How to Epoxy Concrete Floors with Flakes | Full DIY Tutorial

[Music] what's up folks in this video you're going to learn our brand new DIY epoxy flake floor system I'm teaching step by step how to completely renew your worn out cracked concrete floor there's no need for a professional contractor I got a quote for over five thousand dollars to flick this floor you're going to learn how to do it for thousands less stay tuned and enjoy the video [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] okay so phase one of our epoxy flake floor system is prepping our concrete and filling any cracks today's project is over ancient garage floor like most garages this one seen better days it's got oil spills dirt and Lord knows what else is completely caked into this concrete so first things first I'm gonna clear everything out and give it a good wash degrease this floor so we can get ready to start grinding to prep for our epoxy flakes we simplified and improved our flooring system for the do-it-yourselfer we extended the working time we took out the terrible smell without sacrificing durability a professionally installed flake floor this size would cost about four to five thousand dollars where if you follow the instructions in this video and do it yourself you'll get professional looking results with a cost of about 700 dollars so as you can see you really don't need to go that deep with your grinder blade I'm just kind of letting the weight of the grinder go along my crack and I'm creating just a little bit of a valley I'll get all that dust out to bring in the crack patch but as you can see there's going to be room for the crack patch here where right here they're not going to get anything in there I'm using a grinder with a diamond cut blade on it make sure anytime you're grinding concrete to wear your PPE and ventilate that area I'll put a couple links in the descriptions for you guys to find all the tools and materials I use on this project so make sure to check out those in the description below and while you're at it subscribe to our Channel we have a bunch of new floor projects about to drop so ring that Bell so you don't miss a single second so crack like this when using the epoxy colored flake system like I'm installing on this project any crack larger than a playing card is what you're going to want to expand for the crack patch these little hairline things like that the moisture sealing epoxy is going to saturate into that and seal it up just fine anything larger than a playing card you want to open it up clean out the crack and apply little crack pads our epoxy gel floor patch is a one-to-one ratio epoxy that you mix with a stick and putty knife until you have a uniform color it's as simple as that you have about 45 minutes of working time with this product so when doing larger areas I'd recommend splitting up your batches you're just gonna mix with that putty knife until a uniform color is achieved I then take small amounts of the crack patch and overfill the cracks I'll come back with a stiff putty knife to remove the excess material a pro tip here remove extra material while the crack patch is still wet for quicker grinding and leveling on the next step the correct pack is secured and ready to sand in four to eight hours I'll then look across my entire project look for any pits or dings or mounting holes fill those so the next step lays out nice and smooth [Music] you can clean the crack patch off your tools using 91 isopropyl alcohol just spray a little on then kind of use a little elbow grease with a gloved hand and rub on it spray it again and it just comes right off put it in a disposable box so the residue gets disposed of properly all right that's a wrap day one well day two actually day one we did some scrubbing some cleaning we cleaned out this bad boy day two I ground those cracks apply the concrete crack patch I'm gonna let this cure overnight we'll be back tomorrow that's when I got the big boy I'm gonna go to the rental yard and rent a grinder I have a seven inch diamond cup wheel they're called you could pick those up at the hardware store or Amazon that goes on the more heavy duty grinder but you could grind this whole floor on your hands and knees and a little bit of elbow grease using that seven inch cup wheel but an easier method keeping you off your hands and knees would be that walk behind grinder it's a hundred and seventy five dollars for the full day we're gonna abrade this entire slab it's going to take the correct patch down to the concrete level it's going to grind the whole floor then we're going to clean that out day two is a wrap I'm gonna shut this door down let this epoxy cure and then we'll be back tomorrow for The Next Step all right we're back the floor patch is dried we're going to use this floor grinder to grind that down and at the same time open up the concrete so that first layer of our moisture seal epoxy bonds tenaciously from my many years in stonecoat customer service I know some of you might be asking Mitch why do I have to grind this floor can I skip this step you definitely do not want to skip this step most garages and this one in particular have years of dirt and oil caked into the concrete and fills up those pores we want to make sure none of that is present when we gear up to apply our moisture seal epoxy layer concrete is very porous and by opening it up with a grinder it will allow the moisture seal to penetrate deep into the concrete like roots to permanently seal the surface preventing moisture from building up and causing a delamination this will remove any high points and Imperfections for seamless professional looking floor I start out with the perimeter using a seven inch diamond cup wheel on my handheld grinder with a dust shroud I've been hit the field using the larger grinder and vacuum up that dust before moving on to the next step let's test the moisture of this slab I just ground my floor I'm going to take down a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of plastic I'll tape it all the way around what I'm testing to see if there's any moisture off gassing from the bottom of my slab all right we'll let that sit I'll be back tomorrow about 18 hours from right now you come back if this is wet next step is your sodium chloride test you can pick those up in the link in the description below it comes with some sodium chloride you weigh that you then put that in open the lid put a little Dome over it 24 hours later you weigh it again that tells you exactly on the scientific level how much moisture is coming out of that slab but no need for that test if this plastic and slab is dry when we come back tomorrow all right the prep work it's complete the next step we're going to apply the moisture sealing epoxy to the vertical parts of this garage that's a cool feature of our new epoxy flooring flake system you could hit those verticals so we're going to mix up our material then we'll apply it with a roller and a paintbrush just a light coat is all that's necessary and then we'll start flaking the vertical and then we're applying the epoxy moisture sealing primer to the entire garage and then we're feeding chickens with that flake if you can roll paint on a wall you can apply the epoxy flooring flake system learn right now let's go to work we currently have five different epoxy flake colors head to our website stonecoatcountertops.com to pick or build your own kit no matter what size your flooring project is we teach you step by step in this video as well as our written instructions to help guide you through your project for absolutely no cost you got this all right we're going to mix up our moisture sealing epoxy primer it's a two to one I'm gonna pour both materials into this larger bucket and mix by hand you could also mix with a paddle mixer and a drill we're going to take time to scrape the sides and bottom of the bucket to ensure we have a good mix all right you want to be sure to mix part A thoroughly before you combine both parts A and B our moisture seal epoxy primer is a two to one roll-on Vapor Barrier that is going to adhere to that open concrete and create an extreme bond this step has become industry standard when applying an epoxy floor over concrete we took our industrial grade moisture seal primer and formulated it for the DI wire with tons of working time and no nasty smell without sacrificing durability the sealant does all the hard work for you it's a self-leveling product that doesn't stink it covers small imperfections and will give the surface a nice smooth layer and a base color to work with our moisture seal epoxy primer comes in three colors tan gray and black all right a couple Pro tips when applying the moisture seal to a vertical wall you're going to apply it nice and thin and especially cinder block it's very porous you roll it in you let it absorb in and right before we come back and flike the wall we'll give it a quick once over again with a little more material you do not want to apply so much material that it's going to run and drag and puddle up on the flat part of your garage all right we applied that first coat it's saturated in we're going to come back with a real light coat right before you broadcast and this thing is going to come to life you can see see how it's like the block absorbs in that resin so that's a little not that's not enough epoxy on there so come back just with a quick glaze coat and we're ready to plate so I'm kind of throwing up to get up high underneath that sheetrock lift and then the stuff that comes down use that to flick it right back up on your wall [Music] so there's multiple ways to flake a garage floor there's a light flake there's a midflake and then there's a full flake and that's all dependent on how much material you're applying to the to the coating so what you're seeing here on this vertical is a complete full flake we're on broadcasting my plate until it's completely saturated we'll come back when it dries and scrape off any loose and apply our top coat right to it which encapsulates that flake and protects it keeps it on the wall this uh moisture steel is open for so long I'm not going to make a rush I don't have to panic and Rush myself through this I'm really taking my time getting it to look as uniform as possible and as you broadcast it on you'll see nothing stick it'll fall right to the deck that's when you know you're ready to move on and I just kind of get my scraps at the bottom bring them down because I'm going to come back after this set after this set we're going to roll out the moisture sealer on the deck for the light flake look it's about a half a pound of our colored flake per one car garage that's about 290 square feet the garage we're working with today is about a garage and a half where we we could park in here but you have a couple feet on either side a neat aspect of using this flake floor I'm going to scrape up all my loose flake here and I'd be able to broadcast that over my garage when I scrape out the floor after it cures I could save that up if I'm a contractor I'm doing this for a living I could box that up and use it on my next job I have extra help on this project if you're doing this all by yourself just do this in sections I'd roll on my first coat of moisture seal let that absorb I come back hit that second very light coat and start broadcasting at probably 10 foot sections that's probably what I'm about to do big tanks like this you're going to want to prep the bottom so you don't get actually running up you want to trim it really pretty and if this were ever to fail which they don't this is my pressure tank for my house I would remove that I could always patch it or I could find they often sell like these trim kits for these stuff to catch excess water if they were to leak it's a little trim Basin so that's something you could you could put over that but really if I had some of this left over a little bit of moisture seal this won't ever to fail I could easily patch that and you would never know the difference if this is your customer's house you're not going to want to disassemble their entire well system to do the floor you're going to work around that or if you do want to go that route I would definitely suggest hiring a professional plumber to tackle something like that the vertical step is complete we're gonna go get any loose flake we'll sweep that up I'll put it in the bucket and then we're going to broadcast that all over the floor these putty knives work really well to scrape that excess flake that's piling up right as the vertical becomes horizontal so I'll scrape that sweep it up scoop it in the bucket we're going to use what's left over from that first batch and mix up another kit and apply that to the rest of the floor guys like shoes are a must whenever walking on epoxy they sell low medium and high grades of this we'll leave a link in the description below to our favorite Spike shoe it keeps you on your toes on your feet and not slipping and sliding in wet epoxy all right perimeter is complete we're gonna apply the epoxy and ribbons on the floor we'll spread it out with this magic trowel this is a silicone tipped trowel used for spreading coatings on concrete or wood and then we'll back roll with a quarter inch microfiber roller on a pole the moisture seal epoxy primer is applied at one ounce per square foot I pour out ribbons of the material and use an 18 inch wide magic trowel to initially spread the colored epoxy I'm looking for a thin even coating I'll come back with a quarter inch microfiber roller to back roll that entire project this helps even out any high points Left Behind from spreading of the epoxy with that magic trowel thin to win here folks you want enough material to cover that concrete and allow the flake to stick to the floor but not big puddles larger puddles of epoxy will cause that flake to sink and required you throw out more flakes to cover that epoxy I called up a professional in my area to come give me a quote on this epoxy flake floor for garage this size my quote came back at just over five thousand dollars if you follow the steps in this video you're gonna get professional results your first time saving yourself tons of money the moisture seal application is complete again to recap that we're gonna mix up the material We'll pour out thin ribbons spread it with our squeegee and then back roll and then cross hatch what is cross hatching We're Gonna Roll left to right they're going to switch Direction and roll front to back cover the entire surface what we're after is a nice thin coating exactly what you see here then it's time to broadcast it's time to do the flake right now for our one car garage epoxy plate kit you get one pound of flake for light coverage you're gonna use half that bag to lightly broadcast all over that garage floor to give it a visual contrast you have light you have mid and you have heavy flight coverage we're first going to show you light and then the mid coverage you're going to use three pounds of flake per one car garage and if you want to go full flake you're going to do two boxes of flake we'll scrape off the excess and then we're ready for the top coat you're literally taking little pinches of the flake you want to start small and broadcast it high let the air and gravity disperse the flake as evenly as possible you're pinching it's like a couple tablespoons of flake per broadcast and the higher you throw it the more the air and gravity is going to disperse it out and make it spread evenly that's what we're looking for here folks is a uniform coating and you can see just that small very thin coating of the moisture seal is all that's necessary to hold that flake right here I'm just showing what light coverage looks like after this you're going to see medium and then finally a full coverage application and I'll return tomorrow for the final step guys we're making it rain epoxy flakes to help the channel grow share the video guys thank you so much for the support along the way and don't forget you got this all right that's your light Plate System now we're going to go to the mid coverage which is about three pounds per single car garage instead of that half pound per single car garage so what you're looking for is about 50 flake 50 epoxy showing through for the half flake half epoxy look a small handful is a great amount just simply repeat the process toss it up in the sky and spread it around evenly we'll let this cure and return tomorrow don't overthink this step folks you're literally just throwing it up in the air and taking an overall look on the floor any spot that has too much flake just add a little extra flake beside it and then when you can't quite throw it up so high I come and just run my fingers together and drop a little bit where I really want the goal is to not drop a giant Clump it's going to be hard to get that out no big piles you want to just sprinkle all right for the full flake system we're taking the same same application method but we're going full flake you're going to throw it up and as far as you can letting gravity and and wind take it down make it more natural we're going full coverage at this point just like we did on the sides we want flakes covering the entire layer of epoxy we've got five different color variations of our epoxy flake floor system to choose from we've got two shades of brown two Shades of Gray and a really cool blue color if any of those colors aren't what you're looking for we have a custom ordering option it's going to take an extended amount of time to get it to your door but that option is still available for you epoxy flake floor systems are nearly indestructible and are going to last for a very long time all right to save yourself some excessive time peeling tape do that while the epoxy is still wet it won't dry into your flake so I'm going to go ahead and peel the tape wherever it's hitting my flick excessively over here you're okay down at the bottom of my tanks up here where we have epoxy hitting flake you want to peel that right now while the epoxy is still wet all right that step is over this is a full coverage look we used a full 40 pound box broadcasted the flake to where you cannot see the epoxy down below we'll let this dry overnight we'll be back tomorrow for the next step we'll scrape the floor we'll mix up our top coat We'll add the non-slip grip and then we'll be applying that with a roller another step just using rollers guys we showed you light mid and full flight coverage let me know in the comments below which one you like best I'm back it's the next day the moisture seal epoxy primer is cured perfectly it's time to scrape off any excess flake if you're doing light or mid coverage the scraping is not necessary it's only necessary with the full flake coverage like you see right here to scrape the floor we're just going to use light pressure keep an angle we're looking to get any loose flakes off and then we're going to sweep blow out this garage and then we're going to mix up the poly aspartic top coat we're going to add the non-slip grip to it and then this project will be complete I'm gonna go front to back and then I switch my direction I cross hatch you don't want to see any like when we use that nostril you'll see those iridescent lines you don't want to just go One Direction switch directions go back the other way it's real light pressure I'm not pushing real hard just gliding that scraper right across the floor any loose flakes they gotta go this step is easy don't overthink it just Glide that scraper run across the floor that's gonna catch so just take your time I'm in no rush light pressure and mow the lawn so your dad don't yell at you by leaving little strips behind all right do not forget to scrape those vertical edges there's going to be less flake vertically but you do want to scrape before applying that top coat so just light pressure same deal for the real tight spots around your equipment in the tight Corners get yourself a little flexible or stiff putty knife scrape the top man that is good all right folks this project is nearly complete take your time in this step get any of those loose flakes out of there it's going to make for an easier application of that poly aspartic top coat if you leave any loose flakes what happens is they can build up and create little high points or little mountains so when you come back after the poly aspartic is dry you got these little mountains of high points of flakes so to keep that from happening do a good job getting rid of those loose Flakes and they won't build up on you all right that step is complete we scraped the bottoms we scrape the sides get any loose flake on out of here I put my tarp I lifted that up to that was covering my floor that caught all the flakes as I blew them out you can save those for the next job it's now time to re-tape off the perimeter and then we're gonna mix up the top coat add that non-slip grip and then that's just rolling on the top coat this job's almost done this is an 18 inch quarter inch nap epoxy Glide roller perfect for rolling out the polyester top coat all right guys it's time to mix up our polyexpartic top coat this top coating is insanely strong very durable scratch resistant and it accepts our non-slip grip so we're going to first Mix A and B together for about two to three minutes with a mixing stick after we're done mixing the poly aspartic top coat for a couple minutes we're gonna scoop in one ounce per gallon of our non-skid grit additive this one kit will cover around 300 to 400 square feet it's perfect for that one car garage or you know like this this is your one and a half car garage where you can pull in one car and you have a few feet on either side just like any other Stone coat product we're gonna mix for two to three minutes and take time to scrape the sides and bottom this is a hundred percent solids very low odor easy to mix you know there's no it's not highly regulated it ships to your door extremely fast you've got about a 40 to 50 minute pot life but once you mix get it into that rolling pan and then it's going to be dry between eight and ten hours light foot traffic within 24 and depending on how cold it is above 70 degree curing you could drive on it within about three to four days in the colder months wait about a week pour in the non-skid additive and then thoroughly mix now we're ready to pour this top coat right into our rolling pan a good practice to follow when when using the non-skid grip you want to give it a good stir before you pour it the grit is heavy so it's going to want to start settling in your coating well once you roll that out nice and thin it adds a perfect grip to keep it from slipping and sliding on those epoxy floors uh from my experience epoxy's about is slippery as tile is so but when it gets wet it's a little slippy when you add this non-slip grip it's Insurance keeping you nice and steady on your feet so because we have a vertical wall we're applying to we have these two little roller pans you're going to use your four inch or you know six inch little rollers and apply that to the vertical aspect of your project and then I'll come back and cross hatch with this bigger roller now that we're mixed we got about 40 to 50 minutes to get the product applied to the sides and bottom of your project we're going to cross hatch that application lock away those lap lines are going to self level out there's no reason to be in a big hurry just painting the floor nice and easy Leisure day in the garage you'll walk away tomorrow it'll be ready to walk on [Music] and then just like the scrape step we want to mow the lawn here we don't want any mist sections Pro tip when using this big roller it's going to be heavily saturated right out of that roller pan apply it here and then feather out that material left to right it's really going to spread it this stuff goes a long way so I'll feather it out and then I'll come back to that Center pick up some more material and then just work your way down [Music] and here we are at the final step and what I'm looking for is my flakes to be fully encapsulated in that poly aspartic top coat I don't want any edges of my flake exposed that may be able to be flaked off or you know if you get your shoe on there and rotate you don't want anything to catch on that [Music] all right that step is complete we're going to let this cure overnight then we'll get back in here and show you final results but before you leave just like any epoxy products you want to remove any tape that's going to be touching your wet epoxy it's much harder to remove the next day when that epoxy is secured so my floor covering here at the front of the shop any tape that's touching epoxy we're going to get that out right now I'll close this door you'll be able to walk on this floor within 24 hours you did it you made it to the end and for my way to say thank you start out your comment with hey Mitch I'll personally hop in these comments and answer them myself you've got this everybody thanks for watching foreign folks he installs in our tail lights don't forget about how-to instructions every step along the way and until next time don't forget from stoneco countertops you got this we'll see you on the next video you can do this [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Stone Coat Countertops

Views: 328,228

Keywords: epoxy, epoxy flooring, dirty pour, epoxy metallic, epoxy metallic floor, epoxy resin, diy, diy epoxy, stone coat countertops, stone coat, diy crafts, overlay, how to, how to epoxy, garage floor epoxy, garage flooring, diy epoxy floor, diy garage flooring, epoxy floor, garage floor, garage flooring installation, garage flooring ideas, diy projects, do it yourself world, How to Epoxy Concrete Floors with Flakes, epoxy flakes, epoxy flakes flooring, flooring diy, epoxy flake

Id: 1cIjZBUf-nk

Length: 26min 40sec (1600 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 11 2023