<VV> Re: garage floor paint

[Robert Marlow, Vairtec Corp.]

At 02:54 PM 10/23/2005, Harry Yarnell wrote:

>Now my floor isn't as polished as the floor at Home Depot (how do they get 
>that concrete so mirror smooth?)

When I had my garage floors shot-blasted and epoxy-coated earlier this 
year, the guy who did the shot-blasting was also the guy with the contract 
to polish all the Home Depot floors in the region.  He was himself a car 
guy, with some 40s and 50s cars plus a muscle car or two, and he was 
shot-blasting my floor as a subcontractor to the guy I hired to epoxy-coat 
it.  He said that had he gotten to me first he would have recommended the 
polishing instead of the epoxy coating.  He claimed the his concrete 
polishing creates a floor equal if not better in durability to the epoxy 
coatings, and at less cost.  The appearance is of course a personal 
matter.  The polished concrete that you see in the Home Depot does look 
good and does stand up well, but I prefer the look and "reflectivity" of 
the pale epoxy coating I chose (you can get virtually any color you wish).

On my floors, the product used was Sherwin-Williams ArmorSeal Floor-Thane 
CRU Polyester Urethane.  This is a two-part coating designed to stand up in 
aggressive industrial and marine environments, and provides resistance to 
UV exposure, abrasion, impact, and chemicals including acids, alkalies, 
solvents, and fuels.

Recommended uses, according to S-W, are concrete, steel, and wood surfaces, 
on industrial, commercial, or marine applications.  Examples provided 
included auto service centers (bingo) and exterior helipads (!)

The primer was ArmorSeal 33 Epoxy.

See the product information sheet (in pdf format) at:

www.sherlink.com/stores/ImgServ?id=datapages/armorseal_floorthane_cru_8-45.pdf

If the link doesn't work, just do a Google search on Sherwin-Williams 
Floorthane CRU.

Remember, preparation is key, just as it is with painting a car.  As noted 
I had my floor shot-blasted, but not to a mirror-smooth finish.  If you 
make it too smooth, it becomes dangerously slippery when wet!

A very similar floor coating, and one of the inspirations for mine, is 
shown on Rick Norris' Corvair site:

http://webpages.charter.net/corvairalley/misc-06.html

Check it out.  Rick's site is fun, anyway.

--Bob


Robert W. Marlow
Vairtec at optonline.net