Floor covering durability update w/pics

[bet993]

As some of you may or may not know I finished my garage floor with the UCoat-it products in October of 2003. I discussed this process and my review of the product HERE

It has now been over a year since the application so I thought I would write an up date on the durability of the product in a new thread. I have had absolutely no pealing or lifting of any kind. The only blemishes remain to be the fine scratches on my wife’s side of the garage that I mentioned in the other thread. During the summer these scratches did not get any worst. I have a repair kit but have not had a chance to use it. Since my last post I think I have determined what caused the scratches. I noticed the scratches only appeared after fitting the Dunlop M2’s to my wife’s car (btw fantastic snow tire…I highly recommend) and did not get any worse once the tires were removed in the summer high performance tires were used. I learned from a third party involved in the tire industry that Dunlop uses a special volcanic sand in their winter tires to provide that extra bite on icy surfaces (all manufacturers do something…i.e. Bridgestone uses a “micro-pore” compound for some of its blizzaks and Yokohoma uses nylon bristles embedded to obtain grip in the snow and ice). I am hypothesizing that the scratches resulted from this “volcanic sand” as it only appears in the areas where the tires roll and did not get any worse once the summer tires were used and only appears on her side of the garage. This winter will be a better test of this theory because my car will be driven all winter and will be equipped with a different snow tire that does not contain the volcanic sand (last year my car was a garage queen and was never driven in the snow, ice or rain).

I highly recommend the product and will use it again in the next house I have. The finished surface does show dirt more easily than bare concrete but the clean up much easier (including spilled oil). I am going to attach some pictures I took this past weekend. The garage is still a work in progress (i.e. I need a wall mounted hose real and a yard barn to store the tires and lawn equipment, some better lighting, a strip maybe (not sure of color), some more pics/art, etc.).

This first picture is the side of the garage where I park. The floor is dirty in the picture but there are no scratches. Autopia note…the hose is running out to the drive where the car is parked for its weekly wash.



This is another angle


This is a close up of the floor. The big crack is an expansion joint that I filled with silicone after application of the covering. Dirt sticks easily to the silicone.


This is a close up of the scratches. They look worse because they are dirty right now. A quick mopping will reduce them dramatically. Also this is the worse place.


The last pic is taken shows the other side by the wheel of my car close up as a comparison of the scratches in the previous picture. The tire tread spot wipes off.

[01bluecls]

Wow, nice garage!

[ShineShop]

Nice garage. I just applied the Rustoleum Epoxy to half my garage on Saturday and plan to do a second coat this weekend. Hopefully mine will look and hold up as well as yours.

[Redcar GUY]

looks good

[kgb]

I like U Coat It and they are not too far from me so if I ever go to use them I can just go buy it right from them. LOL Looks good!

[pfarkas]

I just completed my 3 car garage using the Ucoatit system. It does look good and I agree with other write-ups on this site about the process. However, I'll add some of my own info that may be helpful. First, I applied this stuff to a garage floor that was almost 20 years old. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (why else would I pay $700 for floor paint) so I spent a lot of time on prep. The biggest issue I had was getting up the silicone tire gloss spray stuff from the floor. Oil stains are handled by degreasers, power washing,and simple green. This silicone spray stuff that makes your tires look shiny, wet, and black is a nightmare because it really goes deep into the concrete and unless you get it out the epoxy Ucoatit primer can't bond into the floor. I tried a lot of stuff including acid, MEK, laquer thinner, acetone, etc. I finally wound up renting an Edco concrete grinder. I actually recommend doing this for any floor job since prep is key to getting good results. Make sure you get the Dyma-sert diamond grinders and give the floor a good going over. The areas where the tires sat and always got sprayed I kept grinding on. I took off at least 1/16 worth of concrete. Overall, the grinder also gives a nice texture to the floor (circular scratches) that help the coatings bond even better. In addition, on a big garage you'll have wax, gum, etc. all over the place and a grinder just gets that stuff off really easy. It took about 4 hours to grind my entire floor. I recommend doing this w/o water and sweeping up all the dust BEFORE pressure washing everything again otherwise the concrete slurry makes a real mess.
Some tips on application:
1. Use a roller pan. They don't supply that or mention it but I highly recommend it for all coats.
2. Put the base coat on nice and thick. I didn't use quite enough paint thinking i would run out - you won't as they give you plenty.
3. The finish coat is easy but I used the Uflek chips and getting those broadcast evenly is tricky. I found I had to roll out a good 6x8' area so that when i did the chips they would not get into the unpainted areas. You do need to hustle a bit when working in warm conditions (70 degrees plus)
4. Texture. Big debate here. I used a little bit in my high traffix areas. We'll see it works. I'd say less is more and yes, they give you enough of the stuff to do a football field - same with the Uflek paint chips.
5. AF GLoss coat. Tricky, tricky, tricky. It's clear so getting everything covered is really tough. Be very systematic and maybe have a helper. Again, use a roller pan and put this stuff on nice and thick. If I do this again I'll get them to tint the gloss coat so you it's visible during application. Note that this stuff does smell while the Ucoat epoxy doesn't.
6. Dry times. I found that each coat really needed overnight to dry. I live in Florida so humidity was 60 to 80% the entire time. Just don't believe the 4-6hrs they tout in the manual.

Total time on the project was 1 full weekend to prep followed by 3 days - one for each coat to dry. I don't plan to drive on it for at least 5 days.
Well, that's about it. It sure looks nice now and hopefully it will stay that way.

PF

[SilverLexus]

Nice floor. I have considered a paint, but my neighbors are having success with concrete stains.

[pfarkas]

Yep, I've used the H&C Concrete stain on my workshop floor and it has held up very well for 10+ years. The key with that stuff is applying it to a concrete floor in good condition. As for durability of the H&C, it holds up fine to foot traffic but I can't comment on tire marks and pickup or oil absorbtion and staining.

PF

[hftw Audi 6]

Now thats a garage!

[thedarksyde]

pfarkas
do you have pics?

Awesome floor bet, I will be going with black with red and white flakes this spring, I am excited!

[pfarkas]

I'll post some pics after I get things back in there this weekend. As for your color selection, black with the red and white flecks will look very cool but it is really hard to see small items (screws, washers, etc.) that you've dropped. Even on my beige floor with white and brown flecks it's hard to see stuff. Of course the good thing is that it hides some dirt, scratches, etc.
Check back for pics over the weekend.

PF

[SilverLexus]

"I'll post some pics after I get things back in there this weekend. "

PF - I would be very interested in seeing some pics as well. Thanks!