Well today didnt go to plan. Went out to start at about 12 hours after epoxy (the min top coat time, 24 hrs is max) and the epoxy was still awful soft on the surface. It was soft enough my sandals were leaving light imprints in the surface (not that it mattered much as the clear will smooth it all out anyways). Its been about 40-45 F overnight, so I figured that just slowed the set time a bit. Gave it until 14 hours and it had set enough to walk on without any imprints.

Started to apply the polyaspartic clear and immediately ran into issues on the first 1 gal test mix. It doesnt want to stick to the epoxy - its like oil and water. I did my usual: pour a line shaped puddle, drag it across the area to cover with the notched squeegee, then backroll it with the 1/4" roller.

With the previous coats after you let it sit a minute after rolling, it flows out to a nice smooth surface. This one looked like a war zone - hundreds of 'craters' (fisheyes) in the clear - looked far worse than even the bare epoxy right next to it. Almost looked like there were a bunch of oil spots on the surface that it was avoiding as the material would clump together to avoid sitting on the epoxy.

So I rolled it again and all of the spots moved (which is good - at least it isnt some kind of spot contamination). Rolled it several more times and as the stuff started to set / get tacky, I was getting fewer and fewer bare spots. In the end I was left with probably a dozen or so. I was careful not to keep rolling it too late as it ruins the gloss surface if the material cant flow back out.

Below is a picture of one spot, if Id have rolled it again, this wouldve filled but others wouldve opened up elsewhere that were good before.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...1474c59a09.jpg

I quit there as clearly there's an adhesion issue. I dont want to have to sand a whole garage floor worth of this stuff off. If it won't even lay down as a liquid, Id imagine the bond strength will be garbage too.

Emailed the company to get their thoughts / a replacement for the 2 gal batch Ive opened. Gut feel is theyve got the recoat window published wrong and the epoxy was too set up to coat without sanding, but we'll see...


The bad thing is, now that the epoxy layer has set for 24 hrs (max topcoat window), nothing else can be bonded to it without sanding the whole surface to remove the gloss. Stopped by home depot tonight to see what kind of floor sanders theyve got (I saw a nice 17" round walk behind unit with plenty of grit options). Worst part is going to be stripping that gallon of polyaspartic back down to the epoxy layer. Luckily that stuff is full hard in a day, so I can start playing with grits tomorrow on it.

Hoping to strip it all next Saturday and coat Sunday if they get the replacement to me in time / confirm it just needs sanding to bond.

Heard back from the company, and Im a bit frustrated. They agreed I did nothing wrong per their procedure. Likely causes:

-Epoxy layer wasn't set enough due to low temps. OK, I get temps impact curing, but if they alter the recoat window by 50-100%+, then perhaps the recoat window should be a table by temperature instead of a single fixed value. Its not like this stuff has a huge temperature range.

-Micro condensation - slab too cold relative to air temp. Suggested I put in an electric heater to warm the slab, lol. Ive got 110v / 15 amps on 150 feet of extension cord. Even with the biggest heater I can buy, I think all of the heat will escape from the garage doors before it gets anywhere near the slab. I did briefly look into propane / kerosene heaters locally to rent, but there's absolutely nothing. Not super surprised in the middle of the desert where we almost never even touch freezing.


They sent back some reccomendations including a new minimum temp - 60F (mind you the TDS says 30F min, and our absolute bottom low overnight was 15 higher - not to mention whatever it warmed up to during the day) for slab and air. They also say max 5 degrees spread between slab and air. They noted to sand with 120 grit (as now the epoxy is too cured to chemically bond as expected) and a 100% acetone wipe down.

Im going to keep pushing on them for some kind of partial refund. IMO they at least need to pay for the replacement material (I paid out of pocket as soon as it failed to keep the project moving forward).

After doing a lot of my own research, I think my path forward will be:

-Sand off that gallon of failed top coat completely. They claim it's ok / we can top coat over it to smooth it out, but I dont at all trust it's adhered right.

-Sand the whole floor with 120 to give the top coat something to mechanically bond to.

- Vacuum, then wet microfiber mop to remove dust. Still undecided if Ill try acetone to final clean. There is zero surface oil / contamination to remove, it has all been sealed in the empty garage for the last week. Id imagine it would take at least a 5 gal pail to even acetone that much SF.

-Keep the doors closed overnight to keep out the cool overnight air / try to maximize slab temp. Once daytime hits, Ill open all of the front doors to maximize sun heat on the slab.

-Top coat it in the heat of the day - way after the time that any dew would've flashed off for the day.


On a side note, my electrical permit got approved, so Ill start a new thread on that once this floor is done.

2 steps forward, 1 step back.

Rented a 'floor maintainer' from Home Depot - it's a walk behind 17" sander. Spent most of the day sanding between it and my little 5" sander for the walls / oddball low spots.

Swept up the dust, blew the loose stuff out, then went through and mopped / pushed the remainder out the doors. Drying up very nicely.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...4c041adcbe.jpg


Assuming it's dry by morning, my plan is to wait to open the doors until the sun is fully up / dew is gone / heat is 60+. Then I'll go through and acetone wash the whole thing (bought a 5 gallon drum).

The hope is to put on the second coat in the early afternoon / heat of the day.


If nothing else, I will say this is some durable stuff. I bought all the way down to 60 grit to grind off the first 1 gal / failed application of the poly. Took me nearly 3 hours, even with that big machine.

And, it's done. Certainly far from perfect, but that's as good as Im going to get it. Still wish Id have spent more time with the concrete grinder to get the floor flatter, but it was impossible to see until it was glossy. I do see why so many pro floors are flaked 100%, absolutely would camouflage that effect vs a solid color.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...4d987e9235.jpg

On to electric now.

Yeah, back in the 70's I worked for a precast concrete company in Iowa. they made livestock waterers out of concrete kinda boxy with a bowl for the animals to drink from.
The were painted grey with an Aqua colored epoxy bowl.
But they also had a fleck sprayed final finish, there were 3 colors in this fleck, Black, White and a pink or Rose color, all in the same can and when you mixed them up they would stay separate. Color flec lacquer, if I recall, it resembled the Trunk paint used in cars.
I used to spray that finish on them and alot of times the boss would hire me out to do special projects like floors etc.
I could get the fleck to shoot out in a stingy pattern that the other painters couldn't do and the boss liked that design.
All the show models i did and when they made up new brochures they used my paint work for it.
This final touch would hide all the imperfections.

Interesting - never seen that before in one can.

Quote:

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This final touch would hide all the imperfections.

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Id bet that's why it's so rare to see solid colors advertised on these epoxy sites - it's tough to get a floor that big laser flat without doing a full blown grind. Back when I was considering other colors, it was rare to find anyone with a truly solid color surface (outside of the AI generated advertising pics of the same floor in 20 different colors).

I do really like the look of it (especially those sites where you can customize the color, chip size, and ratio color to color), but I despised having it in real use at my last house. Im super clumsy and have awful eyesight, so I was often losing stuff on the floor due to the busy pattern.

Automotive fasteners arent too bad as they tend to be fairly large, but I spend nearly as much hobby time on 2A projects as I do on cars - and some of those pieces are absolutely tiny.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...44b9340acf.jpg

I assume the panel you bought on clearance needs to connect to the main panel for your home, you might have another legit option..... As I understand the sub-panel for an out building must have a main breaker, which you have. The panel in the main building providing power must also have a breaker. I believe it is legal to say have a 200amp main disconnect in your sub-panel but use a 100amp breaker in your main panel to power it.
In my case, I have 100amp sub (100amp disconnect), because of some concerns with length of aluminum cable, my main panel has a 90amp breaker for it. This means, that if I tried to hit 100amp draw, my main panel in the house will kill it before the disconnect in the sub-panel. May need to verify with your local codes.

When I applied my last bit of Rustoleum product in my shop, the temps dropped quite a bit. The pot time of the product went double what it had been before. It also took extra time to cure (not feel tacky). I think I let it sit an extra 24 hours and it was good. Gave it a week before I parked anything on it.

I am curious how true that is. I had to do touch ups on my flooring, the Rustoleum Polycarmine (I think that is the name) material. I painted right on top (threw caution to the wind a bit since it was all fresh). Everything seemed to adhere without issue.

I feel like some of the info the manufacturer told you sounds a bit "eh". Like Rustoleum told me they thought my concrete must have absorbed more of the product. If that is the case, then it happened twice (first time they never responded to my email on the issue). But this last time, I had calculated all my coverage and in theory should have had enough to make each section thicker than needed. I think some of the answers are just something to say. At least with Rustoleum, I felt they did good with me without any fuss.

In the pics, the floor looks great! You are also going to be the worst critic because you spent so much time up close and personal with it. Such as, I know mine did not turn out picture perfect in my opinion. But, end result is still great. And I elected to use the flake which as you mentioned, hides a lot. Unlike the professional options, I did not use 100% flake coverage as I was not top coating with any type of clear.

If you have wet shows, how is walking on it? Is it slippery or seems fine?

And seeing the GTO and Monte in there!!!! OH MAN!!! I know how I felt with cars finally in my shop!!! Has to be a huge good feeling!

And what are they parked on? Carpet or some type of padding? And why did you choose to not just park them on the coated floor?

You are right. I just got the NEC code book in a few days ago and see that is allowed as it's essentially just a master switch. Actually looks like it doesnt need a main breaker at all for now as its under 6 circuits for this initial layout.

Unfortunately that ship has already sailed though. I listed it and ended up making some seriously good money on it. Depending which new panel I go with, Ill likely end up either getting the new panel for free, or maybe even make a little money out of the whole deal.

If Id have realized resale was so good, Id have bought all of the clearance panels they had as they were all dirt cheap.

I didnt want to risk not following the TDS for recoat after 24 hrs. If it failed to adhere, Id be 100% liable for removal and replacement of that top coat - and that coat alone is north of $1k in materials.

Frankly I was also a bit nervous as I truly didnt know why it didnt bond on that first gallon of clear:

-They claimed micro condensation from the temperature delta, but being in the desert we've got extremely low humidity - I think it was in the 30s that week (a bit high for us, but crazy low for practically anywhere else). I also don't think there really was much temperature delta. I had the doors open all night, so it's not like the garage air or slab was drastically different than outside.

-They said the other possible cause was under cured epoxy base from cold temperature. I think this is more likely, but their install videos show them checking this with pushing a fingernail into the surface. It failed first thing in the morning, but passed a few hours later when we'd started coating, so I dont totally buy that. The whole intent is for it not to be 100% cured so there's a chemical bond there / it doesnt need to rely on a mechancial bond.


To your point though, it sounds like they were just throwing out generic guesses. Who knows how technically apt the people manning the email replies are.

Ive not tried walking on it wet yet (at least not on the finished product). Thinking about mopping it here soon as it's super filthly from leaving the doors open for like a week - so that'll be a good test run. Dry, even with socks or bare feet, feels 100% fine though.

It's a spill mat off Amazon (Armorall brand maybe?). Rubber backed with oil absorbant thin carpet top. Ive been using pieces of it for years in the attached garage for oil changes and such to keep oil from getting onto the bare concrete. They had it on a really good sale during one of the big Amazon sales years ago. Id planned to cut it into chunks for the front garage - but of course as soon as I started using the mat, I quit making messes during oil changes (funny how that works...), so I had a bunch leftover.

It's just a belt and suspenders extra protection for the moment against fluid leakage and hot tires. Judging by the floor smell, it's not 100% cured yet (even though it feels rock hard) so I figured it would be extra safe in the short term - espeically since this stuff was just laying around.