HOW TO PREP & EPOXY PAINT YOUR FLOOR THE RIGHT WAY
The most important thing to remember when applying an epoxy paint coating to any floor is proper preparation! We'll discuss everything you need to know about preparing concrete floors and applying several types of epoxy floor coatings. Spending 5 minutes on this page can save you a lot of heartache and money in the future. Be sure to read the FAQ below also. It doesn't matter whether your floor is old or new or whether it's a garage floor, commercial floor or an industrial floor. It MUST be 100% clean of any contaminants and 100% dry.
This a long page but between this page and the detailed instructions you will receive with your order you'll be a 99% epoxy flooring expert.
You will read this over and over again because we cannot over emphasize it enough. All of our garage flooring epoxies are ASTM pull tested prior to shipping and when applied to a properly prepared surface our floor epoxy will pull the top layer of the concrete off before separating from the concrete. That's why you also want a small can of Xylene(available at Home Depot) handy when applying any of our epoxy floor kits. You need to clean up any spills or splatters right away otherwise once our epoxy dries it can only be removed via grinding. If your floor looks like the image below with exposed rocks and river stones, stop and call us for advice. These floors are the result of the contractor saving money and cutting corners by using rocks and river stones in lieu of the proper concrete aggregate. This is not normal concrete and these stones make it like trying to epoxy paint glass, very difficult to do right. Luckily very few floors have this kind of poor concrete poured.
When you're done with this page we have a great series of articles on everything about epoxy flooring. Just click on the INFO CENTER tab in the top menu bar and look under Epoxy Floor Coatings. It's also well worth your time to read those articles before you purchase and begin to epoxy paint any type of floor. Please keep in mind when you're reading all this information is that once you understand how to do the job right, it's very easy to do. The big mistake most people make is that they treat painting their floor the same as painting a room inside their house. They go to a local store, buy off the shelf epoxy paint and simply slap it on the floor. Then in a short period of time they have a complete disaster on their hands because the floor paint they applied was of poor quality and or the floor was not prepped properly. We want you to avoid having to go through a failed epoxy floor. It's the reason we offer all the different epoxy flooring kits we do and all the detailed information you'll see throughout the website.
To quickly see what you're getting and how to apply it checkout our series of short videos in our Video Library. They're short but a great way to get a lot info across to you quickly. The rest of the website is loaded with detailed instructions along with the easy to follow instructions you'll receive with your order when you're ready to start your project.
The Video Below Was Made By A CUSTOMER WHO GOES BY THE NAME DIY DAN. We love this video cause it shows you step by step how easy it is to do and how to do it properly. All in all we love the way the floor came out and Dan tells it like it is.
WATCH THE ARMOR CHIP GARAGE EPOXY INSTALLATION VIDEO BY DIY DAN
The video above plus our detailed instructions and the information you read here will be more than enough for you to coat your floor like a professional. Towards the bottom of the page is a terrific series of images showing how to apply color chips evenly when using the Armor Chip or Armor Granite kits. For more detailed instructions see the APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS tab on each product page. The Blue Links below will take you directly to each product page. We suggest you read this page first and then go to a product page for additional information on the type of epoxy coating you need or want. If you're unsure of anything please feel free to call or email us and we'll be happy to clear up any questions or concerns you might have.
Armor Chip: Our Garage Epoxy Floor Coating With Medium Colored Flake Coverage.
Armor Granite: Our Top Of The Line Garage Epoxy Floor Kit With Heavy Flake Coverage For A Granite Look.
ArmorGarage Ultra Military System: Our Super Heavy Duty Industrial Three Coat Epoxy Floor System With or Without Flakes.ArmorGarage Commercial Epoxy Floor Coating: Our Commercial Heavy Duty Two Coat Epoxy Floor System Without Flakes.
IMPORTANT APPLICATION STEPS FOR APPLYING GARAGE EPOXY FLOORING
For custom epoxy flooring designs see the How To Custom Epoxy Paint Your Garage Floor page.
1. Temperature should be between 55-95 degrees and not raining, use small electric heaters if room temps are below 55 during curing process.
2. Wash the floor. For best results Power Washing is strongly recommended.
3. Etching is a simple and necessary step if not grinding. To Etch dilute the provide etching solution with 3 gallons of water. For new floors, poor condition or very dirty floors etch a second time with one gallon of muriatic acid per 500 square feet. This is not the time or place to be skimpy! Using more acid is always better than not using enough! Always pour acid into water and not the other way around. Your floor should already be wet from power washing it or hosing it down. Use a plastic Garden Sprinkler can for best results. If not using a Sprinkler Can do not pour the entire pail onto the floor, pour out in a bead a little at a time. We recommend doing your floor in approximately 300 sf sections for smaller floors and 1000sf sections for larger floors. Try to work from farthest point to the exit or drain point. Be sure to scrub the solution into the entire floor with a stiff bristle brush or shop broom! Remove any oil or grease stains first,We have found the best grease & oil stain remover is Liquid Tide Detergent scrubbed in with some of the acid etching solution. For stubborn stains you may need to treat them several times. For floors that are heavily stained over the majority of the floor use our Oil Primer first. Your Garage Floor should be completely clean, dry and have a slightly rough finish. Re-etch a second time if necessary to get the floor completely clean. New floors should be etched a second time no matter what. New floors have a lot of curing residues at the surface that need to be completely cleaned out. Let your floor dry for 1-2 days. Your floor should look like this when done, clean with no dirty or dark spots. Those opened tiny pores allow the epoxy to penetrate into the slab and lock in for an unbreakable bond. If your floor is older or very dirty we strongly recommend two etches. If your concrete is light in color there should be no dark spots, if there are, then re-etch. We provide you with neutralizing powder with all of our epoxy kits. Sprinkle the neutralizing powder over the floor and lightly scrub in prior to rinsing. This will bring your slab back to the proper PH for the maximum adhesion of the epoxy to your slab. Again a power washer is recommended to do the rinsing and prior to rinsing we recommend wetting down any surface where the rinse solution will run over such as driveways. If you are etching multiple times neutralize only after the last etching and prior to the final rinse! If your floor is very old and in very poor condition we recommend you rent a floor grinder and use our epoxy flooring primer first. Priming is always a good idea anyway,
This is how your floor should look like prior to coating with any type of floor epoxy paint.
This is how your floor should look like prior to coating with any type of floor epoxy paint.
HERE ARE SOME IMAGES OF WHAT YOUR FLOOR SHOULD LOOK LIKE AFTER POWER WASHING, ETCHING AND OIL STAIN REMOVAL. NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CLEAN SIDE(LEFT) AND THE DIRTY SIDE(RIGHT). NOTICE IN THE THRID IMAGE HOW CLEAN AND DRY THE FLOOR IS AND HOW NICE THE EPOXY APPLICATION IS GOING ON SECTION BY SECTION WITH NICE EVENLY DISPERSED CHIPS.
If you are grinding your floor you don't have to etch the floor, if you are rinsing the floor to remove grinding dust then you might as well scrub in the etch provided even though its not required this will ensure the concrete pores are clean and open. Our garage floor epoxies are specially formulated to form a permanent molecular bond into those open pores. If you have a very pitted floor (which is very different than open pores) see our HOW TO REPAIR & PAINT A PITTED FLOOR page.
4. Tape floor at inside edge of door. Us e a good quality duct tape. We do not recommend applying the epoxy past the door.
5. Mix Part A First with provided power mixer.
6. Measure parts of "A" & part of "B" according to the mix ratio on the label and mix together. Mix until all streaks have disappeared. Epoxy should be a uniform color. This is not like store bought epoxy so DO NOT mix all of our epoxy at once as you would other types of off the shelf epoxy. Our 100% pure floor epoxy works on catalytic reaction and so the more you mix the more reaction you get and the faster it cures. Do not mix more than one gallon of epoxy per person rolling. Follow the guidelines below as you do the floor in sections, all the sections will blend together for a beautiful seamless monolithic finish. If for some reason you decide not to read or follow the instructions this is what will happen in about 5 minutes!
7. When using the Ultra Military grade epoxy, Armor Chip or Armor Granite pour epoxy directly from bucket onto floor and squeegee out evenly with notched squeegee & then back roll over it with our supplied roller(s) for final spreading and smoothing. Optimal section size when using color flakes is a 4 foot wide strip unless you're using the spike soles in which case you can do a much wider strip. When doing the Primer for the Ultra Military System a roller is all that is needed to apply it. Same for the base coat and topcoat for the Armor II system. The reason being is that these coatings are thinner and can be applied using a roller pan and the supplied rollers. Each coating must be applied between 6 and 24 hours of the previous coating.
Pot life is about 45 minutes which is more than double the time it should take you to do one section. So no need to panic or rush when doing the proper size batches. We would do about one gallon of mixed epoxy(Part A & Part B combined) for each person rolling. For larger garage floors there should be one person dedicated to just mixing and then he can disperse the mixed epoxy into each person's individual pail for application. If you get the epoxy on anything you don't want epoxied, wipe off immediately with some Xylene(Lowes), otherwise once dried you will have to grind it off. All our Large Format and Flake Floor packages are supplied with Spike Soles.
8. Disperse the decorative chips(if using)evenly in small amounts for best results. DO NOT throw too many chips at once, if you do you will have clumps and piles of chips which will detract from the beautiful high gloss finish. Best method is to toss a little at a time and fill in with pinch full of chips as needed. This is where the spikes really come in handy. They allow you to walk right in the epoxy up to a bare spot and fill in. Make sure to also leave a wet edge with no chips so that when you mix the next batch of epoxy you slightly overlap the wet edge. This will reactivate the epoxy on the wet edge, sprinkle chips and the epoxy will all blend and self level into a solid monolithic coating. Repeat steps 7 & 8 until entire floor is complete. When the garage floor is dry scrape chips to remove any chips sticking up and then Vac up all the loose chips.
Here's a series of images sent in by a customer who came up with a simple but yet very effective way to spread the chips out evenly. As you can tell by the pictures he did a perfect job with the chips. This is how he told us he did it.
FIRST GET A PLASTIC CONTAINER, PREFERABLY ONE WITH A HANDLE. DRILL SOME HOLES IN THE BOTTOM, ABOUT 3/8" DIAMETER.
NOW FILL THE CONTAINER HALFWAY WITH CHIPS, HOLD CONTAINER SIDEWAYS UNTIL YOU ARE IN POSITION THEN TURN CONTAINER UPRIGHT SHAKE CONTAINER WHILE WALKING IN THE EPOXY WITH YOUR SPIKE SOLES(MUST HAVE THE SPIKES). THE CHIPS WILL NOT COME OUT UNTIL YOU START SHAKING AND THEY WILL FALL STRAIGHT DOWN OUT OF THE CONTAINER. ONCE YOU'VE DONE A SECTION TAKE A STEP BACK AND LOOK FOR BARE SPOTS, IF YOU HAVE A SECOND PERSON THEY CAN ACT AS A SPOTTER. FOR BARE SPOTS JUST WALK UP TO THEM AND ADD A PINCH OF CHIPS WITH A LITTLE SHAKE OF THE CONTAINER TO FILL IN.
WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT WE THINK THIS METHOD RESULTED IN A BEAUTIFUL CHIP PATTERN THAT IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS. ALL OUR COLOR FLAKE EPOXY FLOOR PACKAGES OUR SUPPLIED WITH SPIKE SOLES
We get ask a lot about filling in control joints. Our recommendation is that you don't fill them in unless the sight of them make you physically ill and your floor is at least 10 years old. Those joints are there for a reason and they will keep a crack from forming right in the middle of your brand new high gloss garage epoxy floor. Below is a close up image of what a control joint looks like after it's properly epoxied. There's also an image from further back. As you can see the finished control joints look nothing like an unfinished one. Once finished they give the floor more of a stone slab appearance. All you need to do is lightly feather the epoxy in and out of the joint and lightly sprinkle chips on both sides of the joint.
This is a good shot of what we call leaving a wet edge. Notice how the flakes are stopped about 6"-12" before the edge of the floor epoxy. This way you can apply the next batch of epoxy and slightly overlap the wet edge without getting the flakes on your roller.
9. After applying the base coat of which ever kit you've purchased, allow it to dry to the touch, usually in about 6-8 hrs then apply the next coating whether it be epoxy or topcoat. You can also wait till the next morning to apply the next coat. For best results don't let more than 20 hrs pass between coats. For the final coating apply the topcoat with provided non skid additive. When using Armor Chip or Armor Granite that have multiple topcoats apply nonslip additive in the final coating. Allow first coat to dry before applying second coat. Be sure to keep stirring the topcoat to keep the nonslip from accumulating at the bottom. Always use a roller pan when applying topcoat with nonslip additive in it. Pouring the topcoat directly onto the floor will result in concentrated amounts of nonslip to accumulate causing dull spots. If you purchased the optional military grade topcoat for Armor Chip or Armor Granite you only have to do one coat(DO Not Apply Two Coats Of The Military Topcoat) so you mix the nonslip additive right into the can. Ultra and Armor II only get one topcoat also. You now have a better quality floor than a professional company would apply and at a fraction of the cost!
10.
This is another question asked a lot. Where do I end the epoxy? The answer is at the inside or outside edge of the garage door. The reason being is that even though the epoxy is UV rated it is not made for continuous outdoor exposure. Only specially formulated epoxy coatings such as our Military Industrial Ultra Fast Epoxy can be applied outdoors. So if you have a short piece of concrete past your door before your asphalt or pavered driveway starts. The best thing to do is coat it with an inexpensive outdoor concrete paint that you color match the best you can. So when that gets beat up by the elements you can simply roll on another coat of inexpensive paint and not ruin your high end epoxy. If you are using color flakes that helps blend the two pieces even better. The other option is to do nothing since your garage door is closed most of the time you will never notice where the epoxy ends and the driveway starts. Most people choose to leave that little 4"-6" piece of concrete alone but if it really bothers you the above solutions works fine also.
11. Wait before you park your vehicle on a new epoxy flooring job.