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Scoring Over Epoxy
grego	04-13-2008 07:49:05
Member Posts: 11 Joined: 01-22-2008	Recently we were called to acid stain a basement floor (new construction). The contractor used a composite wood material to protect the floor during construction. After staining, perfect lines appeared corresponding to the joints where the covering met each other. At any rate, the homeowners were not happy with the lines and other "flaws", such as small oil spots left by an air compressor used by the concrete finishers. Now that the floor has already been sealed (epoxy), the homeowners want the floor scored. How can this be done with epoxy already on the floor and what can I expect? Thanks for your reply(ies)!

MC	04-13-2008 11:16:29
Member Posts: 723 Joined: 05-20-2007	You should be able to cut it just fine. I will seal floors before cutting sometimes,,this way your saw cuts are all the same color without any stain in them..so you dont have to grout

Lindy A.	04-14-2008 09:36:40
Member Posts: 1772 Joined: --	You can score after sealing; however, keep in mind that the epoxy could scratch/scar along the edges of the cuts; obviously if this occurs you will have to touch up the epoxy. As for the disclored areas, you might want to consider translucently tinting epoxy with 844 (alcohol and water free tint) available at Shewin Williams, using it to blend in some of the imperfections making them less evident. Note: never add more than 5% tint by volume to epoxy. Depending on consistance of epoxy, you might want to add a small amount of Xylene (about 5 % by volume) to thin it out if you decide to touch the spots up on the floor. Can sometimes use a concrete dye technique over some sealers to blend them in as well, in order to make them less evident. Lindy A.

grego	04-14-2008 16:46:31
Member Posts: 11 Joined: 01-22-2008	Thanks everyone for your responses. Each reply has been very helpful, as this forum always is!! I am going to attempt this tomorrow. How does everyone apply their epoxies? I rolled this on and needless to say, it will be my last to roll on. I found it difficult to say the least, as it was difficult for me to judge volume (i.e. thickness of application). I think I will invest in an airless system and spray on going forward. What does everybody else think?

Lindy A.	04-15-2008 08:05:48
Member Posts: 1772 Joined: --	You need to roll the epoxy on if it is a 100% solids, high build, syrup like viscosity industrial/commercial flooring formulation. You can not spray these. Rolling is not difficult if you plan ahead ... (1) roller for each batch mixed; if it is a really large floor you can use an 18" to 24" roller instead of an ordinary 9"; if you go to http://www.midwestrake.com you will find various epoxy related speciality application items that give you greater ease as to application process. (2) apply out of bucket with roller grid; never apply out of roller tray (3) when placing roller on surface, backroll toward you before going forward so that you don't have a thick blob on the floor where you first placed the roller (4) always have someone mixing the epoxy batches that is keeping up with your need; thereby, allowing you to keep wet to wet as your apply the epoxy; instead of stopping to mix more yourself, which uses up precious time, and can bring about your loss of wet to wet window (5) always store your epoxy in a warm area; when stored in a cold area it will become very thick and will not roll out easily/uniformly since it will loose a great deal of its leveling thin syrup like properties (instead, when epoxy is cold it is more like thick molassas) (6) apply the epoxy when the room air temperature and concrete substrate temperature are both over 55F; humidity should be less than 50% as well Lindy A.

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