure before you coat it.
The epoxy coating will trap any moisture in the top layer of the pour and that can keep the pour from hydrating properly and can cause that upper level of the pour to become way too wet and seperate from the base of the pour.
But you wont know that because the surface is glued in place by the epoxy.
The concrete can spall and crumble and you wont know it untill you run heavy machinery across it.
In airplane hangers we call that "hot tracking"
that is when an you drag an airplane into a hanger and the friction from that massive weight is enough to pull the epoxy loose and the the couple of inches or so of concrete that it is bonded to come with it.
The thermal reaction from curing epoxy is pretty intense.
It is kind of like buying a cheap pizza where the cheese is a solid sheet that slides right off but the dough is raw and uncooked.
In the commercial epoxy flooring business we know the moisture content of the floor, and we know who mixed the concrete, and we watched the slump tests. and they are on the hook if we refuse to coat that because our product will not perform under those conditions.
That "Right to Refuse" is in our contract.
That is a situation where we cannot provide a warranty to our work so we just wont do it.
The problem is that every concrete chucklehead around offers floor coating.
Because you only get a one year warranty from them.
Even if it is a ten year warranty product.
Because they are not certified applicators for that product so that ten year warranty is void.
Just like any chemical mix, Epoxy, two part glue, fiberglass...anything
The mix ratio and the timing and the temperature is what matters.
If youve ever seen someone try to mix fiberglass by chucking in a couple of drops of catlyist and stirring it with a stick and it doesnt work?
Or a car that has a mountain range of stucko Bondo plastered on it?
The first mix is for timing.
How far can I get before this kicks off.
And you time it
And, once you are happy with that result.
Every mix needs to be the same.
It needs to be predictable.
That is how you build boats and airplanes and space craft.
You are not going to get that from the concrete guy.
You are better off doing it yourself.
It is not difficult work but it is nasty dirty **** work.
You and your friends and some beer and steaks and a weekend or two of work will pay a whole lot more attention to the job and do a better job than anybody else will.
And it will be a lot less expensive.
The other thing to keep in mind is that contractors have figured out that epoxy is a big upcharge that also hides all of there concrete sins long enough to be outside of the warranty.
Dont worry about the concrete getting dirty or stained.
You can easy fix that later. That is pretty much the whole reason to epoxy it.
Worry about it cracking or spalling while its still under warranty.
