Skimstone, Interesting Stuff

genecarp

We just finished the third coat on a garage floor, we will apply the sealer tomorrow. I really liked working with this stuff, the color effects are really interesting. If this product is as durable as the company claims, i will definately use it again. check it out. G

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genecarp

Photo one was second coat, this is the third.

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genecarp

IN BETWEEN

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DavidC

You get into some pretty interesting stuff (he said, just a little jealously). I'd appreciate a finshed photo when your done.

Good Luck
Dave

MALCO.New.York

It is HIS Garage (He said, a little more than a little jealously)!

WisePainter

neat!

duncanpr

the picture is beautiful. Please tell me how you did the 2nd and 3rd coat. My experience with Skimstone has not been that good. I've used the calculator on Skimstone web site but I never have enough material for 2nd and 3rd coat. Are you using full strenght color, and what substrate was your garage floor? I appreciate any help. It doesn't make sense to me for example: a first coat has 80 Cups of product but the 2nd and 3rd coats are 1/4 of he amount of product. Please I will take any tips you have. I read everything I can find, and I've talked with Skimstone. I just think I'm misunderstanding something.

Thanks
Patsy

Miss Brown

I love it too. I wish I could just do them all the time. Who needs knees?
Here's a custom-colored purple floor I did a while back. I suffered, for this floor...It looks different from the usual skimstone mottling b/c clients husband didn't like straight lines, e.g. trowel marks. !!!! I faux finished a kind of fog over the whole dang thing to soften it up. I suffered.

Tech data: Base was gypcrete. Used "rainy day" and "eggplant" mixed plus titanium white to chill it out, top-coated with a water-based urethane that they don't make any more, so sad. I can't remember exactly what the cost of the mats were, but somewhere near 1,200. (800 sq feet) We won't talk about what I actually made on this job, it wasn't much. Live and learn. I'm not happy with it's resistance to sharp objects dropped on it. It's about as soft as wood, but like wood, can be refinished. I wish it were tougher, I'd seek out more jobs like it if I trusted it.

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CrpntrFrk

We miss you Gene....

Miss Brown

Gene's gone? Where'd he go? I want to know how that garage did, several years later...

@ Duncanpr....
The calculators are terrible. Trick is to order way to much. I mist the floor between coats so it's not so grabby. Not too much water, wait for it to soak in. And I did another floor before the above...and found that your second and third coat should be watery-thin. As you're scaping along, you get dry clumps built up on your trowel, I recycle them by adding a bit more of my pigmented liquid. On a really porus substrate, I used a base of concrete adhesive +as much water to block up some of the pores. On gypcrete, the skimstone really stretched. Not so much for the 2nd and 3rd coats.

duncanpr

Miss Brown, beautiful floor I would be so happy if I could get results like this. So, do you do your own calculation or do you use "skimstone" calculator? I know it would cost more but could you use the same calculation as the first coat with the solution but add less powder? Another question, if I were to use exactly what the Skimstone calculation gave me for 2nd and 3rd coat, once mixed can you add water or does that mess up the color? When you use more than one color is your first coat always the darker color? Sorry so many questions. What I found with two colors is the 2nd coat (if I use Skimstone calculation) the second coat just covers up the first coat and doesn't show any of the first coat. When using the same color do you lessen the strenght of color for each coat. I really appreciate your help. I've done counter top and had really good luck with countertops, but struggling with large sq footage on floors.
Thanks
Patsy

Miss Brown

I don't use their calculator, I buy too much, and save it for the next job. Figuring out the right mix is, sorry, intuition. I don't have any hard and fast rules about coloring of the layers, but since every layer is translucent, you'll get a completely different result is if light over dark, or dark over light. I tend towards dark over light, if I change the pigmentation at all. One trick I found was helpful for huge floors is having a helper roll a thin coat on, say 4x4, and troweling it out. I would not add water directly to the mix, because it might affect adhesion. Sometimes a wet sponge to blur out edges when you overlap is helpful. Sorry I can't weigh in on any hard and fast rules...except bid high. It's a lot of work.