Stephen and Eleanor Hendriks on fri 18 may 07
Hello All,
For those of you who have been following
the saga of my studio updates, I finally
finished the floor. I used Rustoleum
2-part Garage Floor Epoxy in Tan with
decorative flecks. I ordered the 4 kits
I needed through my local Canadian Tire.
I think it looks lovely now and I think
it will be a better surface for cleanup
than the raw and a little bit rough
cement floor I had before.
You can see the before and after
pictures here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8359350@N07
/
The before picture is actually after all
the scrubbing and etching and just
before the painting.
For those who are interested, you can
see the radiant heating system I had
installed -the boiler equipment is in
the back right corner and the white
things just above the foundation that
look like elecric baseboard heaters are
the radiators. We will be building a
small room around the boiler as part of
the installation requirements. There are
also two propane tanks outside the
studio, though this system could be run
on natural gas if it were available.
What follows are boring epoxy process
details for those who may be considering
doing this themselves.
As with all renovations, this turned out
to be a bigger job than I thought it
would be! The previous owners used the
studio to work on cars; there were
spills of every car fluid known to man
on the floor, so the preparation of the
floor surface turned out to be a huge
job. I started by wiping up what I could
with rags, then I moved on to scraping
up the thicker deposits with a wide
paint scraper. I used a gallon of floor
degreaser -pour it on, let it sit,
agitate with a stiff bristle broom, let
it sit, rinse until the water runs
clear, squeegee so no pools are left to
dry. I did this to the entire floor
(1000 sq ft.) Unfortunatly, there were
still spots that were still so
impregnated with oil that they were
water resistant. I redid these spots
with something called Grease Magnet
(also from Canadian Tire) but this was
probably a bad idea. This contained
sodium silicate and I found it difficult
to rinse it off properly before it began
to dry and create new water repellent
areas. My neighbour had mercy on me and
came over with his pressure washer and
we used another bottle of degreaser
designed for use with pressure washers
to hose down the whole place and
squeegee it out again. I *still* had
greasy spots, so I called the Rustoleum
hotline, and they recommended using Dawn
dishwashing liquid. I used three bottles
of Dawn and a cinderella brush on my
spots. It took nearly 6 hours of rinsing
and sgueegeeing to get all ot the suds
out of the studio. I still had a few
spots that were repelling water so I let
them sit overnight with a paste made
from TSP and water, scrubbed vigourously
with my cinderella brush and rinsed
again in the morning. Then I gave up on
cleaning even though my worst spots
still reacted differently to water than
the rest of the floor though not as
dramatically as when I began scrubbing!
I moved on to etching the floor.
The Rustoleum kit comes with a citric
acid floor etch rather than the more
toxic and difficult to control miuratic
acid. Etching involved more stiff broom
scrubbing and at least three rinses and
squeegees. The instructions are emphatic
about removing every trace of the acid
and the cement dust it loosens. I took
them seriously and spent at least 12
hours on the etching step. I let it dry
with a dehumidifier running for two days
and waited until weather conditions
matched the recommendations in the
instructions *and* a day when all my
kids were in school.
To cover my studio area I needed four
epoxy kits. My hotline guy suggested
that I mix two kits at a time because I
wouldn't have time to finish all four
before they started to cure. He
recommended against doing one at a time
because the standing time required would
not allow for keeping a wet edge. Well,
I followed his recommendations and had
to throw out the last 1/3 of the 2nd kit
because it was getting too stiff too
quickly (that the day warmed up more
than predicted could have also been a
factor). I decided I'd rather have batch
edges showing in the final result than
have the epoxy peel off because it was
too stiff when it went on. I did the
last two batches one at a time and felt
a lot less rushed. I used a paint tray
with 3 disposable liners to prevent an
old batch of epoxy from catalyzing the
newer ones. I used two rollers and threw
out the paintbrush I used for cutting in
when I was done -there was no cleaning
that thing!! The painting took from 8am
till 1:30pm -no breaks. It was possible
to walk on it in 18 hours and supposedly
to park a car in 7 days -so my wheels
should be fine!I think the end result
looks really great even thought the
floor is still gouged, cracked, and
hilly (the only cure for that was a new
layer of concrete and I don't have
another month to wait on top of whenever
the contractor gets here!)
The two worse grease spots did effect
the epoxy -it seems to have a bit of an
orange peel effect in those areas. I
plan to avoid dragging things and heavy
traffic in those areas because I'm
concerned that the adhesion is probably
less than optimum there. I also
distributed the flecks too heavily at
the back of the studio so there are
fewer flecks on the front half and the
last patch I painted has hardly any! I
won't know how things hold up until I
live with it for a while but I'm
completely thrilled with it now -I
almost don't want to put all my stuff in
there now -it looks so nice!
Would I do it again? If I had a smooth,
clean floor that sloped down to a large
garage door I would do it again in a
heartbeat! The biggest challenges of
this job were the greasy spots that
wouldn't budge and the hills in the
floor that made getting the contaminants
(Rustoleum's term) out of the studio a
really big job. The paint smell (which I
usually hate) was fairly mild for an
epoxy, it mixed easily and rolled on
nicely. I really like the look of the
flecks and they are supposed to add some
traction to what would otherwise be a
slippery-when-wet surface. I think it
adds some class to an otherwise generic
oversized garage.
Now I need some other ideas for
upscaling my work place -any suggestions
for making a dingy looking chipboard
ceiling look fabulous (that don't
involve scrubbing!!)?
Blessings,
Eleanor Hendriks
Jamie Yocono on sat 19 may 07
Eleanor,
The floor you just epoxied looks wonderful. I'm sure it didn't feel that way
when you were doing all that scrubbing, but it certainly looks worth the
effort.
About your ceiling... I know it's a little "60's," but what about a dropped
ceiling? My woodshop is 1000 square feet, and When I finally get around to
it, I'll drop the ceiling, using a grid and drop in ceiling panels.
I think Armstrong is the company that has a grid planner on their website,
so you can layout all the pieces, from wall angle to cross-T's. Their site
is great for pre-planning, so you'll know exactly what pieces and parts
you'll need. And for installation- just a spool of wire and some tin snips
are about all you need to do the job. Oh, and a ladder.
In my last studio, I had a dropped ceiling in a small heated office area.
Instead of purchasing the expensive 2' x 4' acoustic tiles for the ceiling,
I bought some 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" Styrofoam (insulation) and cut each
large sheet into the 2 x 4 panels I needed. It was VERY inexpensive to do
this way.
One of those laser levels would help immensely for laying out the
height/location of the wall angle.
Another good thing abut this method- you can do it almost by yourself. All
of the components are light, and easy to cut to size. When I was going
through my carpentry apprenticeship many years ago, I installed dropped
ceilings for nearly a year of my life. I know way more about it than a
person should.
Jamie in Vegas
<upscaling my work place -any suggestions
for making a dingy looking chipboard
ceiling look fabulous (that don't
involve scrubbing!!) ?>>
Carl Finch on sat 19 may 07
At 06:28 PM 5/18/2007, Stephen and Eleanor Hendriks wrote:
>For those of you who have been following
>the saga of my studio updates, I finally
>finished the floor.
>You can see the before and after
>pictures here
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/8359350@N07
>Now I need some other ideas for
>upscaling my work place -any suggestions
>for making a dingy looking chipboard
>ceiling look fa
I agree with Jamie Yocono that you've done a great job with what
turned out to be an Augean Stables task!
But I would think twice about a dropped ceiling, as she suggests.
It appears from your photos that your existing ceiling is about 8' 8"
(one concrete block more than 2 horizontal sheets of
plywood). Leaving the chipboard (OSB?) ceiling intact will allow
maximum clearance for the things you will likely want to be hanging
up there in the future (light fixtures, overhead trolley for lifting
and moving heavy stuff, etc.), and make it clear exactly where the
supporting joists are. Seems to me that a dropped ceiling would make
all that difficult. And lose precious height.
My workshop is the same height as your studio, also 8' plus one
block. I can just swing my 8' stepladder around, though cautiously
so as not to whack my hanging fluorescent fixtures. Wish I'd had 10'
ceilings--too late now.
If 'twere me, I'd simply spray paint the ceiling white and let it go for now.
Now about those dreary walls.......! :-)
If you are going to replace those nekkid incandescent bulbs with
fluorescents and are in a cold clime, make sure you specify "cold
climate" tubes and the newer electronic ballasts (no hum). My
fluorescents light up almost immediately in what we call winter, here
in southern Oregon.
--Carl
in Medford, Oregon
linda rosen on sat 19 may 07
I am thinking that an exposed foam ceiling is a fire hazard? Anyone know?
Linda, Toronto
steve graber on sun 20 may 07
i wall papered the ceiling of my workshop with pottery ideas & photos gathered over the years. my "ideas" notebook was & is a great idea, but i never opened it until my hands were wet with clay.
so now i look up for inspiration and the blah ceiling is more interesting.
~ granted my workshop ceiling is a V angle, so it doesn't cram my neck like a flat one. but the advantage of having all these images of project ideas right there is great!
see ya
steve
www.graberspottery.com
the Steve Tool for awesum texture on clay
Carl Finch wrote:
At 06:28 PM 5/18/2007, Stephen and Eleanor Hendriks wrote:
>For those of you who have been following
>the saga of my studio updates, I finally
>finished the floor.
>You can see the before and after
>pictures here
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/8359350@N07
>Now I need some other ideas for
>upscaling my work place -any suggestions
>for making a dingy looking chipboard
>ceiling look fa
I agree with Jamie Yocono that you've done a great job with what
turned out to be an Augean Stables task!
But I would think twice about a dropped ceiling, as she suggests.
It appears from your photos that your existing ceiling is about 8' 8"
(one concrete block more than 2 horizontal sheets of
plywood). Leaving the chipboard (OSB?) ceiling intact will allow
maximum clearance for the things you will likely want to be hanging
up there in the future (light fixtures, overhead trolley for lifting
and moving heavy stuff, etc.), and make it clear exactly where the
supporting joists are. Seems to me that a dropped ceiling would make
all that difficult. And lose precious height.
My workshop is the same height as your studio, also 8' plus one
block. I can just swing my 8' stepladder around, though cautiously
so as not to whack my hanging fluorescent fixtures. Wish I'd had 10'
ceilings--too late now.
If 'twere me, I'd simply spray paint the ceiling white and let it go for now.
Now about those dreary walls.......! :-)
If you are going to replace those nekkid incandescent bulbs with
fluorescents and are in a cold clime, make sure you specify "cold
climate" tubes and the newer electronic ballasts (no hum). My
fluorescents light up almost immediately in what we call winter, here
in southern Oregon.
--Carl
in Medford, Oregon
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The Steve Tool - for awesum texture on pots!
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