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"Epoxy quartz-sand broadcast epoxy floor paint system"

Seamless Epoxy Quartz Floors Are the High-End, Toughest and Most Durable of All Epoxy Floors. They Can Be Made to Look More Attractive By Using Colored Sands and A Clear Topcoat Instead of Aluminum Oxide Or Regular Sands (OR USE RUBBER GRIT OR GROUND WALNUT SHELL FOR BOATS) For Serious Commerical Applications, This Is The Primary Epoxy Floor System To Consider.

non sand broadcast sytems on boats for anti-slip - also read this page - click here


Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

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Paul Oman, MS, MBA - Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

Member: NACE (National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers), SSPC (Soc. of Protective Coatings)

"Professionals helping Professionals"


Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc. - carries floor epoxies/stains etc. that range for about 40 cents per square foot to about $3.50 per square foot (material costs only). That's about the price range you'll find anywhere in the industry. The low end uses one coat of average quality floor epoxy, the high-end uses a top notch epoxy in a multi-coat, colored sand/chip system with UV absorbing topcoat.

If you are completely new to Epoxy Floors and are exploring the idea of having an epoxy floor, click here to get the basic requirements before you call to discuss and/or order.

Our One Coat Floor Epoxy Recommendation - Unless you have very special problems to address, we recommend our Industrial Floor Epoxy over all other brands. It's solvent free, easy to use, and at about 40 cents per square foot, one of the best floor epoxy bargains anywhere. Colors: beige (doesn't show epoxy yellowing), and light gray! Visit our products page to learn more.


Shot blast surface preparation - Associated Surface Prep (California) - Peter Hughes - 530-662-3696


GOTO THE FLOOR COATINGS PAGE IN OUR CATALOG (www.epoxyproducts.com/b_floor.html)

Does your floor have a vapor barrier? UNDESTANDING VAPOR TRANSMISSION ISSUES WHEN COATING CONCRETE article - CLICK HERE


Our page on surface preparation - CLICK HERE


Third-party web site link on concrete floor surface preparation:

http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/surface_preparation/index.html

info on Acid Etching - CLICK HERE


Highest Quality Commercial Epoxy Floor

After suitable surface preparation, we generally recommend a coat of gray industrial floor epoxy covered to excess with aluminum oxide (sands works too, but not nearly as durable). Any excess aluminum oxide is then swept away and the surface covered with another coat of industrial floor epoxy. This locks the aluminum oxide in place and essentially results in a quartz (or aluminum oxide) floor held in place top and bottom by epoxy. Expect the epoxy to yellow in direct sunlight



Colored Sand Broadcast System

This system repeats the Highest Quality Commercial Floor System described above, but replaces the sand or aluminum oxide layer with a layer of blended color quartz sands (practically an infinite combinations of number of different colored sands and proportions of each color. Background epoxy color also affects final color appearance). After the excess sands are swept away the remaining surface is covered with a clear top coat (epoxy, linear polyurethane, or acrylic - see
Clear Coat Page). If epoxy is used as the clear sealing topcoat, yellowing will result areas exposed to direct sunlight.

Because of the cost of the sand, especially the shipping charges, this method is rarely used by homeowners, and most commonly used in commerical applications.


Order direct from the manufacturer - CLIFFORD W ESTES CO INC. 973-575-4400



Application Manual (Version 2 12/01)

User Directions for Applying An Epoxy Floor

(7/01)


Disclaimer: The comments below are offered only as suggestions and guidelines. All decisions regarding product selection, surface preparation, and coating application are the sole responsibility of the purchaser.


Surface Preparation


Surface preparation is, or should be, a significant portion of any epoxy coating project. Each surface and environment is different and unique. Some surfaces will accept coatings with minimal preparation, others will always exhibit problems. Experienced coating applicators will often refuse to accept these problem floors.

It is nearly impossible to know ahead of time how much preparation is necessary. A minimalist will simply brush or sweep the surface, apply the coating and hope for the best. Slightly above this step is to ‘
acid etch' the concrete with acid purchased at the hardware store. On the other extreme, some people will wash, degrease, chemically and/or mechanically etch the surface and then sometimes repeat the process. Some place between these, just sweeping and repeated processing is probably the wisest approach and the one commercial contractors follow. Home owners, lacking the tools for industrial mechanical surface preparation, often just sweep, hose or acid etch.

The problem with surface preparation is that it is often several months down the road before coating failures related to surface preparation may appear. By then it is too late to do much except laboriously remove all the recently applied coating and begin all over again. That said, for homeowners, the minimal approaches usually prove adequate.

VISIT OUR SURFACE PREPATION SITE AT:

Surface Problems

Grease and oils can create serious adhesion problems for coatings. Degreasing and washing may appear to remove the grease or oil, but in badly saturated situations residual oils/greases seem to remain and may cause a coating failure in the future. While not a definitive test, pouring a glass of water on the concrete and watching what happens can provide a valuable clue to coating adhesion. If the water quickly and evenly soaks into the concrete the surface preparation may be adequate at that point.

Moisture either in the concrete, and/or migrating through the concrete can cause coating failure as well. Taping a sheet of plastic to the floor and looking for moisture to form under the plastic is a crude but common test for migrating moisture. Some epoxies will handle a wet or damp surface better than others. Note that crystals forming on the surface due to water migrating through the mineral rich cement can create forces of up to 1,500 pounds of pressure as they grow in size. Few coatings can withstand such ‘anti-bond' forces.

Irregular surfaces on the floor will show through the epoxy and may be more noticeable after the epoxy is applied. Fill or patch any irregular surfaces on the floor before beginning.You can mix sand into a small amount of epoxy to form a slurry (the sand will decrease the amount of epoxy needed) to fill voids and cracks. Do not fill in or paint over expansion joints in the floor. The epoxy will crack, split and lift off when there is movement along the expansion seam.

If the floor is subject to heating and cooling cycles, air bubbles (that often form tiny craters in the epoxy) can sometimes be a problem. As the concrete heats up in the sunlight, the air in the void spaces of the concrete expands and forms a bubble that gets ‘stuck' in the thickening epoxy. If this is a potential scenario for you, apply the epoxy when the air/concrete is cooling off rather than heating up. When the temperature is falling the air contracts and will literally pull the epoxy into the concrete void spaces. After the epoxy has cured, the heating and cooling cycles are not a problem.

How Many People Are Needed

One person can do a small area epoxy floor by himself, but it is much easier with a multi-person team. The best team size is probably three to five people. That is one or two people rolling on the epoxy non-stop, one or two people spreading the sand or vinyl chips non-stop, and one person mixing fresh batches of epoxy, refilling sand/chip supplies, and helping out as needed. Applying the sand or vinyl chips is probably the slowest of the tasks.

Mixing The Epoxy - Epoxy Notes

Initially mix only the amount of epoxy that can be used in 15 minutes or so. I would begin by mixing a batch of between 24 and 40 ounces of epoxy to begin with. Depending upon the air and surface temperature, the specific epoxy product, the amount of epoxy mixed, and the size and shape of the container, the working time (potlife) of the epoxy can vary from about 15 to 50 minutes. It is best to begin by mixing up small batches and increasing batch size until you determine the amount you can easily work with without going beyond the potlife. Once past the potlife, the epoxy will begin to thicken/harden and become warm to very hot.

Mixing is often done with a mixing rod sold at hardware stores that attaches to an electric drill. There is no magic time for how long to mix, you simply have to mix the two parts very well. It is pretty much guess work as to how much mixing is enough. Common sense is usually all that is needed.

Never attempt to get every last drop of epoxy out of your mixing pot. The few drops of epoxy clinging to the sides and corners of your mixing container will not be well mixed and may not harden. I like to mix in one container and work out of a second container which I have filled from the mixing container.



Applying The Epoxy

The epoxy can be applied to the floor straight from the rolling pan using a paint roller. However, experienced applicators have several alternative methods that they use. Most pour the epoxy from the mixing container directly on to the floor in ribbons. This spreads out the epoxy and extends working time. After the epoxy is poured out upon the floor it is often spread out with either a squeegee or notched trowel (usually one with 1/16 inch notches purchased in the tile section of the hardware store). After the epoxy is spread, then the paint roller is used to evenly and uniformly level and finish spreading out the epoxy.

The recommended roller is a 3/16 inch nap roller specifically labeled for use with epoxies. An alternative would be a ‘lintless' roller (although I have never actually seen a roller labeled lintless). Foam rollers work also, but the foam may begin to break off before job is complete. Regular ‘bulk' rollers (3/8 inch nap) will work too, but will leave roller fibers/lint on the surface for the first 30 square feet or so. Because the roller is in constant use the epoxy on it stays fresh and a single roller will last for the entire job, no matter how many batches of epoxy are mixed.

To make sure you are not using too much or too little epoxy you need to keep track of how much you are using for a given area. If aiming for a coverage rate of 100 square feet per gallon you should be using about one quart per 25 square feet (one five foot by five foot section). If you are using too much epoxy, work the roller/squeegee or notched towel a bit harder and/or thin it a little bit with lacquer thinner, MEK, or xylene. The epoxy will also thicken and not spread as well if the epoxy or the floor is cold. Epoxy thickness is very related to temperature (warmer temperatures mean thinner epoxy but also less potlife or working time). Just a little bit of thinner will make a big difference. You can also often simply spread out the epoxy a bit more with the squeegee, notched towel (this is where the notches and the downward pressure on the trowel really prove their value), or roller.

Broadcasting Sand, Rubber Grit, or Walnut Shell, or Vinyl Chips Into The Epoxy

For a modest anti-slip surface, small amounts of sand or some other material can be tossed (broadcast) randomly upon the freshly rolled out epoxy. Use the paint roller to ‘backroll' over the sand. This will completely coat the sand grains and, surprisingly, redistribute them in a relatively uniform pattern. When using a thin, clear epoxy topcoat, fine ‘sugar sand' can be sprinkled on to the epoxy to provide a fine, invisible, texture.

A true quartz etc./epoxy floor however, requires that the sand or anti-slip material be ‘broadcast to excess (or refusal)'. This means you keep adding sand on top of the epoxy until no epoxy shows or bleeds through the sand topcoat. You will find that it may take several minutes for the epoxy to ‘soak through' the sand so recheck the area every few minutes looking for ‘shiny spots' that need more sand. It will take about a half pound to one pound of sand per square foot to completely cover the epoxy. Later you will recover about half of the sand as excess. With experience you will learn to broadcast less and less excess sand on to the epoxy. The result is very attractive, uniform, semi rough finish (note: if using walnut shell or rubber grit, you'll get about 16-18 square feet per gallon (4 quarts) of material).

If using the vinyl chips, practice before hand sprinkling them uniformly upon a surface. You don't want to accidently drop lumps of chips all in one spot and you also want a semi-uniform density or clustering of chips on the surface. If you make a mistake you can ‘fix' it with more or less chips or epoxy either at this point or when the clear topcoat is applied.

Note that you can walk on the freshly applied epoxy wearing spiked shoes, either homemade or purchased. Garden shops sell spiked shoes for aerating lawns. Golf shoes would probably also work. The shoes leave tiny holes in the liquid epoxy which quickly fill back in providing the epoxy has not yet begun to harden.

After The First Coat of Epoxy

If you have taped out areas or edges to keep the epoxy from getting on a wall or pipe, you must remove the tape before the epoxy hardens. If you do not, the tape will be epoxied forever in place.

After the epoxy has hardened (overnight or so) carefully sweep or blow off the excess sand and chips. Then roll a topcoat of more epoxy (usually, but not always, a clear epoxy such as our Bio-Clear 810 epoxy) over the new surface to seal and protect the chips or sand grains. With the broadcast sand system, the now rougher surface will consume more epoxy. You may need to thin the epoxy somewhat or really pay attention to spreading it out as much as possible. If you fail to take this into account you may find yourself short of epoxy or that much of the anti-slip texture has been filled in with the epoxy.

Epoxies exposed to sunlight will yellow, lose their gloss, and eventually cloud up. Some colors of epoxy show this more than others. Brick red epoxy shows very little yellowing, white, followed by clear, is the worst.

We sell a 2-part acrylic polyurethane with max UV blockers (Acrylic Poly UV Plus) that can be applied over the epoxy topcoat that absorbs enough of the UV to keep epoxy from yellowing in direct sunlight. Apply over a topcoat of epoxy or directly over the broadcast sand/walnut/rubber. The down side of the polyurethane is the strong solvent odor is a a very thin coating. See our
clear coat page.

Clean Up

You can clean your tools before the epoxy has hardened with either lacquer thinner, MEK, or our special non-solvent TA 661 product. If allowed to soak, the TA 661 will even remove partially cured epoxy. On tools and skin the TA 661 will leave an oily feel that can be washed off with regular soap and water. Do not bother to save brushes and rollers, dispose of after each use.


non sand broadcast sytems on boats for anti-slip - also read this page - click here

color charts:

colored chips

industrial floor epoxy





Industrial Floor Epoxy Paint - Seamless Garage Epoxy Coating

"INDUSTRIAL FLOOR EPOXY" (tm) By Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc. 0% VOC, Solvent Free and Environmentally friendly, Odorless.

Professional grade floor epoxy paint / coating for garage, shops, and commercial facilities

48 oz, 1.5 gal, and 15 gal kits. Available in any amount over 15 gallons

Purchase at the Progressive Epoxy storefront or the more simple EpoxyUSA.com site

Questions?: Ask Prof. E. Poxy - CLICK HERE,


floorcoatings.html - short intro text +++++++++++++ problem.html - what can go wrong! +++++++++++++- quartz4u.html - quartz broadcast floors +++++++++++++ FloorChip.pdf - floor with colored chips application - PDF +++++++++++++ beginfloor4u.html - epoxy and floor basics +++++++++++++ floorpopular.html - common epoxy floor examples +++++++++++++ floorcs.html - the actual floor in floorpopular.html +++++++++++++ garage4u.html - coating your garage +++++++++++++ epoxy-floor-paint.html - index of floor epoxy web sites +++++++++++++ www.concrete-garage-epoxy-floor-paint.com - second index of floor epoxy web sites +++++++++++++ epoxy_floor_paint_test.html - self test: are you ready for an epoxy floor?

Knowledge is Power - We like informed consumers!

Learn the basics of epoxy at our educational EPOXY 101 page - Click Here.

Finally, email us back with your questions or comments before you buy - EMAIL HERE





Try It Yourself


you can see what this system looks like using regular latex paint (instead of the epoxy) and sand.



CONTACT INFO - ORDERING - HOW TO REACH US




(www.epoxyproducts.com/b_floor.html)

We are also very involved with Epoxy/Coatings in the following areas:

-- -Marine/Boat Repair/Building- -- -Pour On Bartop Epoxy- -- -Epoxy Floor Paints (massive info/options)- -- -Home/Commercial Epoxy Paints/Putties- -- -Pebble Deck Recoat Epoxy- -- -Epoxy Education- -- -Underwater Epoxy Painting/Repair- -- -EpoxyProducts Home Page- -- -EpoxyUSA Home Page- -- -Ask Professor E.Poxy- --

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:



For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776