I originally had my entire warehouse floor done by a epoxy flooring contractor two months ago before we moved into our new building. I had a onsite meeting prior to the work being started and explained everything I wanted and needed which was, a surface that can stand up to industrial use and maintain the look like a sheet of glass. It was negotiated and agreed upon. They bead blasted the floor and put down the base coat the first day, then 2 thick coats of Valspar EC-7 over the course of two days.

First thing I noticed was little pin holes in the surface over the entire floor during the first coat, I immediately called the sales person and he in turn sent out the manager to take a look. He showed up and said its' no problem and they will not be there after the application of the second coat. Well, the second coat goes down and cures over night, the pin holes are still there!?!?!

Being on a schedule we had no choice but to move in and get to work. I made a couple calls and made the contractor aware of my concerns. He comes out top look at the job and cannot explain it, so he calls the manufacture for a solution. The mfg rep cannot make it out for a few weeks. During this time I notice the floor is real easy to scuff and mark up. Not only that our shop truck (07 Tundra) would leave any impression of the tread pattern nightly, also our carts and whatever else was on the floor.

The mfg rep finally makes it out with the sales person and take a couple samples from the floor to send to there lab (which sounds like total bs). A couple days later I get a call and they tell me they will refinish the floor but with a product called Valspar Ultrathane which is supposed to be the hardest coating available, so I agree but have top move out my entire warehouse in order have the floor repaired.

Originally scheduled for the 7th but got pushed to the 14th. We started filling up the office with all the test equipment on the prior Friday, Monday we prep to move out. Tuesday the 14th we arrive a 4:30AM to move all the pallets outside and take down the pallet rack (lot of work), I hired a security company from 5PM-8AM to watch the everything while being outside for the next three days. The prep, and base coat was completed Tuesday.

Today is Wednesday and I get to the office, I head for the warehouse to take a look at the progress and and WTF, these little pin holes are here again!! The contractor shows up at 9AM and I ask him about it and he says it "must be gassing" whatever that means. Now they are waiting for the foreman to show up for some guidance. Well they are out there right now sanding the floor once more to take down the pin holes.

The first time with the Epoxy there where three people.
The second time for the Urethane there where three different people.
Today there are three people but two of them are different.

I am basically shut down right now, we make money by testing and rebuilding equipment in the shop. This is costing me more money this time than when originally done, because I now I had to hire security, rip out all the brand new cove molding that was installed after the epoxy, and this is my only warehouse not like the last time where I was still operational in the old warehouse while being done the first time.

I will wait to see what the floor looks like tomorrow and hopefully everything is all good. If not I am not sure how to approach it.

Here is a quick pic from my cell, you can barely make them out by the glare from the light...

Epoxies can make a decent floor coating product, provided they are professionally installed. We began installing epoxy floors as a General Contractor in the State of Oregon and quickly seen that they are inferior to other industrial coatings. We no longer promote epoxy floor coatings as a result.

The cause is likely attributed to the coating 'bubbling'. The application of the coating is mixing air into the paint, causing bubbles. The bubbles pop, thus leaving behind small pinholes. Its more pronounced in solid color floors where even small imperfections are exacerbated. You might not have even noticed this pinhole effect in a textured floor.

The contractor sent out the top dog to get the floor perfect and it now is. The floor is finally finished with a smooth glass like surface, they used a product called Valspar Ultrathane. So I must have one super hard floor with all the coats 1-primer, 2-epoxy EC-7 coats, 2-Urethane top coats.

I wonder if they used a self-leveling product? They seem to leave less of a footprint behind.

It is not the easiest stuff to put down and prep is very key. Not knowing what exactly they did I could only guess on a couple of things. It was improperly applied and possibly could have been a poor batch of product. My guess is it was applied improperly.

Lucky for you they remedied the problem, I know a Toyota dealer that got a poor result on their service floor (65 stalls) and is out about 100K and having some issues getting it resolved.

Anyone have experience with Ironite?

hey man... who did you use? i am thinking of doing the same on my garage floor.

I would really like to know what they used for the primer coat as we use EC-7 alot and it is tricky as said before about the slow mixing process, but not difficult. However, my guess is you paid someone a fair price who "should" have know what he was doing.

What it looks like to me is a couple of things, first off maybe a used and soiled floor that they shot blasted, which is a huge no no, it pounds grease and oil back into the fresh open concrete.

Next thing is, since you watched the install did you ever see a roller that looked like this during the install.........


this is a spike roller which is used about 10 minutes after the guy rolling the coating down gets done..........all of which done after the initial spreading with a squigee.

This releases the air bubbles formed when the coating is migrating down into the open concrete and this problem is amplified with all self leveling products due to the 24 minute cure rate. What happens is the air bubble is trapped and the coating cures on top of it before the bubble can move to the top on it's own. Applying the coating too thick also complicates this problem but after the first coat it should be gone.

next problem with the durability you noticed, After 24 hours YOU CAN NOT RECOAT EC-7 WITHOUT RE SCUFFING IT. period.



this is the only problem we have had with EC-7 and it was due to the customer wanting a urethane only color additive, however Valspar re-embersed my labor along with sending us the Ultrathane to fix the problem.



as you can see this is where the 3 gallon kits were blended together on a 1200 foot floor, and the color changed for some reason.

Now, i love epoxies for home use over anything else, due to the lack of odor. i will not use urethanes in home attatched garages at all.

this is my personal shop which looks like the same color you chose, however this is only 1 very thin coat of EC-7 over a previous product we had down for 5 years that was re scuffed.

APC, for some reason I cannot reply to pm's so:

Sorry for the late reply, So far the urethane is bullet proof so to speak. Excellent gloss and a huge difference in appearance compared to the EC7.



Grape,

Thanks for the informative post. They did not use any roller like that at all. They used a 36" or so squeegee and nap rollers that they put a torch to.

I chose this company after coming in contact with them at my wifes doctors office. The companies website is www.rpcoatingsinc.com

The building is fairly new and the brought the bead blaster and decided just to use these big disc sanders. They also did scuff between all coats of the EC7. I am now very happy with the Urethane or Ultrathane it is Oxford gray colored.


Mike

Mike, do you have any pics of the finished floor?
I was thinking about going a similar route on mine.

Also, I'm thinking this product will retain the wet look shine, but not be slippery when wet. Is this what you are finding?

I have pics of the finished floor, have to upload them.

Also, this will retain the shine but since there is no grit in the mix it will be slippery when wet.