DuraFlex Epoxy Flooring Problem

Amon · 07-17-2011, 08:17 AM

Greetings all. I have a question and hope someone can help.
About 2 weeks ago the company that I work for redid a floor in one of our shipping areas. This area gets foot traffic as well as pallet jack traffic, nothing really abusive to the flooring I'd think.
After the floor was left to cure for at least a week, they allowed us in to do our work. I noticed right away a bad spot right near the door to this area. You can see where the contractor put down the five gallon bucket containing the product when it wasn't dry yet. Not very professional, but not a big deal, or so I thought.
Just the other day I noticed that this bad spot had gotten bigger. I knelt down and scraped lightly with my fingernail, the stuff came off like it was still wet underneath the top layer.
I wandered around the room and found another spot, this spot was about the size of a dime. I put my finger on the spot and the flooring came off onto my finger. It was about the consistency of putty.
I went to my boss and told them there might be a problem with the floor.
I've worked construction before and have a bit of experience with this type of 2 part epoxy flooring, so I know that you mix the 2 parts and then you really have to GO. You can't take too long applying it because the mix will separate and the stuff is essentially junk.
I explained this to my boss. What made me think that the contractors might have taken too long is that the bad spots are in the area where the flooring was put down last. Where they started the application looks great and there's no problem.
Thing is, I'm no flooring expert. So, am I correct in my thought that the flooring guys took too long putting down the floor and that's why we now have problems?
I'd appreciate hearing from some folks with experience with this type of flooring, especially contractors who have used it.
Thanks for your time, and sorry for the rather lengthy post.

mustangmike3789 · 07-17-2011, 10:22 AM

i have never used the Duraflex epoxy system but i have used several other brands. if the epoxy is still "putty like", then it was mixed at the wrong ratio or not mixed thouroughly. if the work time exceeded the pot life of the product they probably would have never got it to lay out properly. pushing the pot life could cause some bonding issues but we cant tell without knowing how the product was applied or if proper surface prep was done of if the moisture content of the floor was too high. this is probably not the end of your premature coating failure.

Amon · 07-17-2011, 05:54 PM

And thanks again Mike. Since I wasn't really involved in this project I don't know all the details. What I do know is that they came in and sanded the old flooring off. The whole building has an epoxy coating on all the cement surfaces. The floor was a blueish-grey before sanding. I recall walking by the area a couple of times and noticing the floor looked almost white and was pretty scratched up. Aside from that, I'm not really sure what they did or how long it took them exactly.

Maintenance 6 · 07-18-2011, 04:50 PM

Could be that the material had exceeded it's shelf life too. I've seen old epoxy that never hardened. Stayed soft until it was scraped up. I've also seen contamination in the concrete cause similar problems. How did they prep the floor?

Ranger1227 · 07-18-2011, 05:42 PM

Another place to look for answers is the garage journal chat site. They have a whole thread on epoxy floors and cover all the brands. The people on there may be able to help you.

Bud Cline · 07-18-2011, 05:46 PM

Amon are you looking for a Bonus in your pay envelope?

Amon · 07-18-2011, 07:59 PM

Not sure about the prep Maintenance 6 beyond them sanding off the old epoxy. There was a spot in the floor where something had been bolted down and when they removed whatever that was, it chipped the concrete. They were worried that it could be a safety hazard, so they removed the old epoxy, filled in the chip and redid the floor.

Thanks for the advice Ranger, I'll check it out.

And no Bud, no bonus in my pay, although that would be nice.
The facilities guy who ultimately decided on who would do the job and what they would use will probably find a way to blame me for this. "He must have been hacking away at the floor!!"
He was insistent that the crew they used was the best for the job and that it was a special process. Why does the term kick-back come to mind?

Bud Cline · 07-18-2011, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Why does the term kick-back come to mind?

Not impossible I suppose!

Having had a short career in installing epoxy type floorings I can tell you that the success of the installation is all in the preparation of the surface. Lack of total and proper preparation was always the big culprit.

The second issue was the installers getting in a hurry and not properly mixing the components.