EPOXY FLOORING GUIDE AND EPOXY COATING FAQS

FLOORS THAT ARE SEALED:All sealers MUST be removed entirely. First you should run a buffing machine or sander with a very aggressive grit over the floor to break the surface of the sealer as much as possible. Then use a strong Muriatic Acid solution of 2 parts water to 1 part acid to remove the sealer. Test by sprinkling water on the floor, if it beads up then resand, reetch and retest. Neutralize floor with TSP powder after etching has fully removed the sealer. Depending on the grade of sealer used it may be necessary to diamond grind it off. But do not attempt to apply any epoxy paint over a floor that still has sealer on it, you will be wasting your time and money.

Previously Painted Floors: This is a very common situation where a floor has been coated previously with a retail grade floor paint or low quality epoxy. These types of coatings fail to a varying degree. The goal here is to determine if the existing coating can be a suitable foundation for your new epoxy floor. You do not want to go through the time and expense of applying a new epoxy coating only to have it come off with the defective paint under it.

There are two situations you can wind up with. Either a coating that is not properly bonded to the concrete and must be fully removed or a coating that is only partially failing. First test the coating with a good floor scraper, if you are able to get the coating to come off the floor by scraping then you must remove all of it. If scraping only removes a very small portion of it then sand the floor with a floor sander or floor buffing machine using at least a 36 grit pad, if most of the coating is coming off at this point you must make sure to remove it entirely. If only a small portion of the coating has failed then repeat with a 60 grit pad. Power wash off residue. Then use a strong Etching solution to etch the coating and any bare concrete, we recommend one of our Acid Etching kits per 400-500 sq ft. This will expose any weakly bonded coating by scraping the old coating with a good floor scraper this will cause any of the weakly bonded paint to come off. If most of the old coating removes easily then make sure to remove all of it. This coating is not properly bonded to the concrete and is not a suitable foundation for a new epoxy coating.

Use an Industrial floor scrapper to make the job easier, we have one available in our crack& joint repair section if needed. If your coating has survived up to this point you can coat it with our Special Primer, this will act as a bonding agent between the old coating and the new epoxy. Not using a bonding primer is rolling the dice on whether the new epoxy will properly bond to the old coating. Here is a set of great images taken by one of our customers when he applied Armor Chip to the previous Home Owner's Home Improvement Center epoxy.

Workshop Floors For light duty workshops or work shops that are part of large residential garages use Armor II listed below. You can also use the Armor Chip or Armor Granite kits for home workshops if you want the color flake look, but we would recommend that you upgrade to the Forklift Duty Topcoat which makes their finish as durable as the Armor II system. Colored flakes are not recommend for use with the Armor II system. By light duty we mean a low volume of vehicles per week(20-30) on the floor, low amount of steel wheeled traffic from floor jacks and tool chests and little to no forklift traffic. For medium to heavy duty workshops(50-100) use the Armor Ultra listed below. If you have a high volume auto repair shop with lots of steel wheeled traffic or you are operating a forklift on the floor on a daily basis then you need to use the Ultra System. Race Shops are recommended to use either the Armor II for smaller shops and the Ultra System for larger higher traffic shops. This is why we offer so many kits because there are so many variables that determine which is best for you.

Pitted or Corroded Floors: The Armor Ultra, Armor Chip and Armor Granite Epoxy System use extra thick epoxy that allows you to fill in pitted and corroded areas. Filling in requires additional material so we recommend that you call us to discuss the how much additional material you will need. The method of filling in pitted floor areas is fairly simple. You first do a coat of our high build epoxy with a flat squeegee, pulling the squeegee along the floor with enough downward pressure on the epoxy so that the epoxy fills in the pits and small divots but leaves very little material on the floor itself. Let that dry and then apply a second coat of high build epoxy to the entire floor to provide the smooth surface. This is why you need more material. For large, severely pitted or corroded areas we recommend grinding down those areas or resurfacing with our Crack & Joint Compound (available in the crack & joint repair section) to reduce the amount of extra epoxy needed.

Oil Stain Floors: Floors that are heavily stained with oil such as service shops or older floors that had leaking oil drip on them for years. For normal stained floors use our industrial oil remover, for large stained areas or heavy stains you must coat these areas with our oil stop primer. This primer is specially made to adhere to oil. It's available in each of our epoxy kit sections. We recommend that you remove as much of the oil as possible with our oil remover then acid etch the floor and let dry then apply the oil primer to the stained areas. If a majority of the floor is stained it is recommended that you oil prime the entire floor. Let primer dry overnight and then apply any of our epoxy kits. Note: if using a light color epoxy such as Beige or white it is recommended that you prime the entire floor to maintain an even color finish.

Floors That Need To Be Done In One Day! For this you'll need to use either the Armor Mats or Armor Tiles. Both of these flooring products can be installed in a matter of hours. If you want to epoxy your floor and be back in service the same day you'll need to use our fast dry-one day epoxy kit. You'll have to diamond grind the floor so that you can apply the epoxy immediately when done. This is a complete two step kit and drys extremely quick so that you can start in the morning and be using the floor at the end of the day.

Basement Floors. These are the toughest floors to coat properly due to cracks, being covered with mastic or having water coming up from underneath. Moisture coming up form underneath is the worst problem since the rising water acts like a hydraulic jack and will push off any coating on the floor. Before coating any basement floors, do a moisture test by taping a 4x4 piece of plastic on all four sides, wait 48 hrs, if moisture is present under the plastic you must use our wet basement floor kit. If no moisture is present use our dry basement floor kit.

For VCT, Ceramic, Porcelain, Terracotta Tile Floors. Our kits work great over any type of VCT Tile! Secure any loose or broken tiles, fill in any missing ones with cement patch or other cheap VCT Tiles. Sand down tiles lightly to roughen up and to make sure any factory coating is removed. Then clean and etch with the etching solution in our kits. Then coat with ourCOAT-ALL EPOXY kit. Your old VCT Tiles will now be Permanently encapsulated!This kit is also good for coating over ceramic tiles, glass tiles, porcelain tiles or terracotta tiles.

Wood Floors. Wood floors can be coated with our epoxy kits. Simply sand the floors to remove any dirt and factory coating then prime with our Special Primer and coat with the epoxy kit of your choice. We recommend you call us for wood floor applications to review details just to be safe.

Cracks, Expansion Joints and Uneven Slabs. We have a whole section for these issues and we have a product for each condition. Hairline surface cracks will be filled by our epoxies. Larger cracks must be repaired with our crack and joint kits. In most cases the Instant Crack Repair kit will do the job. You simply mix Part A and Part B together and putty knife into the crack scrape smooth and then in 15 minutes you can epoxy right over the repair. No waiting 24 hrs for the compound to cure. Expansion joints and saw cuts can be filled or can be left as is. Keep in mind that these features have been put in your floor for a reason. On new floors we strongly recommend that you do not fill them in with a compound that hardens. Your new floor has not settled yet and will crack right in the middle of your new epoxy job if you fill in the Saw Cuts. Trust us you will not be happy if that happens! You should simply finish the Saw Cuts with the epoxy and having them look like Stone Slab Joints. Epoxy finished saw cuts add dimension to the floor and enhance the final appearance by looking like actual stone slab joints.

There is a difference between an Expansion Joint and a Saw Cut or Control Joint. An Expansion Joint is one that has a material in the joint. We recommend that expansion joints not be filled in and simply coated over. If you want to fill in the Expansion Joint then you must use our Flexible Joint Sealer which you can purchase from the Crack & Joint Repair Product page. This will bond with our epoxies and still remain flexible enough to handle your floor's expansion and contraction. Saw cuts can be filled with either the Instant Crack Kit or the Crack & Joint compound which you mix with locally bought Play Ground sand to form a mortar that you apply to large cracks and divots. Let it cure over night and then you can sand or grind smooth if needed prior to applying our epoxy. After filling cracks or expansion joints, etch the floor and repaired areas then coat unless you are using the Instant Repair Compound then you etch first then apply the Instant Crack Repair Compound. See the Crack & Joint Repair section.

COAT-ALL EPOXY KIT: Amazing epoxy and special primer allows you to coat surfaces that never could never hold an epoxy coating. Now you can apply a durable high gloss epoxy coating to just about any surface, all types of tiles, metal, plastic, rubber and more!

Armor II: Heavy Duty Epoxy System without decorative flakes. Has heavy duty 2 part solids epoxy with heavy duty commercial grade 2 part urethane fortified topcoat. Both epoxy and topcoat are the same color so that you get great color coverage with a High Gloss smooth finish. This system is not used for a colored chip finish since it has a solid color topcoat. See Armor Chip & Armor Granite for a floor with colored chips. This topcoat has an 8mg abrasion loss rating which makes it very resistant to wear and scratches. Cannot be compared to other coatings that only use a clear version of their epoxy and have abrasion ratings above 20mg. Those types of coatings are not heavy duty and will not stand the test of time. Use Armor II in Garages, light to medium metal or wood workshops, warehouses with light forklift traffic, retail showrooms and auto service areas, light aircraft hangers etc. High resistance to road salts, chemicals, impacts, foot traffic, rubber tire traffic, car jacks and car stands, water proof and stain resistant. For areas with heavy steel wheel traffic, heavy workshops or race shops, medium to large size aircraft, large exposure to chemicals and abrasive particles use the Ultra System.

Armor Ultra: Is our Extra Heavy Duty three coat system. Consisting of a high performance primer, a 2:1 ratio high build 100% solids epoxy coating and finished with the best Military Grade Topcoat in the industry. This topcoat is like putting liquid steel on your floor. It has a 4 mg abrasion loss rating as compared to our closet competitor which has a 24 mg loss rating. The lower the rating the better, meaning that less material was removed while under the abrasion test. A 4mg loss versus a 24 mg loss is an exponential difference, it is like putting interior semi gloss wall paint on your floor versus a military grade coating. To put in another perspective if our 4mg Topcoat would wear off in a month a 24 mg epoxy or topcoat would wear of in less than a day!

Ultra is great for just about any application! Can handle heavy wheel traffic, rubber or steel, good for workshops with heavy work loads, high chemical resistance, High Gloss, easy clean up, accepted for commercial kitchen applications, Food Production areas, we love using Ultra with Cove bases from SpeedCove.com, you can install these bases easily and then run the Ultra System along the floor and right up the cove base forming a water proof and sanitary seam between your floor and walls. Wash downs become super easy with no damage to your walls, this installation is like a water proof tub in fact.

Ultra is rated for industrial use on production floors, medium to large aircraft hanger applications and heavy use warehouse floors, high impact resistance , high resistance to large number of corrosive chemicals, high abrasion resistance. Good for covering lightly pitted or rough finish floors.

Since Ultra comes with a clear Topcoat you can purchase colored flakes and apply them into the second coat for a Terrazzo type finish