Old slab surface repair

[OBBob]

Hi All

This may have been discussed but I can't locate. I have an old shed slab, which is OK but the surface has been through a fair beating over the years and could do with rejuvinating. Are there any products out there, such as the self levelling cements or epoxy coatings that would adhere to an old surface (if clean) and bring it back to it's former glory??

[Pusser]

Wood Best Ever Home Shop Ideas 2006 has two articles on floor paint. gave a table on types. essentially:

Latex Paint - cheap, no seams but needs dry concrete, doesnt hide cracks or chips, shows traffic patterns and provides no cushioning.

Epoxy Coating - durable no seams but needs dry concrete, no cushioning, requires extensive prep of dirty concrete, doent hide large cracks or rough spots, short open time and two part can be messy to mix and use.

Roll Material (lino or rubber stuff) - some cushioning, good traction, hides cracks and blemishes, removable but needs to be cut so fitting can be a problem and limited colours.

Interlocking tiles - good cushioning, good traction, breathable, hides cracks and blemishes, easy to lay, remove and rearrange but lots of seams and dust may collect in seams (Needs vacuuming)

Price rises down the scale as does dropped tool friendliness.

You may have to prime for one part epoxy. Two part epoxy is closest to industrial coatings used in factories. They generally do not need priming but the concrete may need etching with muratic acid.

The only one I have personal experience with is two part epoxy installed by professionals and the little flacky bits thrown over for traction. And this was on ships.

The mag is available from http://www.woodstore.net/behoshid20.html

Pusser

[Rossluck]

I've mentioned this before in these forums, OBBob: We had a crook slab that we repaired by filling in all of the holes and horrors with a sand and cement paste. We then cleaned it all with acid, and then coated it with the products that the concretors use to make stencil-crete driveways and so on.

The process is this:

1. Fill holes
2. acid clean
3. a primer coat
4. colour coat/s
5. clear polymer

You can cover most horrors by applying a few extra coats of the colour.

[bricks]

You can get diamond grinder discs specifically for flushing back rough concrete, best to use kenards setup with vacum attachment. Then i'd be using any of the selfleveling compounds available.

Trick with conctete patching,

Usually if you get some of the concrete dust that you have just ground out, and mix this with your self level compound ( i use hilti brand)
The resulting patch job will tend to be alot closer in colour to the existing concrete when dry.

I don't have a set ratio but at a big guess I'd say probably 15-20 to 1 should get you there.