Posted by MoparNorm on Friday, September 05, 2003 at 0:24AM :
In Reply to: Don't do it... posted by Gordon Maney on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 at 8:42PM :
Gordon and Paul,
We're not really talking about paint here, or the cheapie Home Depot products, and I agree those are NOT to be used, as I stated in my earlier post. Real Elastromeric or two part epoxy coatings will not come up, and both have traction additives to prevent them from being slippery. I have installed many over the years, all with 15 year or better warrantees. None have failed yet. Many of these were installed in battery plants or diaries (which, interestingly enough, milk is MORE corrosive than acid).
Concrete naturally "dust", it never stops, no amount of 'hard trowel' smoothness makes any difference in preventing this 'dusting'. If you have an operation that requires absolute cleanliness, such as food processing, a NASCAR or high performance engine shop, it is a MUST to coat the floor. Otherwise it is just a luxery and not really a requirement, except that it looks nice and is easy to keep clean, but it may not be worth the cost to "Joe Hobbiest" to pay real money for a professional job. I don't consider Industrial maintenance workers or most 'contractors' experts in this field, and I have seen many a poor application of even a good product, but the right product applied properly will last many, many years. Expect to pay about $30 a square foot for the real deal.
MN