Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Preparation Tips for Garage Floors

1) When hot tires are parked on driveway and/or garage floor, paraffin emitted from the tires embeds in the concrete creating a rubberized barrier and bond breaker.  This is most common with high-performance tires and concentrated in the tire lanes where the vehicle comes to rest.

2) While mechanical (grinding) surface preparation is best, it is important to degrease these areas first so as not to grind grease into the concrete.

3) Degreasing and/or acid etching will not remove the paraffin, which is why mechanical abrasion is necessary.

4) A water absorption test will tell you whether the surface is ready to receive a coating.  A dime-sized bead of water should penetrate the concrete in 10 to 15 seconds.  If not repeat the abrasion process.

Friday, September 7, 2012

New Super Seal 210 Formulation

The new Super seal 210 is a formulation that is VOC compliant throughout every state in the U.S., what does this mean for us? The product is non solvent and can be applied on projects that we would have had to pass up with the previous formula. In addition, you can order the new formulation as needed with no minimum order  That’s right, you can order 3 kits of one color or just one of each! This will increase your sales because you may only need 1 or 2 kits for a job, not 20 gallons.

The new formulation comes in a 3/4 gallon kit not a 1 gallon. The 3/4 gallon kit can be applied at a rate of 180 ft per kit, the coverage will depend on the look you desire and the porosity of the floor.  At 80 to 100 s/f you will get a high build, high gloss, glassy like finish.  At 150 to 180 s/f you will get a shiny, tough floor but not as smooth and glassy looking.

You can also extend the mix by adding no more than 1 quart of acetone. Acetone is a VOC compliant solvent and requires good ventilation; this should be considered before extending the mix. When odor is not an issue, the introduction of a quart of Acetone will give you 25% more yield and increase your dry times. But it will also in increase the absorption rate which will reduce the film’s thickness. On floors that appear to be very porous and where odor is not an issue, thinning the first coat and spreading it as far as it will go can act as a good primer to help minimize the gassing of the porous concrete thus minimizing the potential for air bubbles.

If the concrete is very porous and odor is an issue, we recommend putting down a thin coat of product without Acetone to act as your prime coat It is always a good idea to have a porcupine roller on hand during final coat application should you still get some out gassing due to porous concrete.

The new 210 can do exactly what the old one did and can also do some things the old 210  COULD NOT DO! The new formulation has a lot more benefits and a lot less ordering restrictions and application restrictions.