Polished Concrete vs Epoxy Coating

purpose of this video is to demonstrate the difference between Polish concrete and epoxy coated concrete using the same base slab that is not new and previously had it be prepared to have the old coatings in this case an overlay meant completely removed to expose the base slab once the base slab was fully exposed it was then ground so both areas needed to be 30 grit ground to smooth out any of the damage from the PCBs that removed the top coating and then to prepare it for either the Polish concrete or the epoxy coating on the polished concrete side a 70 grit diamond was used to remove the 30 grit scratches so it was a traditional polished concrete process where the 70 grid is expected to smooth the floor from the original preparation step of the 30 grit once the 70 grit step was complete and the 30 grit scratches were removed it was decided to grout the floor the first coat of grout was an epoxy and the reason being is because the holes that are in the floor when it was first exposed are quite big so we decided to use an epoxy and a marble flower process which will help to fill the bigger holes in the floor that urethane or epoxy coat by itself would not adequately fill once the epoxy was given sufficient time to cure it was then removed using a 200 grit copper pad the goal with the 200 grit copper pad is to only remove the overfill of the epoxy we do the step wet so that the friction caused by the diamonds when run dry wouldn't help to rip that epoxy back out of the holes so again the only goal of the 200 grit copper is to remove that overfill and then once that's complete it also is going to remove the scratches from the 70 grit step once the floor was clean and dried it was then decided to use a urethane grout step and the reason being is because there was still a small amount of porosity so the floor would benefit from that extra step of urethane grout the urethane was applied pure using a straight trowel so it's just a tight skim and again the whole goal is just the fill in the micro porosity or the small holes once the urethane was cured enough so it could be cut again about 90 minutes in this case a 400 grit rubber back tool was used to take off the overfill this step was also done wet so that the friction from the tool wouldn't pull the urethane back out of the holes same as with the epoxy the goals of the 400 rubber back is to remove the overfill of the urethane and then also to process the floor to remove the 200 grit scratch with this process now complete it was time to densify the floor this particular densifier is a lithium based densifier it's specified to go on at eight hundred to a thousand feet a gallon so we were very careful to not over apply the material to finish the polishing process an 800 grit dry pad was used to take out the scratches from the 400 rubber back and to then process the floor to its final result being that this is a factory type floor it wasn't necessary to polish beyond 800 the floor has a good look good reflection it'll be easy to clean it'll be abrasion resistant and because it's more mechanically sound from the grouting it's actually gonna stand up to traffic better than if we had only dis densified it on the epoxy coated side the preparation that had taken place to remove the overlay meant with the 30 grit diamond was already complete so the floor needed to be vacuumed and then shot blasted the shop blessing was done to remove all the fine dust that was left behind after vacuuming the goal is to remove all that dust so when the epoxy is applied to the floor it can fully saturate the surface and have no contamination between it and the base slab the goal of the epoxy scheme is to fill in any gouges or marks from prep any of the pits or the holes that we know are present in this slab and then to also seal off that surface by filling in any of the - imperfections in the floor we're eliminating the possibility of those defects telegraphing through the top coat the entire epoxy system is only gonna be about 25 mils so that much coating may sound like a lot but it's very likely that anything that wasn't filled in or patched in with that skim coat would more than likely show through the top coat of the floor once the skimming was complete it was allowed to sit for about 90 minutes we don't really have to worry about the skim coat being fully dry as long as we have spikes when we go on the floor we can put wet epoxy over wet epoxy primer or wet epoxy skim the body coat was installed at 20 mils once that was complete while it was wet sand was broadcast into it until rejection by adding sand the compressive strength and the abrasion resistance of the epoxy will be increased once the floor had been allowed to cure for at least eight hours in our case about 16 the floor was vacuumed clean therefore the only sand that remained would be trapped inside the epoxy the next coat was an epoxy seal coat applied at approximately 7 mils the Boxey sealcoat is installed to lock down the sand at the top of the epoxy body coat they're still going to be exposed sand which is porous as well as any porosity or air that was trapped the idea the seal coat is to lock everything down and together so that the top is going to be very durable and basically resilient at that point the final step in the system is a high wear urethane that's applied at about three mils and is meant to withstand regular traffic fork traffic wheel traffic foot traffic though a floor like this has great impact resistance and also an increased compressive strength over a floor that has no sand the real purpose is that it's going to be a better wearing floor because the abrasion resistance that exists at the top of the floor this was a fun one to do because we took an old beat-up surface and we were able to rejuvenate it back to a polished surface and also a coated surface based on the clients expectations and requirements it's a good example of what can be done with the differing finishes and using them where appropriate for that particular venue thank you very much for watching if you like what you watch please drop us a like below if you have any questions or comments please drop those below as well thank you again

Channel: Josh Jones

Views: 255,681

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Id: Xr5ZVDQs7c8

Length: 5min 32sec (332 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 05 2020