IIRC, this has been covered previously, no pun intended, but I think the original thread is now gone.

At any rate, I'm looking to epoxy coat my new shop floor which was poured 4/18/06. Once it's cured 28 days I want to be ready to "jump on it" and :grd:, so I am looking for product recommendations. Main interest is durability, as it's a farm shop.

If you want it done right, get in touch with a industrial flooring contractor and have the epoxy coating with the silica sand in it. It will take a few days to do it because they have to lay down a base coat, then the sand then a topcoat.

I have the DIY kit that you roll on and it is not that durable. I have areas where it has peeled up.

tbusciglio, which brand kit did you use?

The comerical stuff like tbusciglio is pretty tuff stuff but will not hold up to welding. The sparks will burn into it. Found this out the hard way at work.

if you go epoxy go industrial because the diy kits peel up in no time, I have it in my garage and in my woodworking shop and I would not redo it. the comercial applications I have seen looked much better.

ugh, welding/grinding/torch work is what will mainly go on in the new shop. I CERTAINLY don't want to shell out $1000 for a floor coating just to have it go to pot once I start using the shop.

In the welding shop at my work they painted the floor with some epoxy type paint applied with rollers. This looked great for the first 4 months and after working on piping jobs and bringing in 4x8 sheets of various plate steel it now has the look of concrete and patches of grey paint through out the shop.
I don't think there is any professional grade or construction grade epoxy or paint that will hold up to direct flame, dropping of heavy objects, etc...
If you really want to protect the floor you may look at some of the plastic types of floor protector on the market. I am not sure how they are to direct flames but you can always pull up a section to keep from damaging it and put it back when done with the torch.

You may want to look at a concrete sealer and then top coat with wax and a buffer if the floor has a smooth enough finish. This is what was used in both the auto shop and wood shop of the school that I worked at. It held up very well to almost anything. We used wax stripper at the end of the year and the floor was waxed during the summers. BTW when using the stripper, we'd keep the floor wet for several hours before we brushed and squeegeed. Floor looked good in both shops after 25 years.

as far as a sealer goes, would something like this be worthwhile (as opposed to epoxy)? Also, does anyone know if I have to wait for the concrete to cure before applying a sealer like you do for epoxy?

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=226046-000070705-0613&lpage=none

I used a color sealer on my shop floor. It went on a week after the floor was poured. Looks real good.

as far as a sealer goes, would something like this be worthwhile (as opposed to epoxy)? Also, does anyone know if I have to wait for the concrete to cure before applying a sealer like you do for epoxy?

Don't go to Lowe's or Home Depot looking for a concrete sealer that you expect to last. Visit
http://www.daytonsuperiorchemical.com/products/product_CuresandSealers.htm
and try to find someone who sells their sealers close to you. We use alot of their products on the bridges we construct for DoT's in Ohio, Kentucky, and W. Virginia.

My $.02

-Wardster