“Art studio in the making”

(Day # 1)

We just moved in to our very first home 3 weeks ago, and its been tiring and fun at the same time. We are in a perfect location, its 2 blocks from the city hall, groceries and art store are walking distances, my daughter’s school is a 5 min walk, our work area is only 5 minutes drive, and we are situated in a main road where we also have a decent sized frint space where 7 cars can be parked, so i took advantage of it and visioned it to be my art studio/mancave, i could start by doing garage sales every week end just to gauge it before i can go all the way.

I would like to share with you my process of applying metallic epoxy in my garage flooring, havent tried it before but everything can be learnt and since this is my home i can do what ever i want as long as i have enough budget, i estimated this project would cost me roughly $500 from preparation till i finish it. The key really is preparation which takes a lot of work.

Cleaning and preparation

• started by taking all the cabinets out and clearinng the area

• washed and degreased it a bit, and by this way you will be able to see where the water pools indication of uneven surfaces or where it dries up fastly indication of grease on the floor. I bought the cheapest degreaser i could find
  
  

• i was planning to rent a diamond grinder at home depot but it would cost me $120 a day for renting it, so i decided to just buy an angle grinder + 4 inch diamond grinder, although small but it can do the job, and it only cost me $80

• i do this to strip of the shiny coating that was already there and to open the pores of concrete
  

• now personal protective equipment is a must,
  disposable gown $6
  _boots for $10
  _ gloves $5
  _ N95 mask, goggles with earplugs for $10

as when you start using the grinder it gets really dusty, and i reviewed about it cautiously and you don’t want that silica crystalline dust to get to your lungs

• i also made sure no one was home, and had my kids baby sit by my sister

• it took me 4 hrs to do the first half and then the next day for the next half for another 4hrs
  

• now its stipped off i cleaned it wish detergent just to get rid of the debris, then i will just allow it to dry and so i can see some spots i missed so i can grind it

• when its clean and dry i will have to etch the floor with muriatic acid 1:10 ratio for acid and water then just patch the holes on the floor. For now my canvas is nearly done

here is my vision on how it would look like

just practicing in canvas, but i will use a dark gray base coat then, on top of it would be a white pearl then a touch of silver and a lining of gold, then when thats dry i will place a decal of the flower of life symbol in the middle and cover it with clear coat

thank you so much for viewing my project been really busy with home projects and why not share my progress for others to learn from_