Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
Hello TIA crew! I am currently turning my basement into a workshop and in need of a little advice. My basement used to have a wall separating two rooms (the wall was not structural and was installed by the last homeowner) I removed the wall to make more space for a workshop I am building. Half of the floor was covered in nature stone and half in an epoxy similar to those found in a garage. I am in the process of grinding off the old epoxy so i can paint over floor with a floor paint. when removed the nature stone (pain in the **s) I found some cracks in the concrete floor. I was wondering what would be the best way to address these cracks? I was going to grind out the cracks and use some DAP pre-mixed concrete patch I got from home depot however after doing a little research I have read that it takes a very long time to dry and may not be the best choice. I also have some holes on the cinder block walls of the basement from when i tore down some shelves that were anchored in. What is the best way to patch these holes? (none of them are more than an inch deep, most being much smaller) Thanks in advance for any input or advice!
Theres is a filler in a tube you can use, I’ve used it for foundation cracks, holds up fairly well
Get a v grove diamond blade for a 4″ grinder chase the cracks and fill then in with an epoxy crack filler depending on the width of the crack you can use a product called cement all its a heavy duty non shrink grout Home Depots stock it . You can use mortar for the small holes in walls
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http://m.homedepot.com/p/PC-Products-PC-Concrete-9-oz-Epoxy-072561/100653148
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yea thats similar to what i used
Good info, @dg1127
This is a great thread I’ve been following along for the ride, another basement shop you can probably get some ideas from…. have fun man!
I agree with the guys above, Mortar for the CMU and crack repair on the floor. I am a fan of the epoxy for crack repair. It is not very toolable by nature. I would go over it with a feather finish such as an Ardex CD fine. That way it will be smooth and ready for your floor paint.
wow thanks for all the great info everyone! I will try to get some work done on the floor soon and post some pictures
Progress so far. I don’t have a true before picture but the half of the basement where there was naturestone was a separate room that was drywalled and had a drop ceiling. I tore all of that out and got rid of the nature stone. I’m almost finished grinding the epoxy that was in the old workshop area. After that I will grind the other half and start addressing these cracks!
Big crack! Nothing epoxy filler can’t fix. Looking good I love demo work.
Jimbo
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Yup like Jimbo said some epoxy filler will fix that, shop looks good so far man!
Bigmikez wrote:
1 hour ago, Bigmikez said:Yup like Jimbo said some epoxy filler will fix that, shop looks good so far man!
Is there a certain type or brand you guys would recommend?
Nah just go to HD or Menards they have it by the concrete
Jimbo
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Or lowes
Jimbo
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Looking awesome buddy, looks like fun!
Lack of or improper rebar placement can also cause cracking. The epoxy based stuff works awesome,every home owner should have some around.
My house sits on a slab so always on the lookout for cracks.
There are so many reasons concrete cracks, wrong mix, rebar placement, mesh placement or lack of mesh, ground movement, control joints not cut/finished in to name a few.
From the pictures it looks like your slab does not have any control joints. They don’t stop the concrete from cracking but give it a prestressed line to form the crack instead of a random set of cracks like you have.
Do you ever have water seeping through?
Poisonfangs85 wrote:
There are so many reasons concrete cracks, wrong mix, rebar placement, mesh placement or lack of mesh, ground movement, control joints not cut/finished in to name a few.
From the pictures it looks like your slab does not have any control joints. They don’t stop the concrete from cracking but give it a prestressed line to form the crack instead of a random set of cracks like you have.
Do you ever have water seeping through?
Coming from a bridge guy you can generally count on concrete to do two things…get hard and crack.
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No there has never been any water. In fact the whole basement is pretty dry. I’ve also heard that these types of cracks can be caused by frost forming underneath during the winter. Not sure but I’m in the process of preparing them For epoxy filler right now. I will try to get some more pics up soon.
You are guaranteed 3 things in life….death, taxes, and concrete cracks…usually where you don’t want it to…lol!
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Update – Crack Grindin. I finished grinding out the cracks on the basement floor as well as filled in the holes in the walls. The epoxy for the cracks should be arriving in the next few days. I have a question though. Once I have filled in the cracks with the epoxy and it has fully cured, what is the best way to sand it down to get a smooth finish? Is it best to just use regular sand paper with an orbital sander, get a flap wheel sander for the grinder, belt sander, or some other way thats better?
Looks like a lot of work. I have never sanded epoxy so I don’t have any advice, but I wish you luck.
Only two types of cement that I have seen or had, the kind with cracks and the kind that hasn’t cracked yet. They all crack at some point. Those are some serious cracks you have there. At least they’re not unlevel or raised . Nice job, looks like you will be a busy guy for a while.
I would get a diamond cup for surface grinding. Not sure how the epoxy will react though
Jimbo
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cover the whole floor with self leveling cement
You sure went to some effort to get those cracks prepped, looks like you are methodical and doing a fantastic job.
Do you have to worry about the foundation walls bowing in and needing to support them? A lot of houses around here are like that.
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JimboS1ice wrote:
On April 7, 2016 at 0:39 PM, JimboS1ice said:I would get a diamond cup for surface grinding. Not sure how the epoxy will react though
Jimbo
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yea i have a diamond cup that i used to strip the floors, I think ill try that
KnarlyCarl wrote:
On April 7, 2016 at 0:51 PM, KnarlyCarl said:You sure went to some effort to get those cracks prepped, looks like you are methodical and doing a fantastic job.
Do you have to worry about the foundation walls bowing in and needing to support them? A lot of houses around here are like that.
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Thankfully I have not seen any major cracks or problems with the foundation walls, they seem to be holding up fairly well. That is an issue I would be happy to avoid!
ClevelandQ wrote:
yea i have a diamond cup that i used to strip the floors, I think ill try that
I would just test a small spot off to the side
Hello Crew! Just wanted to update everyone on the workshop. The epoxy finally showed up! First I blew out the cracks with compressed air then I started to fill them in. I was able to fill in about half the floor but unfortunately I ran out of epoxy so I will have to get more but here are some pics of the progress.
That looks almost intentional, it’s so cool, like you incorporated it with the rest of the basement
Looks great! Are you doing an epoxy paint over the whole floor once you are finished? I have a basement floor project coming up soon too and I am debating on using the basic floor paint I used several years ago or doing it in epoxy. Etching the floor is the biggest concern I have since I am planning to do half of the floor at a time since it is our tv/game room where we spend most of our time. I don’t really have room to empty the entire room to do the floor in one shot and I don’t want to get acid on my furniture.
Dano123 wrote:
1 hour ago, Dano123 said:Looks great! Are you doing an epoxy paint over the whole floor once you are finished? I have a basement floor project coming up soon too and I am debating on using the basic floor paint I used several years ago or doing it in epoxy. Etching the floor is the biggest concern I have since I am planning to do half of the floor at a time since it is our tv/game room where we spend most of our time. I don’t really have room to empty the entire room to do the floor in one shot and I don’t want to get acid on my furniture.
Thanks Dano! I am going to do an epoxy paint once I finish the cracks, probably Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield. Do you have a grinder? I have been reading up on preparing concrete floors, and you may already know all this but but if not, this is what I found out. From what I understand etching the floors and grinding the floors accomplish the same thing which is opening up the pores so the epoxy can adhere to the concrete. If you have the equipment you can do what I did and just grind the whole floor with a diamond cup wheel since you already have to remove the old paint anyways. Then you would not have to worry about the acid or getting water on all your stuff. If you do grind it make sure you have a dust shroud for your grinder and use a fine particle dust bag in the shop vac. I started the floors with no dust collection and I had a thick layer of concrete dust covering everything in the basement!
Great information, thanks. I am still in the planning phase and the research I did about the epoxy paint was for my garage. I decided against it out there because I saw too many bad reviews and I would rather leave it bare. It’s an old floor with oil spots here and there and I think it would be a huge project just to prep it.
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Hello Crew! Wanted to give an update on the basement. I ordered more epoxy and finished filling in the cracks. I then used a 7 in. grinder with a diamond cup wheel to level out the epoxy once it had cured. The diamond wheel worked great and I am happy with the results. Looks so much better than before! Next step is to paint the walls and epoxy the floors. I will keep everyone updated and feel free to ask any questions.
Absolutely awesome job! Love it!
Floor looks great !!!!!
ClevelandQ wrote:
On 4/15/2016 at 1:58 AM, ClevelandQ said:Thanks Dano! I am going to do an epoxy paint once I finish the cracks, probably Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield. Do you have a grinder? I have been reading up on preparing concrete floors, and you may already know all this but but if not, this is what I found out. From what I understand etching the floors and grinding the floors accomplish the same thing which is opening up the pores so the epoxy can adhere to the concrete. If you have the equipment you can do what I did and just grind the whole floor with a diamond cup wheel since you already have to remove the old paint anyways. Then you would not have to worry about the acid or getting water on all your stuff. If you do grind it make sure you have a dust shroud for your grinder and use a fine particle dust bag in the shop vac. I started the floors with no dust collection and I had a thick layer of concrete dust covering everything in the basement!
if your buying one of the” off the shelf epoxy systems” , you need to know what kind of paint is on the floor now unless your going to remove it completely. your going to have a choice between waterborne, and alkyd base coatings.your true epoxy paints will be atleast a two part system. not the one part systems your seeing all over now, the one part systems cannot hold up under heavy use. a decent two part residential epoxy can cost you 100.00 to 150.00 a kit. some of the systems we use in airport hangers and water treatment plants cost as much as 400.00 a kit, they last longer than the concrete they are applied to. if you dont know what is on the floor now, or if in fact there is a vapor barrier under the slab or not, stay with a waterborn epoxy. none of our floors ever called for grinding the floors to etch, we used an acid and a stiff broom, and then rinsed it good. this is all that was required in the specs for bare concrete.
That’s slick, looks amazing, hardly tell there are any cracks now!
How do the kneepads work against bare skin? Don’t the straps start cutting into the backside of your knees?
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