What to do with saw cuts?

[chevynut]

I'm getting ready to put down my Epoxy-Coat on my shop floor. I have it cleaned and etched and it's ready for the next step. I'm going to paint the concrete ledge first as well as cut in the edges of the floor about 6" to make it easier for the final coat. My floor has saw cuts in it for break lines, and the floor is cut into 9 sections.

I was reading the instructions and on one page it says:

"Joints and saw cuts can be filled with Epoxy-Coat patch kit EPK 1000 and should be performed after preparation but prior to application. Cracks under 1/8" should be patched with Epoxy-Coat acrylic latex caulk."

Later in the FAQs in the instruction booklet it goes on to say:

"Should I patch cracks/holes/mortar joints prior to coating. How would I do this?
Epoxy-Coat recommends patching all cracks prior to coating. Due to the fact that mortar joints/saw cuts are engineered for movement Epoxy-Coat does not recommend patching them prior to coating. "

So WTF? The two statements contradict each other. I called the company and asked about this, and the girl who answered the phone told me that I should patch the cuts first. When I asked what happens when the concrete moves, she said the epoxy would crack.

How would you deal with this? If I fill the joints first, then apply the epoxy, I'm sure to get cracks in the epoxy. If I apply the epoxy first, then caulk the saw cuts (looks like grout) then the concrete could move without affecting the epoxy. I already have cracks at the end of each saw cut. The problem with doing the latter is that the epoxy would probably run into the sawcuts and disappear.

This is pretty confusing. I need to start and I can't stop until it's finished, about a 2 day job.

[Rick_L]

I would patch them, then re-saw.

[chevynut]

Just got through epoxying the ledge around the walls. I noticed that the epoxy WILL NOT fill even hairline cracks, for some reason. I would think it would fill them but it doesn't.

I'm thinking that every epoxied floor I've seen is smooth and doesn't have joints showing. So I think the right answer is to fill the saw cuts and epoxy over them. If they crack, they crack and I'll have to deal with it later. If they get bad enough I suppose I could cut the epoxy with a saw and fill the joints with something that's close to matching. Don't know what else to do.

[Run-em]

Cracks - not joints, I'd fill, and leave the expansion (sawn) joints alone. No extra work involved if the concrete moves due to the weather conditions---no cracked epoxy in those joints to be dealt with later. If the epoxy cracks or pops out of cracks, then I'd repair only those and refinish.

[chevynut]

Run-em, I don't know if I can leave the saw cuts alone. You have to spread this stuff with a squeegee, then roll it. I can see the epoxy just flowing into the saw cuts, and they're pretty deep so a lot of the epoxy could just disappear or fill the joints anyhow. This stuff flows pretty well. If I did it that way I'd fill the saw cuts after the epoxy cured.

Repair is going to be an issue in any case. MY GF talked me into doing the chips and clearcoat. So fixing that is going to be difficult if not impossible.

Have you ever done a floor like this?

[chevynut]

We got the basecoat and chips applied today. I really screwed up though, and almost messed up the whole job. The instructions say to etch a 10x10 foot area at a time. So that's what I did. Then I laid out tape to apply the epoxy on 100 square foot areas. We mixed 6 batches and we were going through epoxy a lot faster than I thought we should. So we started spreading it thinner, and ended up with almost exactly enough epoxy. The thing is I bought enough for 1500 square feet, and my shop is about 1240 square feet INSIDE (1298 outside).

It turns out that I misread the instructions...the epoxy is supposed to cover 125 square feet per batch, not 100!! There are 4 batches per kit and I got 3 kits. Luckily we caught it and were able to adjust and make it all work out. The problem is we had to kind of "wing it" because my layout marks didn't work anymore. It's a bit thick in some places, and thinner than it should be in others.

Also, they sent me 3 TEN POUND buckets of chips. I used one bucket of their "beige blend" chips, and went to HD and bought a gray blend that has some blue-gray in it to tie it in with the walls, which are kinda blue-gray. I only got 4 pounds of those chips and now I still have over twenty pounds of chips left over! What are they thinking? I thought I put the chips on pretty heavy.

The HD chips say to use 1 pound for 125 square feet, or 10 pounds for my entire shop for a heavy application.

Tomorrow we'll apply the clearcoat, the same way. I'll re-layout the lines so we know where one batch is supposed to be applied and get the right thickness. I'm not too worried about the thinner areas because they covered completely, and the clearcoat will protect it.

What a job. I'm glad the hard part is over.