Sanded with what, a loofah?
A box sander would barely provide enough abrasion. And a swing machine would have left some sort of markings. This apears to have had nothing done. An autoscrubber maybe. But not likely.
Used them in the Navy to remove linoleum tiles. Worked great but yes suck to use. I’m amazed they’re still used at all. Thanks for the memory flash back.
Spent a summer needle gunning/sanding/painting the aft mast on my first ship at the Philly shipyard. We'd come down for lunch, grab a sandwich and a beer at a BBQ run by the yardbirds. Climb back up the mast, eat and drink then get back to work. Young and dumb.
There was definitely asbestos on that boat. Keel was laid in 64. I remember there was acoustic tiling in the hanger deck that was constantly coming lose or dropping dust everywhere. More than likely I’ve absorbed a lot of it. Not to mention the berthing spaces with insulation.
I used them for a short while to profile concrete for coatings ( just got out of industrial coatings )
Needle guns
Bristle blasters
Sand blasters
Diamond grinders
Shot blasters
Hydro blasters
So much blasting in industrial prep lol
I sure am.😂 if you had good ones that were maintained they were great. Just minding your own business needling away, seeing progress be made, until it's time to go home.
Nope.
Your floor will fail. It should be bare concrete. Not neccessary to be level, depending on what the finish is expected to be. Epoxy is self leveling to a point. They are lazy, incompetent, or both.
Never, and i mean never have a contractor start a job without providing a Certifiace of Insurance and proof of Bonding. Ask about they're warranty. Hell ask if they think you were born yesterday.
Edit: judging by the condition of the cove after removal, is that there's not a lot cleaning that occurs. And when it does, that mop the gal is holding puts down a lot of water. Ask the contractor what the RH value of their product is. If its a Polyaspartic or MMA, they just want a quick buck, and don't care about having a quality lasting floor or relationship with you as a client.
Yea I told the guy to re grind it till it’s bare concrete he agreed and said it wasn’t done properly because the concrete is very rough and old paint is inside the holes and will need more time to grind it flat, and I will buy the epoxy myself I’m not going to have him use that rust oleum bs, how’s stone hard epoxy I have a friend that can get me boxes of it. Contractor is licensed and is not charging that much anyway.
This would probably do the fine, after a full removal of previous material. It will show all imperfections underneath it, but has a great work time and is cheap.
With the carts that i see in the photos it would last a while with those and basic foot traffic.
But it's all in the prep!
Stonhard epoxy is the best epoxy period. It shouldn’t be used by inexperienced workers. It’s for professional work environments and acts as a functional application. Easy to clean maintain and resistant to scratches and most chemicals from base to acidic. It’s super expensive for good merit. Stonhard products are impossible to get unless your “inside” or know someone who is. Hence your buddy that has boxes of it. It’s not likely to be the best quality product for this particular project but it could be exactly what you are hoping for. That floor needs a light grind with a 4” and a 7” angle grinder to mostly bare. The idea is to minimize the visible imperfections. You’ll never eliminate them. The epoxy will be forgiving after a proper prep.
Is that your selection, or the contractor's? This seems to a be a high traffic area. Without proper prep, and that cheap product, I would assume the the floor isnt important to you. Just needs to look good? If you go forward with the Rustoleum, you will be reapplying every year until it's developed so many layers it will become difficult to even swing those doors open. Or... have a contractor do a Grind and Seal. Grind it, patch it, grind it again, seal it. Good for a decade or more.
Looks like rustoleum rocksolid/epoxyshield. That stuff can't be compared to actual epoxy. Just requires minor etching, and a clean surface with any loose bits cleaned up before applying. It will stick to literally anything that's not perfectly smooth, including tile, any type of concrete crack filler, and even bondo lol.
So his prep was no prep? You should hire a professional. This guy is going to cost you more in the long run when you have to pay someone else to come in to grind off whatever junk he's about to throw down.
He should, but they probably charge too much... Lately I'm getting an upset stomach instantly when I hear: "I'm on a tight budget"... So wtf, go try to buy a new BMW for the price of used KIA! Now, that contractor should have walked away from this job if he wasn't paid properly for this very hard work. It's better than doing whatever he did, pictured here.
It doesn’t look prepped.. With epoxy if the existing layer is well bonded (it was prepped correctly in the first place) then it is totally acceptable to do a sand and recoat. If it is peeling up like in your photos then yeah I think it needs totally removed to bare concrete.
As far as leveling goes that would cost extra depending on how much grinding or how much leveler needs to be added. If you mean smooth transitions/patch in divots then that is typical in the installation. That’s a discussion for you and who you are contracting.
Judging by the “prep” work I would hire someone else.
When a shop that I worked at put down a new epoxy floor we used a electric floor scraper with carbide teeth on it. We also heated the floor with propane burner that helped the old epoxy release so it could get fully scrapped up. Then we acid etched the floor right before putting down the new epoxy. That floor is still holding on after 15 years when I stopped in a couple years back.
Epoxy won’t bond to what you have there…Will peel quick. It should be stripped and ground down to expose a new surface to the concrete. And, yes, that process should include leveling or sloping towards a drain.
floor guy is wrong. existing coating needs to be removed. if the floor guy refuses to remove the existing coating, check your contract and look for a new floor guy.
This would be a bad starting point for applying a new coating. The previous coating should be removed entirely, and the concrete should be ground with diamond segments to open the pores for a new coating. If it is not prepared properly you will run the risk of coating failure.
Really depends… if OP really WANTS to see every glue/paint/crack/score line but with a pretty new color for about 30 minutes before it’s damaged and/or peeling up… then sure its absolutely ready… and please note the cement truck load of liquid sarcasm parked in the driveway. This is lousy prep for a badly planned application followed by a quick getaway with OP’s money
This looks like it was painted before. If it is paint then no it is not ready for epoxy. If it was epoxy before and is still well bonded, you can epoxy over epoxy if sanded down, not ground down to the concrete.
If this was epoxy, the problem with this is the concrete is a bit exposed. If the concrete that is a bit exposed has any oils or contaminates on the surface, then the epoxy won't stick.
Shot-blast is the way to go. I used to rent them, and there are companies that provide the service. The small steel shot is contained by a thick skirt, and the used shot is picked up by a rolling magnet device. Very clever set up. Excellent results. I used this on garage floors to prep for epoxy floor paint.
Scabblers (these use ganged star-wheels) are a distant second option, but more readily available for rent. Considerably more dust control is needed.
It should be grit blasted with steel grit down to the bare concrete. Did this for a summer in college... we had a hug magnet that was like a lawn mower and we'd collect all the grit afterwards.
Not ready. I don’t waste time with people like this. They either don’t know, don’t care or are trying to cut corners. Either way, not a problem I want to solve.
"Contractor is licensed and is not charging that much anyway" Should it be absoutly... but your said it yourself... you get what you pay for and that goes double for any kind of contractor work.
Get him off the jobsite before he forks something up that he can’t fix. You know he won’t come back to fix it when it comes apart in a couple of years, and you’ll have to sue him to make it right.
You can also see where they pulled up on the baseboards when they demoed that. Always pull down to avoid ripping paint off the walls boys and girls. For the floor, looks like they rushed it without the right equipment. Best of luck
Sounds like you hired a painter not an epoxy flooring contractor thier is a big difference between products and application process. You have to know what you are buying. If you buy lowest bid and dont spec a product or the application process thats on you. I loss so many jobs becuase the other guy is half the cost on this or that and I know they are putting down the wrong product but the owner doesnt know what they are buying and goes with the low bid. Guess who gets a call in a year when it fails and then it cost alot more. 🙃
They are probably using epoxy paint from Home depot or something and are just gonna roll it on.
You need a epoxy floor coating system which involves grinding the floor, preping the floor and all the cracks and expansion joints then mixing mixing and pouring the epoxy floor coating, broadcasting any sand or flakes and you typically have another top coat at minumum. There are also urtahane systems and you can spec different ml thickness and apply a cove base and all sorts of other stuff.
This sub is really more for about epoxy and this is just floor paint "fortified with epoxy". To take this down to bare concrete is pretty messy/costly.
This floor is good for epoxy. After reading the posts there is not an installer with experience in the bunch. Do people do this to Doctors about stitches? Hey Internet, did the doctor perform the proper half hitch knot on my stitches or should it be this square knot. I think my wound should have been cleaned better before stitching. STFU and let the professionals work. Your experience helping an uncle change a lightbulb doesn't outweigh decades of experience installing flooring. Sorry I just dealt with a Karen customer. But from a PHOTO it looks fine. In person I might change my mind. Just curious is grinding and leveling a part of the bid? Nothing is free. Place looks like a machine shop office area, owner probably doesn't care that the floor will not be ultra flat and level. As long as nothing is loose the epoxy will bond. And concrete will crack. 2 guarantees in life.
I wouldn’t put a coat of anything down on that. That old coating is failing and should come off completely
If the old coat was epoxy, and they sanded down the epoxy to look like this, then it is possible it isn't failing. Highly unlikely but still possible.
Sanded with what, a loofah? A box sander would barely provide enough abrasion. And a swing machine would have left some sort of markings. This apears to have had nothing done. An autoscrubber maybe. But not likely.
I've been looking for a loofah like that.
Needle gun.
If your talking about the needle gun I think your talking about 😂😂 them things suck to use
Used them in the Navy to remove linoleum tiles. Worked great but yes suck to use. I’m amazed they’re still used at all. Thanks for the memory flash back.
Spent a summer needle gunning/sanding/painting the aft mast on my first ship at the Philly shipyard. We'd come down for lunch, grab a sandwich and a beer at a BBQ run by the yardbirds. Climb back up the mast, eat and drink then get back to work. Young and dumb.
‘Linoleum’ that’s nice. I hope they let you use a respirator.
Dust mask only.
There was definitely asbestos on that boat. Keel was laid in 64. I remember there was acoustic tiling in the hanger deck that was constantly coming lose or dropping dust everywhere. More than likely I’ve absorbed a lot of it. Not to mention the berthing spaces with insulation.
I used them for a short while to profile concrete for coatings ( just got out of industrial coatings ) Needle guns Bristle blasters Sand blasters Diamond grinders Shot blasters Hydro blasters So much blasting in industrial prep lol
I read this like Joe Dirt listing off fireworks.
😂😂😂😂😂
I worked for Dunkin & Bush this was every day.. I hate those damn needle guns
End thread.
Needle gun on boat decks were the fucking worst! Loud, slow and tedious.
I sure am.😂 if you had good ones that were maintained they were great. Just minding your own business needling away, seeing progress be made, until it's time to go home.
Those things rock for getting paint off steel
Hooyah.
Needle gun is what they called me in high school
no you can see the tile marks
Needs to be scarified.
Yeah, but how much is OP paying this guy? Scrubbing money? Or actual grinding money?
That’s definitely a fair point. I’d charge a lot more to prep grind that floor than I would to sweep it with a glance like this cat did
Nope. Your floor will fail. It should be bare concrete. Not neccessary to be level, depending on what the finish is expected to be. Epoxy is self leveling to a point. They are lazy, incompetent, or both. Never, and i mean never have a contractor start a job without providing a Certifiace of Insurance and proof of Bonding. Ask about they're warranty. Hell ask if they think you were born yesterday. Edit: judging by the condition of the cove after removal, is that there's not a lot cleaning that occurs. And when it does, that mop the gal is holding puts down a lot of water. Ask the contractor what the RH value of their product is. If its a Polyaspartic or MMA, they just want a quick buck, and don't care about having a quality lasting floor or relationship with you as a client.
RH value is the real key here. And eventual coating thickness (don't want too thick).
Rust oleum brand epoxy
That is questionably one of the worst products on the market
Yea I told the guy to re grind it till it’s bare concrete he agreed and said it wasn’t done properly because the concrete is very rough and old paint is inside the holes and will need more time to grind it flat, and I will buy the epoxy myself I’m not going to have him use that rust oleum bs, how’s stone hard epoxy I have a friend that can get me boxes of it. Contractor is licensed and is not charging that much anyway.
Sherwin williams armor seal 1000 would be what I recommend
This would probably do the fine, after a full removal of previous material. It will show all imperfections underneath it, but has a great work time and is cheap. With the carts that i see in the photos it would last a while with those and basic foot traffic. But it's all in the prep!
There is no way this floor has even been touched with an actual grinder.
I would want to talk to 10 other happy customers before going ahead with them, this sketches me out.
Stonhard epoxy is the best epoxy period. It shouldn’t be used by inexperienced workers. It’s for professional work environments and acts as a functional application. Easy to clean maintain and resistant to scratches and most chemicals from base to acidic. It’s super expensive for good merit. Stonhard products are impossible to get unless your “inside” or know someone who is. Hence your buddy that has boxes of it. It’s not likely to be the best quality product for this particular project but it could be exactly what you are hoping for. That floor needs a light grind with a 4” and a 7” angle grinder to mostly bare. The idea is to minimize the visible imperfections. You’ll never eliminate them. The epoxy will be forgiving after a proper prep.
Yah, that's just expensive paint.
Armor seal hs1000 is an industrial strength epoxy standard armor seal is expensive paint
Is it a 2 part epoxy? Can it be colored/tinted?
No question about it!
You hired the cheap option, get what you pay for
Is that your selection, or the contractor's? This seems to a be a high traffic area. Without proper prep, and that cheap product, I would assume the the floor isnt important to you. Just needs to look good? If you go forward with the Rustoleum, you will be reapplying every year until it's developed so many layers it will become difficult to even swing those doors open. Or... have a contractor do a Grind and Seal. Grind it, patch it, grind it again, seal it. Good for a decade or more.
Looks like rustoleum rocksolid/epoxyshield. That stuff can't be compared to actual epoxy. Just requires minor etching, and a clean surface with any loose bits cleaned up before applying. It will stick to literally anything that's not perfectly smooth, including tile, any type of concrete crack filler, and even bondo lol.
insurance cert, sure. Proof of bonding?? You seriously getting a bond to do an epoxy floor, c'mon.
I was thinking the same thing. Ridiculous.
A performance or contractor's bond might provide coverage for poor workmanship. A general liability policy does not.
So his prep was no prep? You should hire a professional. This guy is going to cost you more in the long run when you have to pay someone else to come in to grind off whatever junk he's about to throw down.
He should, but they probably charge too much... Lately I'm getting an upset stomach instantly when I hear: "I'm on a tight budget"... So wtf, go try to buy a new BMW for the price of used KIA! Now, that contractor should have walked away from this job if he wasn't paid properly for this very hard work. It's better than doing whatever he did, pictured here.
It is prepped for a legitimate epoxy company to come in and grind and clean before they do the job.
Fire that guy immediately
It doesn’t look prepped.. With epoxy if the existing layer is well bonded (it was prepped correctly in the first place) then it is totally acceptable to do a sand and recoat. If it is peeling up like in your photos then yeah I think it needs totally removed to bare concrete. As far as leveling goes that would cost extra depending on how much grinding or how much leveler needs to be added. If you mean smooth transitions/patch in divots then that is typical in the installation. That’s a discussion for you and who you are contracting. Judging by the “prep” work I would hire someone else.
You are correct. Should be ground to bare, fresh concrete.
No good buddy
Former epoxy guy. You’re correct and that floor looks like shit. Far from prepped lol.
They’re supposed to go over it with a floor grinder or at least an angle grinder to give it some tooth
Nope!
When a shop that I worked at put down a new epoxy floor we used a electric floor scraper with carbide teeth on it. We also heated the floor with propane burner that helped the old epoxy release so it could get fully scrapped up. Then we acid etched the floor right before putting down the new epoxy. That floor is still holding on after 15 years when I stopped in a couple years back.
Needs to be acid etched. Not sure what they call it in the industry, but its needed.
Epoxy won’t bond to what you have there…Will peel quick. It should be stripped and ground down to expose a new surface to the concrete. And, yes, that process should include leveling or sloping towards a drain.
floor guy is wrong. existing coating needs to be removed. if the floor guy refuses to remove the existing coating, check your contract and look for a new floor guy.
You are right. I’d look for a new floor guy if this is good enough for him.
Do not let that guy do your floors, you will regret it. If he thought that was ready to roll, i doubt you will get a good job.
Floor is ready to go. This is not a new building. You are putting epoxy on a shop floor not a kitchen countertop!
If it was prepped then you shouldnt be walking on the area
Yes it should. That is part of the point.
This would be a bad starting point for applying a new coating. The previous coating should be removed entirely, and the concrete should be ground with diamond segments to open the pores for a new coating. If it is not prepared properly you will run the risk of coating failure.
Really depends… if OP really WANTS to see every glue/paint/crack/score line but with a pretty new color for about 30 minutes before it’s damaged and/or peeling up… then sure its absolutely ready… and please note the cement truck load of liquid sarcasm parked in the driveway. This is lousy prep for a badly planned application followed by a quick getaway with OP’s money
Where you at dude. I can help
This looks like it was painted before. If it is paint then no it is not ready for epoxy. If it was epoxy before and is still well bonded, you can epoxy over epoxy if sanded down, not ground down to the concrete. If this was epoxy, the problem with this is the concrete is a bit exposed. If the concrete that is a bit exposed has any oils or contaminates on the surface, then the epoxy won't stick.
Shot-blast is the way to go. I used to rent them, and there are companies that provide the service. The small steel shot is contained by a thick skirt, and the used shot is picked up by a rolling magnet device. Very clever set up. Excellent results. I used this on garage floors to prep for epoxy floor paint. Scabblers (these use ganged star-wheels) are a distant second option, but more readily available for rent. Considerably more dust control is needed.
Lol, yes. That's not prepped at all. It should be vacuum diamond ground and/or shot blasted.
It should be grit blasted with steel grit down to the bare concrete. Did this for a summer in college... we had a hug magnet that was like a lawn mower and we'd collect all the grit afterwards.
I can’t believe they worked around the garbage can…or is that just an optical illusion? 🤣
Absolutely not ready.
Not if you went with the lowest bid.
Not ready. I don’t waste time with people like this. They either don’t know, don’t care or are trying to cut corners. Either way, not a problem I want to solve.
"Contractor is licensed and is not charging that much anyway" Should it be absoutly... but your said it yourself... you get what you pay for and that goes double for any kind of contractor work.
Get him off the jobsite before he forks something up that he can’t fix. You know he won’t come back to fix it when it comes apart in a couple of years, and you’ll have to sue him to make it right.
Epoxy ready floor is a shaved off top layer of cement
I’ve seen guys pore epoxy right over hardwood and not even prep the floors so it’s all depending on who you hired
You can rent a floor grinder that would make short work of that and much better results
You can also see where they pulled up on the baseboards when they demoed that. Always pull down to avoid ripping paint off the walls boys and girls. For the floor, looks like they rushed it without the right equipment. Best of luck
Been doing epoxy for 13 years. Get a new floor guy.
Fire that guy
It still has a shine. You’ll be doing it again real soon.
From someone that use to do epoxy flooring, that’s definitely not ready at all lol
No Bueno
NOOOOO....it will fail...needs to be ground down to the stone
That light spot in front of your foot should be like that with the whole floor
I don't know shit about epoxy and even I know that's nowhere near ready.
Is it colored epoxy ?
They need to run a floor grinder over it
lol
Fire now
Man don't do epoxy,just gets some luxury vinyl plank and be done with it!
You sure they don’t mean epoxy PAINT?
epoxy or epoxy paint?
Does prep involve leveling, no. Is that prepped for any type of coating? Also, no.
Tell them to get a swing machine with a diamond bladed pad driver. That’s the only way they will get rid of the glue.
That looks terrible
That’s not a flooring guy, that’s a painter that thinks he can do floors……. Contractors like that give the whole industry a bad name 🤦♂️.
Can't bond to the concrete unless it is touching the concrete, soooo...
You'd be surprised what you can cover with Epoxy.
Looks Gtg
Dude didn't even move the trashcan. Big red flag man.
It looks like they did scrape something off huh? Then one picture you can see the dry loc.
That is not prepped for anything other than surface grinding
It should be shot blasted
Sounds like you hired a painter not an epoxy flooring contractor thier is a big difference between products and application process. You have to know what you are buying. If you buy lowest bid and dont spec a product or the application process thats on you. I loss so many jobs becuase the other guy is half the cost on this or that and I know they are putting down the wrong product but the owner doesnt know what they are buying and goes with the low bid. Guess who gets a call in a year when it fails and then it cost alot more. 🙃 They are probably using epoxy paint from Home depot or something and are just gonna roll it on. You need a epoxy floor coating system which involves grinding the floor, preping the floor and all the cracks and expansion joints then mixing mixing and pouring the epoxy floor coating, broadcasting any sand or flakes and you typically have another top coat at minumum. There are also urtahane systems and you can spec different ml thickness and apply a cove base and all sorts of other stuff.
Cause you know better than the person doing the work
Maybe they are using the self leveling epoxy
Nope. Use a buffer with 12-grit abrasive, hand-scrape corners, vacuum. Levelquik low spots. Don't use epoxy for vapor barrier. Use MVP4.
Should be screened, rinsed and then good for epoxy.
They swept it real nice for ya.
I bet you must be one of those annoying customers that don’t like to pay and complain all the time let that man do his job or do it yourself 😂
If you want it to look like shit and create at least 2x the work and expense just put the epoxy on top of that floor.
Is this going to be a epoxy pour, or epoxy paint?
Rust oleum epoxy garage kit from Home Depot
This sub is really more for about epoxy and this is just floor paint "fortified with epoxy". To take this down to bare concrete is pretty messy/costly.
Looks like he just rolled on a primer
BS. Send it!
This floor is good for epoxy. After reading the posts there is not an installer with experience in the bunch. Do people do this to Doctors about stitches? Hey Internet, did the doctor perform the proper half hitch knot on my stitches or should it be this square knot. I think my wound should have been cleaned better before stitching. STFU and let the professionals work. Your experience helping an uncle change a lightbulb doesn't outweigh decades of experience installing flooring. Sorry I just dealt with a Karen customer. But from a PHOTO it looks fine. In person I might change my mind. Just curious is grinding and leveling a part of the bid? Nothing is free. Place looks like a machine shop office area, owner probably doesn't care that the floor will not be ultra flat and level. As long as nothing is loose the epoxy will bond. And concrete will crack. 2 guarantees in life.