Outer Limits 4x4 Board

The concrete in my shed is not as hard as I would like and tends to rub off dust when the trolley jack, vehicle stands etc are used.

I'm thinking of coating it with something to give it a tougher surface.

I know there are clear epoxy and water based polymers out there. I dont want to go plastic fleck or coloured, just a clear coat to toughen the concrete and make cleanign easier would be good. I saw one recently where they where putting it on after polishing the concrete.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanx
Paul

if the surface is not sound, coating it is likely to fail. Hard wheels on a trolley jack would probably be enough to break an epoxy coating if the concrete below has a dusty or crumbling surface.

you could try hiring a floor grinder and give the surface a grind to remove any suspect material, then coat it with a concrete grey epoxy.

Epoxy paints are expensive, but great for easy cleaning up.

Sounds like the slab was rained on when it was being poured.....

This weakens the top few mm of concrete and it powders and chips very easily as a result.

Hire a concrete grinder and cut off the top 5mm, paint it with a concrete sealer and if needed a color coat of concrete paint


We get this alot in "sunny Victoria".... the weather is fine, pour the slab, thunder storm, just as you finish off with the trowel


Takes about 25hours to fully grind a 60'X30' slab without any construction on it, allow 30hours if its been built over

Takes about 5hours to pressure wash all the dust away from the inside of the shed, an hour if its just a slab.

I painted my shed floor with yellow pavement paint, the nasty, smelly, chemically type.

After 10 years it is still easy to clean all the diff oil and crud off of. Also the yellow reflects light well.

Don't muck around just seal it so it works like a shed floor should, and use a good product so you only have to do it once.

V8Patrol wrote:Sounds like the slab was rained on when it was being poured.....

This weakens the top few mm of concrete and it powders and chips very easily as a result.

Sounds exactly like the slabs i see at work after they get wet, quite often they have run the helicopter over them in the morning (if possible) to tidy up the surface and then retreat them with calcicure etc which hardens the surface.

Struth wrote:I painted my shed floor with yellow pavement paint, the nasty, smelly, chemically type.

After 10 years it is still easy to clean all the diff oil and crud off of. Also the yellow reflects light well.

Don't muck around just seal it so it works like a shed floor should, and use a good product so you only have to do it once.

I'm green with envy.

Beaut shed.

Struth wrote:I painted my shed floor with yellow pavement paint, the nasty, smelly, chemically type.

After 10 years it is still easy to clean all the diff oil and crud off of. Also the yellow reflects light well.

Don't muck around just seal it so it works like a shed floor should, and use a good product so you only have to do it once.

What size is that?

not big engough

Rhett wrote:not big engough

He's got it right Chimpboy, they are never big enough.

It's 6m deep x 5m wide with 8' walls and a 5m wide x 1.5m deep storeroom tacked on the back. I let the missus convince me her extra metre of yard was more important than my 6m wide shed so it is 5m wide. I wish I could get that extra metre back as it would add 6 sqm of floor space.

still it's big enough to do this in,

Struth wrote: let the missus convince me her extra metre of yard was more important than my 6m wide shed so it is 5m wide. I wish I could get that extra metre back as it would add 6 sqm of floor space.

I was the other way, I went from 10.8mtr x 7.5 with 3mtr opening back to 8.8 x 7.5 with 3mtr opening..
another 4 weeks until delivery... then to find someone who does shed erections....

bogged wrote:

Struth wrote: let the missus convince me her extra metre of yard was more important than my 6m wide shed so it is 5m wide. I wish I could get that extra metre back as it would add 6 sqm of floor space.

I was the other way, I went from 10.8mtr x 7.5 with 3mtr opening back to 8.8 x 7.5 with 3mtr opening..
another 4 weeks until delivery... then to find someone who does shed erections....

It all adds up, yours will be 66msq and mine is only 30msq.

More than double the size all for an extra 2.8m in length and 1.5m in width.

Next time I wont lose the discussion with the missus, it'll be 9 x 7 too.

Cheers

Struth wrote:It all adds up, yours will be 66msq and mine is only 30msq.
More than double the size all for an extra 2.8m in length and 1.5m in width.
Next time I wont lose the discussion with the missus, it'll be 9 x 7 too.

Mine was approved by council - but had to move it 3.5mtrs from the fence due to easement...

Once i did that it moved too close to the house :(

Your car going? wasnt you on FTG road last night down near Eastlink, heading past carribean gardens way? Might have been HG, it was late, I was pissed and a passenger

bogged wrote:

Struth wrote:It all adds up, yours will be 66msq and mine is only 30msq.
More than double the size all for an extra 2.8m in length and 1.5m in width.
Next time I wont lose the discussion with the missus, it'll be 9 x 7 too.

Mine was approved by council - but had to move it 3.5mtrs from the fence due to easement...

Once i did that it moved too close to the house :(

Your car going? wasnt you on FTG road last night down near Eastlink, heading past carribean gardens way? Might have been HG, it was late, I was pissed and a passenger

Mines got 60 series diffs half installed ATM waiting on the eng's visit next week before welding.

HGs is Grey.

But I do have a twin in the area, same 4 Runner, same color with Rhino racks as well

Struth wrote:Mines got 60 series diffs half installed ATM waiting on the eng's visit next week before welding.

Nice

HGs is Grey.

Well it was bein driven by a pink elephant...

But I do have a twin in the area, same 4 Runner, same color with Rhino racks as well

could have been

me3@neuralfibre.com wrote:...concrete dusting problem...

If you want to fix it properly:

1) Take off the top 2-3mm of powdery concrete using a rotary grinder / polisher
2) Clean the floor thoroughly (broom followed by vacuum)
3) Apply SikaSet primer using a nap roller
4) While the primer is still tacky apply Sikafloor Level 25 (self levelling cementitious screed) using a spreading rake or screed bar and bring the floor up to original level
5) Roll the Sikafloor with a spike roller in two directions to remove trowel marks and entrained air
6) An hour after application of the SikaFloor, fill in any surface imperfections using Sika Monotop 620 fairing mortar (Sikafloor final set achieved after 1 hour)
7) Two hours after application of the SikaFloor, apply Sikafloor Duraseal (non thinned) using a roller or airless spray to give a hard wearing, high abrasion resistance seal
8) After a further 4 hours apply a second coat of Sikafloor Duraseal (non thinned).

Now you're not likely to do all that for a garage, are you?!? So just give it a grind and a vacuum followed by a couple of coats of Sikafloor Duraseal or similar. The floor will be slightly lower than original due to grinding, and might look a bit tattered around the perimeter where grinding stops, but that'll fix ya up in terms of wearability.

Moph wrote:cementitious

Holy shit, that is the best word I have ever read.

From now on it's not "harden the fark up" it's "try to be a bit more cementitious will ya?"

chimpboy wrote:

Moph wrote:cementitious

Holy shit, that is the best word I have ever read.

From now on it's not "harden the fark up" it's "try to be a bit more cementitious will ya?"

You like cementitious? Try concomitant on for size then ... has to be my favourite word to drop into a report

Struth wrote:

Humm, I don't see any beer?

- David.

Here ya go



I know it's only girly beer but I am an old fart

The concrete is some sort of reinforced high strength mix as 1/2 of it is on top of an old slab. 50mm at its thinnest point. I was told fibre reinforced – but haven’t seen the same fibres we use at work (green poly / glass strings).

Makes me reluctant to grind it. It's not flaking per se. just not that real smooth hard finish you sometimes get. Drag a crowbar over it and you'll get powder off from it's own weight. Drop a hammer and it'll make a dent with powder rather than a bunch of chips. There is a fine grain blue / grey gravel in it that seems to be slowing the wear t as the top comes off. It's only the top 0.3mm that is powdery as far as I can tell. It has "delaminated" off the slab underneath, as I can see it move the front edge when the cruiser drives on it. That doesn't seem to bother it though. The original slab sloped, so whilst being 45mm at the front centre, it's 100mm over the slab at the rear, and 150mm where it abuts the concrete block walls

It is 5yo now. Some cracks, nothing serious. 9m x 5m and has 2 cracks across and one down the middle. They seem stable (not moving).

I was thinking some kind of really thin "somthing" that would soak right in and help bond the top 5mm, then more of the same or somehting on top to add a glossier surface.

The sika solution sounds sweet - but if I rule out grinding due to the thickness and type of slab, is there anything that is really thin, penetrates and binds?

Thanx
Paul


Front Edge


Minor Cracking


Rock crawler in rear of photo
Security alarm checking for more food on left.


Damage from jack


Screwdriver scraping to harder gravel layer


Side wall


Back corner


Back wall

And before you ask
Smart Blocks (Why are the blocks stacked?)
Yes (Are they supposed to be like that with no mortar?)
very - 32MPa grout fill + steel (Are they strong?)
Great (Are they easy / quick?)

Geez it's soft, have you asked someone in to check if a self levelling coat will fix it.

also have you dug down in a corner somewhere to see just how deep the soft layer is.

I know you said .3mm, if so then a grind and self levelling may be the go.

Cheers

high pressure hose, then once its dry stick a sealer on it... something like bondcrete... i looked into a product for this bust i cant recal its name off the top of my head

You could try Parchem Nitoflor Lithurin but I doubt it's gonna be cheap and it may not be effective (requries minimum 1:3 cement:sand ratio in substrate - yours is unknown). Benefit is that it's absorped into the concrete substrate and binds it together rather than just forming a protective surface.

Best bet would be to see if you can get a sample pot (there's a Parchem distributor in each state) and try a bit - otherwise its only sold in 20L drums (80 - 120sqm coverage).

Other than that, you could use Parchem Duraflor HD-S. This doesn't absorp into the concrete as such though and mainly forms a protective layer that may still delaminate and chip off, although it won't dust. 20L drums with similar coverage to Nitoflor Lithurin.

Download the TDS for each product in the links above for more info.

PS The cracks are shrinkage cracks, formed during initial curing of the topping slab. They would have formed in the first 24 hours after pour and won't have opened any further since.

nice tech

Struth wrote:Here ya go

Struth do you have a Festo plunge saw?
Peter.