The garage build.

[Rich Z]

OK, I went out and made some measurements of the floor so I knew where the seams are actually located. I than talked to Chris at XtremeMotorsports about his lift and he told me I needed to get the extended width version (XPR-10ACX) so that the arms will go under the vettes. Apparently with the standard width lift, the posts are too close to the car and the thicker back section of the arms will be too tall to fit under the car. With the extended lift, you can extend the arms and those lower extensions will work fine.

The bay I want to put the lift into is 12 ft, 6 inches wide from the edge of the wall floor plate to the first concrete seam. The width from the outside edges of post mounting plates for the XPR-10ACX is 12 inches. So it appears I have 6 inches to play with laterally. As for the central seam running the length of the garage, it is 14 ft. and 3.5 inches from the front, and 14 ft. 8.5 inches from the back.

So then I called Chris at Affordable Automotive Equipment in Orlando to talk to him about the concrete issue. He said that they try to get at least 6 inches from the nearest seam, but even 4 inches will work if they use special lag bolts. So by butting the left post up against the wall plate, they will be a good 6 inches from that dividing seam. As far as the central seam, since the car on an asymmetrical lift tends to stick out more towards the rear of the car, then they can position the lift to the read of the seam with plenty of room to spare to the back of the garage.

Oh, he also said that the spec for 4 inches of 3,000 psi concrete is for non reinforced concrete. Since my slab is reinforced with steel mesh, this actually gives us a larger margin of safety. Chris told me that when the guys come to do the install, if they see any issues at all with the concrete, they will just stop the install right there. They are liable of they install on concrete that they feel is not up to snuff. At that point, they can either leave the lift and I can install it myself, taking on all liability, or I can have the concrete cut out and replaced with a column and then they will come back to complete the install for me.

So it sounds like a "go" to me....

Whew.....

[Rich Z]

Connie and I are doing the floor in the garage this weekend. Actually started days ago by caulking up where the metal meets the floor and taping and plastic wrapping as much as we can. For two reasons: ((1) I'm a bit nervous about the muriatic acid wash that needs to be done to the floor, and (2) I don't want the roller to throw splatters everywhere. Putting acid into a metal building really doesn't thrill me, but it seems like just about all the products out there strongly recommend this step in the process.

But this is a killer on our feeble bodies. The night I did the caulking I thought Connie was going to find me laying on the floor unable to get up because I was crawling around on my knees to do that (luckily using knee pads to keep my knees from dying), but the legs just finally gave out. For the first 80 percent of the caulking process I felt pretty good, and was actually amazed that my legs were going strong at the stooping and standing NUMEROUS times. However, the last few times I needed to stand up to walk across the floor to get something were REALLY tough. I did get the walls done, but I just could NOT do the lift. If I had been in the middle of the floor instead at the rollup doors where I could grab the frames to pull myself up, I dunno, I might STILL be out there.. And taping the plastic up was no picnic neither.. Connie did nearly all the stooping for that process as that was the day after the caulking, and just NO way I was going to be able to do it.

Anyway, the product I chose was something called UCoat-It. I liked the idea that it requires a damp floor so the first layer actually bonds with the concrete. Most places want the floor to be BONE dry, which causes problems because all the prep work on the floor requires that you heavily wet it down. So there would have been a delay of several days, at least, to allow the floor to dry out before even starting the painting process. With UCoat-It, we were able to start immediately after finishing the acid wash process with the floor still damp.

We did that first layer yesterday (Saturday), and it was a relief to actually be painting the epoxy instead of just getting ready to do that. I need to patch a few chips and gouges in the floor along with the expansion seams, but it got too cool to do that last night, so I did it today, and matter of fact, just got finished. In another hour or so we'll apply the color finish coat. Then on Monday and Tuesday we'll put down two coats of clear.

And hope a surprise storm (which isn't at all unusual in north Florida) won't sneak in. Apparently the high humidity associated with rain can ruin the clear coat layers. Heck, just degreasing the floor and rinsing out the cleaner raised the humidity inside the garage to OVER 100 percent. I kid you not, the meter I have in there was pegged OVER the 100 percent mark. So I had to figure out some way to put a dehumidifier in there, even without rain. Connie came up with the idea of putting a sheet of plyboard on the lift and that way run the dehumidifier, but not have to have it sitting on the floor. That seems to be working quite well.

Anyway, for anyone planning on doing something like this, it's a LOT of work, and takes a good chunk of time as well. No way we could have done this while still working with the animals.

The bad thing is that we have to have the vehicles sleeping outside for the duration. And once the last coat is applied, we need to give the floor 7 to 10 days to cure enough to drive vehicles on it. Just hope the rats and mice don't chew up any more wires in them while they are outside....

Anyway, I'm hoping Connie and I will have a feeling of accomplishment doing this and not suffer any permanent damage to our bodies. Right now, I'm not too sure about the damage part. Just getting INTO bed has been what seemed like an extraordinary feat the last few nights.... And heck, we both are walking like we are 190 years old......

[Rich427]

Rich,

I also have UCoat It on my garage floor. It is great stuff and I am sure you will be happy when this job is done. If applied correctly, it is a very effective garage floor coating.

Good luck, you're in the home stretch now!

Rich

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by Rich427

Rich,

I also have UCoat It on my garage floor. It is great stuff and I am sure you will be happy when this job is done. If applied correctly, it is a very effective garage floor coating.

Good luck, you're in the home stretch now!

Rich

Well, I hope we're applying it correctly....

Caulked underneath the metal flanges for the walls and also underneath the lift supports, taped up plastic sheeting, did TWO degreasing steps, one with a floor buffer with brush, two muriatic acid washes and pressure washed the floor afterwards. The one thing I'm not sure I did correctly was the bond coat, however. I didn't have a clue about how thick to make the first coat, so I was pretty conservative about it. I figured the WORST thing would be to run out of material before the job was done. I covered the floor completely, but instead of using three packages of epoxy, I used less than two, with the last half getting thicker coverage then the first half. That left me with four packages for the "final" color coat, which we did today, so I used up nearly all of that by laying that coat on very thick and heavy. I'm hoping it turns out OK. While laying down this coat, those seams done with the UPatch were plainly visible through the paint layer, so I'm not sure what to expect then it all dries. I chose the medium gray color.

Regardless of what it looks like tomorrow, the first clear coat goes on. We figure that one package of the clear coat (we are doing three per coat) should cover one bay and a third of the next, so I'll have a better feel for coverage after I have gotten that far. The guy I talked to at UCoat-It made me nervous by telling me to be certain to use the 3/8th inch nap roller covers instead of the 1/2 inch ones, because using the 1/2 inch nap rollers will not give me enough coverage to finish the job. Doesn't seem like there is THAT much difference in rollers to me, and it makes me REAL nervous cutting things that closely. But at least I have a second layer. So if I run short on the first coat and have to dip into the second coat, I may have to decide on either abandoning the second coat, or else putting it down with a thinner coat to make it last for the entire floor. Heck, if I had done the bond coat the way I did the finish coat, I would have run short of epoxy by a wide margin. So I think maybe their calculations on larger floors needs some tweaking.

Anyway, the instructions say that the finish coat must NOT be tacky to the touch before applying the clear coat, so I'll see how things go tomorrow. The cooler night temps will slow down the curing, plus this coat was pretty thick. But at least one of the forecasts I checked have delayed the next rain till Thursday in case I have to drag this out past Tuesday. If I had thought of it earlier, I should have put a heater in along with the dehumidifier. I may do this for the clear coats.

[Rich Z]

Well, we did the first of two clear coats today. Looks pretty decent. Connie didn't expect it to turn out that nicely and was rather surprised at how it turned out. That cleat coat DEFINITELY makes a BIG difference.

I'm a bit concerned about the second coat, however. The color finish coat was still just barely tacky after a good 18 hours of curing time, based on the slight noise the rubber soles of my boots made when walking on the last section of the floor done yesterday. That seemed to be completely dry by the time we got to that section to apply the clear coat, however, since we opened up the rollup doors and a nice breeze was blowing to help dry things out.

The directions with the clear coat specifically point out that the coat that the clear in being applied over must be absolutely dry and tack free, so I'm concerned that with the cooler temps tonight, that perhaps the cure time might be more than 24 hours. We got done around 4:30pm today, and will check the floor tomorrow around the same time to make sure it is completely cured and NO tackiness at all to it. A friend of mine came over and warned me to be careful with the second coat, because if the first coat isn't completely cured, it may cause the whole darn thing to crinkle up on me. I then remembered some unpleasant circumstances in my younger days painted things where I got too impatient and applied second coats that did exactly that. Yeah, that would sure ruin my day to see the floor become a crinkle finish on me....

So if the floor looks like it is without any missed spots with the first clear coat and I have any doubts whatsoever about the second coat, I may not apply it at all. If 24 hours expire and it's not completely cured, and I only have 36 hours to apply the second coat before having to sand down the whole thing in order to do so, the window of opportunity may not be feasible. I sure as hell don't want to be painting the floor at 2 am in the morning. And since Connie works at the market on Wednesday, I would have to do the whole thing myself.

I put a heater in the garage to try to keep the temps up a bit, but not sure how well that heater will do with the entire garage. Plus it is up on the lift, which is at the part of the garage that was done first (so we could exit via the door as we finished up), so it may not even warm up the far side of the garage at all.

So I guess I'll just make that decision tomorrow. I sure as hell don't want to stumble on the run from third base to home......

[Rich Z]

Ah well... I found that I missed a spot with the clear coat right in front of the walk-in door. I was right where I needed to pivot while maneuvering around the door to paint behind it while opened and then having to paint the path behind me as I walked out the door. I couldn't see the spot at the angle I was looking to see the glint off of the clear coat and consequently missed a spot about the half the size of my hand. Dang it... So we had to do the second coat.

But the second clear coat went on smooth as butter. Only took about an hour and a half to do the entire floor, and I was putting it on rather thickly. And I still have a full package of clear coat (out of three) left over unmixed. Hopefully I didn't miss any spots this time around. But it was damned tough seeing the new paint lines on that previous clear coat. I really had to watch my step to keep from stepping on the fresh coat. But hopefully no glitches. All we need to do now is just wait for it to cure completely. I took time lapse video, but I can't get to the camcorder till I am comfortable walking on the surface and hauling in the stepladder to get to it.

It was quite a job, I'll tell you. Hope it holds up as I really don't want to have to do something like this again.

[Rich427]

Rich,

I don't think you will ever have to re-do your floor again. When I first saw UCoat-It it was at the Corvettes at Carlisle show. Years ago, they installed it in some of Carlisle Fairgrounds display buildings. It looked great. I had talked to a UCoat-It Rep because I was interested in there product. I asked him about the longevity of the product. He told me that in a residential application you will never have to replace the coating. He did tell me that in commercial applications they would have to replace it depending on the usage. I know at Carlisle they did have to re-do the coating but they had thousands of people walking on that flooring at every show for years. I don't think you need to worry about it. Now that it is done, sit back and enjoy it. That's what I do with mine.

Rich

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by Rich427

Rich,

I don't think you will ever have to re-do your floor again. When I first saw UCoat-It it was at the Corvettes at Carlisle show. Years ago, they installed it in some of Carlisle Fairgrounds display buildings. It looked great. I had talked to a UCoat-It Rep because I was interested in there product. I asked him about the longevity of the product. He told me that in a residential application you will never have to replace the coating. He did tell me that in commercial applications they would have to replace it depending on the usage. I know at Carlisle they did have to re-do the coating but they had thousands of people walking on that flooring at every show for years. I don't think you need to worry about it. Now that it is done, sit back and enjoy it. That's what I do with mine.

Rich

Well, I've got my fingers crossed....

I didn't use any of the friction modifier stuff, and just as well, as the surface doesn't look all that smooth to me. Sure it's nice and shiny, but it's not like a sheet of glass like I see in the photos. Probably a lot of dust just from the doors needing to be opened.

I've spent minimal time walking on it, only going in to dump the dehumidifier bucket when needed. And then wrapping my shoes in plastic bags when I walked on the surface. Probably being overly cautious, but what the heck. I can see some areas of the color coat are motled somewhat, like I could have used a third coat there. But like Connie says, "It's JUST a garage." The floor is sealed and that's good enough. I just want it to THOROUGHLY cure before pulling the vehicles in there, so I'm going to give it two solid weeks.

[gsdave]

Did you lay down a vapor barrier before pouring the slab?

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by gsdave

Did you lay down a vapor barrier before pouring the slab?

Yes.