garage epoxy flooring

How Garage Floor Epoxy Creates a Brighter Cleaner Work Space

 in Commercial Epoxy Flooring / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Garage Floor EpoxyThere are many reasons to like garage floor epoxy coatings whether you are trying to make your garage look better, protect your concrete slab or if you’re trying to increase functionality. Before we get into that, let’s talk about your garage. Let’s face it, you can put a lot of work into your garage to make sure that it is the ultimate workspace. Even simple things like making sure your garage doors work will help you have the ultimate workspace, you don’t want to struggle to bring in cars if your doors don’t work properly. If something like this happens, then you can easily call up something like these Crofton Maryland Garage door repair professionals to help get this fixed for you. You don’t want there to be any issue when it comes to your garage, particularly if you are working in there constantly. Maybe you’re working on restoring a classic car, maybe it’s a woodshop, or maybe it’s just a general workshop – there are many different reasons to use a garage as your workshop, and we would be hard-pressed to list every single one of them here. If you are using your garage to store your collection of classic cars, you may want to consider professional auto transport to move them between your properties or to and from auto shows. The one thing that all workshops have in common, however, is that they need a high-quality floor, which can contribute in more ways than one. Sure, a garage floor epoxy solution makes for a very durable surface, but most people think the benefits end there. Don’t worry, you definitely get more bang for your buck than you think.

A Cleaner Work Space

It’s a workshop; mistakes are bound to happen, whether you spill a cup of coffee or tip over a drum of industrial grade corrosive material. On a typical garage floor, both of these would present a serious problem; coffee would stain the concrete, and the corrosive, well, we don’t even want to discuss what that would do. This is where floor epoxy has the advantage – it might require a bit of an investment but it’s well worth the cost. Here there are two different benefits. First of all, epoxy is very durable, but you should also consider that it is stain resistant. It does a great job of closing the pores that would otherwise rather easily absorb and accept any number of materials. Instead of permitting damage or even a stain, the chemicals will remain on the surface, allowing you to clean them at your leisure. Protecting your floor from staining and corrosion plus having dramatic porcelain-like finish a great reason to consider ArmorGarage epoxy coatings.

In addition to the above it is far easier to clean. You can use a simple washrag or a bucket of soapy water to get your epoxy floor back to its original shine, and it really doesn’t take that much effort on your part. That being said, not only does it reduce the mess, it also takes the effort out of cleaning. You were, after all, planning to expend your effort on other, more important things, weren’t you?

One of the better side effects of being able to keep a clean work space is the ability to get rid of most germs and allergens. If you suffer from allergies or simply want to prevent illness, these flooring options are not only outstanding, they are completely mold and mildew proof. You will keep your work space clean, you will ensure there are no nasty allergens or airborne illnesses wandering around your shop or garage. It doesn’t get much better than that – unless you consider how much brighter your workshop will be.

A Brighter Workspace

ArmorGarageWhat many people fail to consider is how much brighter garage floor epoxy will make their work space. You will find that one of the many benefits is the floor’s ability to make your work space brighter. If you use standard fluorescent lights, you will discover that they reflect well off of your high gloss epoxy floor, making for a much brighter space. Not only is this aesthetically pleasing, it will be a great way to conserve on energy that you might have otherwise wasted in lighting. In the end, you’re going to save on energy you’re going to have a slip resistant surface, and most importantly you’re going to have a garage/shop that you can be proud of. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, as long as your garage is clean, of course. If you’re investing in epoxy flooring, you may as well also invest in cleaning out your garage to make the place look spotless. It’s likely a lot of rubbish and useless items you no longer need have gathered in your garage; it’s useful to look into dumpster rental service in Kansas City MO if this is the case. Get that garage looking as good as new!

Take a look at the garage flooring prices today and get ready to give your work space the treatment it deserves. Installation is easy and lasts for up to twenty years.

The Most Common Mistakes Made When installing Epoxy Flooring

 in Commercial Epoxy Flooring / Epoxy Trouble Shooting Guide / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged commercial epoxy flooring / epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy installation / industrial epoxy flooring by

Installing Garage Epoxy Flooring

When it comes to garage flooring epoxy there are several mistakes that could be made, but we are going to split them into two categories: Technical and Outright Blunders. The idea behind installing epoxy in garage, warehouse, home, or workshop, of course, is to make sure that the floor does not become damaged for any reason and to add a beautiful high gloss finish that you can be proud of. Before you can get to that point, you need to make sure that you are using the right product and performing the installation properly, which is sometimes easier said than done. Let’s start with some of the more obvious mistakes and then move on to the steps you can take to prevent them.

Technical Mistakes to Watch out For

The biggest technical mistake that you can make when you’re in the process of installing your new Epoxy Garage Flooring is choosing an epoxy mix that doesn’t actually match what you are doing. What do we mean by this exactly? Well, consider that the lowest form of epoxy is water based, and there is a good chance that it does not have a very high abrasion rating. The abrasion rating determines how much abuse the floor in question can take before it needs to be replaced or at the very least re-coated.

When you are buying your epoxy, take a look at the technical specifications first and see what the abrasion rating is. The lower the number, the better the floor will be protected. Yes, this might sound a bit backward, but it is the truth in this case.

The technical specifications will generally display the following attributes:

Solids content – Percent of Solids remaining following the curing of content, the higher the better. With 100% being the best an Aliphatic epoxies being the best 100% solids epoxies available.

Volatile Organic Contents – This goes toward the idea of eco-friendliness in garage epoxy flooring. It involves the number of Volatile Organic Compounds that are released into the environment as the coat/sealer dries. Some states now require that any epoxy sold must be Low VOC. Low VOC epoxies are also good for areas where odor would be a problem. Being Low VOC means that fewer chemicals/solvents are released into the air and therefore less odor.

Abrasion Resistance – Once again we have the abrasion resistance which is determined by the Taber CS-17. This test involves an abrasive plate being mounted to a turntable and weighted at 1000 grams. The industry standard for this test is 500 cycles and all removed coating is recovered via a vacuum system for maximum accuracy. The coating loss is measured in milligrams, and the lower the number, the more durable the coating. Note that most epoxy coatings generally have a loss range of 20-45, a heavy duty topcoat for residential use should have a loss rating of no more than 20. For commercial or industrial applications a rating of no more than 4-8 should be used. Many so called heavy duty or industrial epoxies have very high abrasion ratings of 25 and higher which means if you don’t check the ratings prior to purchase you will be wasting your time and money. Keep in mind that abrasion ratings are like the Richter scale and that each mg less in the abrasion loss rating is exponential.

Adhesion – This is exemplified in Pounds per Square Inch, showing how much force is needed to remove the coating from the surface. Any rating below 350 PSI generally means that the coating can be removed, a good epoxy should have an adhesion rating of 375psi – 450psi. This is means on a properly prepared surface the epoxy should not be able to be separated from the concrete.

Chemical Resistance – Determines how well the floor is able to stand up to corrosives and acids that can leak from your vehicle or from the type of work you may be doing on the floor. Epoxies provide some protection from acids and caustic chemicals but a properly done epoxy flooring job will have a high quality urethane topcoat applied over the epoxy which provides substantially more protection against chemicals and acids.

A note here, an epoxy is not a topcoat and can never be made into a topcoat by simply adding in so called additives. This is just a way some companies try to cut corners because they don’t or can’t make a true urethane based topcoat.

Failing to pay attention to these important facts can result in serious problems, so make sure you read the performance specifications of the epoxy you are considering to buy and if you don’t understand any of it, call and ask questions.

The More Common Blunders

There are many mistakes that can be made during the installation of garage epoxy flooring as we are sure you are aware, but we have cut it down to just a few for the sake of expedience.

Failing to Prepare your Floor

Your floor most definitely needs to be prepared if you are to complete the installation properly. You need to do more than just move everything out of the way; you need to make sure that you have scrubbed the floor, getting someone like Wise Guys Pressure Washing of Atlanta Georgia to power wash the floor prior to acid etching to remove all dirt and debris is always recommended, and most importantly make sure that when you’re done with the preparation process that your floor is completely clean and 100% dry. If not it’s recommended that you etch the floor a second time and scrub in a perpendicular direction to the first etching to ensure you clean any small missed spots from the first etching. A small spot you might have missed will usually at some point in the future result in what we call a pop. It’s a small spot that just seems to pop off the floor. This is not the fault of the epoxy but simply a result of a little dirt or moisture left in the floor after you prepped it. Not something to freak out about, you can just sand the area clean and apply some touch up epoxy to fix the problem.

Failing to Check for Moisture

Always make sure that your concrete is dry before you try to apply epoxy; we cannot stress this enough. The garage flooring epoxy will not adhere to a wet surface, either from moisture coming up through the slab or leftover moisture from cleaning. before considering applying an epoxy to your floor, tape down a piece of 3′ x 3′ plastic to your floor with a good duct tape making sure all edges are sealed 100%. Let sit for 2-3 days and then see if any moisture has accumulated underneath. No moisture means you’re good to go. The presence of moisture means you need to take an extra step such as applying a moisture sealing epoxy primer. With this being said, if you have noticed a slab leak, getting in touch with a professional repair company could help get everything looking as good as new. You don’t want to leave it too long to get it fixed, as the damage could get worse over time.

After cleaning it’s recommended to wait a minimum of 24hrs to let the floor dry properly, 48 hrs may be needed depending on temperature and humidity. Always better to allow extra dry time to be safe. Just a note for clarification purposes. Once your floor has been epoxied it is waterproof and no amount of water hitting the surface of it can harm it. It’s only water and or moisture coming up through the slab that is the problem. So remember if you do get a slab leak you will need to contact a professional, always be vigilant.

Trying to Stretch it Out

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make is to try stretching out your epoxy when you are running low. If you think you’re running low work your way to a corner so that you run out at the corner, then order more product to fill in the corner. If you are top coating, apply the topcoat once the epoxy has dried but stay back 6″ from the edge of the unfinished epoxy so that when you apply the new epoxy to the unfinished area you can lightly overlap that epoxy edge to blend in. Then apply the topcoat and overlap lightly onto the previously applied topcoat. We recommend that you lightly sand a strip of the topcoat with 100 grit paper to rough up, this will ensure that the overlap topcoat area bonds properly.

If you do try to stretch it out, it might be thinner in some areas, causing it to be different shades and less glossy in some areas. In the end, it will completely defeat the purpose.

Bad Mixing Practices

Don’t mix too fast! There’s no rush! If you mix too quickly, you will usually end up with air bubbles in your mixture which will translate to the surface that you are applying it to. Additionally, make sure that you are paying attention to the ratios and mixing everything properly. it’s important to follow the directions of your particular epoxy. High quality epoxies will stress not to mix all the epoxy at once. Since high quality epoxies cure via chemical reaction and not air drying which means the more you mix the more chemical reaction you get and it could cause the epoxy to cure rock hard in the bucket in about 5-10 minutes. Also it’s a good idea that after mixing a small batch is to pour it out onto the floor in a bead. The cooler floor temp will slow down the curing process. We recommend that you mix no more than 1 gallon per person rolling.

These are just a few of the big mistakes you might find yourself making when you are dealing with epoxy. Remember, garage flooring epoxy can be an amazing innovation for your garage, warehouse, home, or shop, but you need to make sure that it is done correctly. Our expert Reps are always on hand to help you do it right.

My Epoxy is Peeling

 in Epoxy Trouble Shooting Guide  tagged commercial epoxy floor coating / garage epoxy flooring / garage floor epoxy coating / industrial epoxy flooring by

The next issue I’d like to discuss is peeling or delaminating of your garage flooring epoxy. Please note that all our coatings are made in large batches and are pull tested for proper adhesion level. The first image is an epoxy peeling off in a sheet. This can occur from an improper cleaning of the floor, a floor with a sealer on it, a floor with oil or grease in it. To avoid this simply clean the floor properly. We stress proper prep of your floor very strongly on the website and provide a lot of details on how to do it right and what your floor should look like when your done cleaning it. As long as you follow those easy guidelines you will not have this issue.

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Remember the key is to not have any contaminants between the epoxy and your floor. If the floor is clean and the pores open from etching there is no way for our epoxy to peel up. We have some of the highest adhesion ratings in the industry with our Ultra Fast epoxy having an incredible 725psi adhesion rating. No other epoxy comes close. When we do our adhesion tests we apply each epoxy onto a piece of concrete, let it cure and then do a pull test on it. The only way our epoxy will pass that test to us is if the top layer of the concrete comes off with the epoxy. If the epoxy gets pulled off the concrete that batch is rejected.

This next image is of a topcoat delaminating from the epoxy coating. This can happen if a topcoat is applied too long after the epoxy has cured. The longer an epoxy is allowed to cure the more the microscopic pores of the epoxy close. Once they close past a certain point the epoxy becomes like Teflon. So we recommend that you apply your topcoat as soon as the epoxy is hard and dry to the touch or the next morning. If you have to wait for whatever reason then you simply need to scuff the floor to rough it up with 100 grit sandpaper.

Also if using the military topcoat, only one coat is needed. Applying two coats runs the risk of delamination. Nothing likes to stick to our military topcoat, not even itself! If applying two coats you must thoroughly sand the first coat to make sure the second coat will bond to the first coat.

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So there you have it. All of the above is easy to avoid by just following the instructions you get with your kit and by following the advice we give you on the website. If you do happen to run into a problem, don’t panic, just give us a call we’ll help you solve the problem and get your floor looking like it should.

 

Bubbles in my Epoxy

 in Epoxy Trouble Shooting Guide  tagged epoxy / Epoxy floor kits / floor epoxy / garage epoxy flooring by

Although today it’s extremely rare that you get bubbles in the epoxy such as these in the images below. But it can happen so we need to talk about why it can happen and what you need to do to fix it. The bubbles will usually show up the next morning when you’re ready to apply the next coating.

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Although this condition rarely happens these days, it used to happen more frequently cause in the old days lots of floors were not installed with vapor barriers. All fairly new floors have vapor barriers. Some floors installed prior to 1980 may not have had a vapor barrier installed. If you have a 30 or 40 year old floor it’s a good idea to do a moisture test BEFORE you order an epoxy floor kit. A simple way to do that is to tape down a 3×3 or 4×4 square foot piece of plastic and seal it all around with some good duct tape like Gorilla Tape. Let it sit for 24-48hrs and then remove the plastic to see if any moisture has accumulated underneath. If no moisture is present you’re good to go, if there is moisture take a picture and send it to us. We have products that can deal with moisture but moisture issues need extra consideration. Please note that moisture that gets on the floor from above is of no concern, we are only concerned with moisture coming up from below the slab.

The next reason you can get bubbles is by mixing the epoxy with a drill at full speed. This will whip air into the epoxy which will then have to escape during the curing process causing bubbles and other deformations to occur in the epoxy. This is easy to avoid and really never happens, just using medium speed on the drill will prevent this problem. Take a look at Coolest Gadgets to find reviews for good cordless drills that are able to operate at various speeds for whatever projects necessary.

The next reason is applying the epoxy in direct hot sunlight. This can happen but again it’s easily avoided(who wants to work in direct sun on a 100 degree day!). On a very hot day lets say above 95 with direct sun hitting the floor, the epoxy will start to cure extra fast making it difficult to work with in a short period of time. Remember our epoxy is military grade pure epoxy, it’s not your typical water based or store bought epoxy. Our epoxy cures via catalytic reaction and is not an air cure. This means that while curing it generates heat and the more heat the faster it cures. So you don’t want to be adding extra heat like direct sun on a 100 degree day. Direct sun on cooler days is fine. So just a little precaution will prevent too rapid a cure that will trap in air. Bubbles can form from a few hours to a few months after application. The good news is they are easily avoided by a simple moisture test if a moisture issue is suspected, don’t mix the epoxy with the drill at super high speed and close the door if you have to apply the epoxy with direct sunlight baking the floor on a very hot days above 95.

What do you do in the event of bubbles in the epoxy? Very simple as long as it’s not due to moisture vapor coming up through the slab. Hopefully you read this article and did a moisture test first. Which means most likely you mixed the epoxy at full speed or you were rolling super fast and you whipped some air into the coating. No big deal! Don’t panic. Simply cut off the bubbles, lightly sand with 100-150 grit paper and reapply a little more epoxy. Make sure you apply the topcoat to all other areas right away and then topcoat the bubbled area when the new epoxy cures. Problem solved and more importantly problem avoided!

 

Ordering & Delivery

 in Ordering & Delivery  tagged commercial epoxy floor coating / deck coatings / garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / super duty deck painting / waterproof deck basecoat by

Today lets talk about the ordering and delivery process. Since it is still busy season this is a good time to go over some of the issues we encounter. When planning their project some customers like to try and schedule them with military precision. They wait till the last minute to order then schedule a contractor to come in and do the work the day after the estimated delivery date from us. This more often than not leads to problems and frustration when using a contractor. Please do not attempt these types of surgical strikes when planning your project.

Here’s some of the reasons why. During busy season demand often outstrips our production capabilities for epoxy and deck coatings. So instead of next day shipping epoxy can go out 2-3 days after the order and in the case of our Renew It Deck Coating lead times can stretch out as far as 10 -14 days.  So when you make your decision to go forward with your project using one our products please allow as much of a cushion time wise between when you should get your order and the time you plan on doing it.   This advice holds true even if you decide to go with another brand. The only time you don’t have to do this is if you’re going to your local home improvement store and buying off the shelf product. You’ll have other problems but scheduling won’t be one of them.  We do not make or sell off the shelf type products.

You will notice that if you order an epoxy kit from us it will come in multiple shipments. Why because sometimes the delivery company can be abusive with our packages and the epoxy can and does sometimes leak out. When that happens we rather just the epoxy be damaged and not the whole order. When you get an epoxy kit from us it comes with a lot of other items such as rollers, mixers, squeegee, nonslip additive and such. These items ship separately and usually go out first with the epoxy a day or two behind depending on the order volume at the time.

Also besides your shipment getting damaged in transit, it can get lost or you may have forgotten to order something or  believe it or not we could have made a mistake and shipped you a wrong item or left out an item from your order accidentally and yes we do make mistakes even though we try our best not to.

So when planning your floor, deck or roof project allow for a little bit of Murphy’s Law to creep in. Order you product to arrive at least a week before you want to do the job if you are doing the work yourself. We would allow a little more time if you are scheduling a contractor to come in and do the job for you, just to be extra safe. Once your product arrives,  open the boxes to check for hidden damage. A lot of times a customer will receive everything way ahead of time and not open anything or check the packing list until the day they are doing the work. Then if there was some hidden damage or something is missing,  all the planning goes out the window and now we both have an emergency on our hands. We don’t like these emergencies any more than you do. To avoid these situations order in advance, the product will not go bad if you get it a week or two ahead of time, it won’t cost any less if it gets there at the last minute. When you receive the product bring it inside where it is protected from the elements. You can store it anywhere you want just don’t let it freeze during winter months. Once safely inside open the boxes and cross check everything against the packing list. If you think you’re missing something or don’t know what a certain item is give us a call or send us an email. Same goes for something that might have been roughed up by the delivery company. We had a customer call in the other day saying he’s not sure if the Part A of the epoxy is still good since the can looked like it was kicked up and down a soccer field. It happens to be that the epoxy was fine but it was good that he made sure before applying it.

Another factor to keep in mind is that the majority of orders ship from our distribution center in NJ. So if you live on the west coast you need to allow for at least 5-6 days of travel time plus a day or two for us to pack and ship your order. While we are on the subject of packing and shipping. If you call in or order online at any time past 3:00 EST your order goes in as a next day order. If you order lets say at 5PM EST on a Friday, your order will then be processed as a Monday order. So please take this into account too. We have had customers order online over the weekend and then call first thing Monday morning looking for a tracking number. We understand why it happens in the age of Amazon, but we are not Amazon and the products we sell are basically custom made products.

In sum if you pressed the go button on your project give yourself as much time between ordering and when you plan to do the job. We do our best to get all orders out the door and to you asap. But just in case something goes wrong, if you allowed some extra time it gives us time to get you out replacement product if you missed something, we missed something or FedEx damaged something. And finally if using a contractor DON’T schedule him until you get all the tracking on your order and then schedule him at least 2 days past the time it would take us to get you replacement product just in case Murphy’s Law hits us.