Painting - Garage floor paint still not fully dry (2 Weeks)

So my dad painted his garage floor 2 weeks ago and its still not fully dry. I think the paint was water based, and he used some stuff he bought to mix with the paint that was meant for garage floors. I think it came with some sand and colorful flakes.

I noticed after a few days it wasn’t drying so I put in a dehumidifier (1 1/2 weeks ago). Now when I walk on it, it feels dry, but as soon as I open the garage door, it almost instantly gets tacky. I haven’t tried putting a car in it yet, but I had to put our motorcycle in because of the weather, after sitting for a couple days the motorcycle tires got stuck to the ground and took off the paint.

Is there anything else I can do to speed up the drying process? Two weeks seems ridiculous for it not to be dry yet..

Try some fans. A dehumidifyer doesn't move the air.

Sounds like the concrete floor is naturally damp - maybe having a lot of moisture content from hydrostatic pressure coming up from the ground.

Did the floor show signs (before painting the floor) of ever being abnormally damp? If so, you may have a problem with the painted floor, especially using a water based paint.

if the floor is always damp then you might try either removing the paint and using a water blocking sealer used on basement walls then repaint or paint over with the water blocking sealer and then paint on top of that.

What sort or prep did he do? Did he use an epoxy? Did he mix both components and then mix them together?

Garage floors paints are, primarily, epoxies. Single component material does not stick well to the floor and peels when driven on. It sounds to me like he did not mix the epoxy together or did not do it thoroughly enough. If that is the case, your only solution is the wash the floor with a bunch of solvent to strip it and start again.

Also if the floor wasn't etched properly to neutralize the surface lime concentrations, sometimes the lime "burns" certain ingredients in the paint. In this case it sounds like the driers in the paint were either burnt or disabled by a chemical reaction. Stripping it will be a nightmare, my inclination would be to topcoat a small area with the same product and see what happens. If it seems better, different, and solid after a couple days, (you may have gotten lucky and the top coat is also catalyzing the first coat), you can decide whether to continue.

Bill

The topcoat can't catalyze the base coat, there is no way to thoroughly mix the catalyst into the coating so you get a chemical reaction throughout the entire film. If you top coat at this point you are asking for a failure.

This fellow has nothing to loose by trying a small section, and the top coating method works...with all paints not just epoxies...

...the top coating method works...with all paints not just epoxies...

No, it doesn't work. First let me state I am assuming that Aquesada001's dad used an epoxy based on his description of the product. In order for those to work properly both the activator and the base component need to be thoroughly mixed, ussually with a drill, prior being mixed with each other. Then they need to be mixed together. Epoxies dry by either a combination of solvent evaporation and chemical cross-linking OR chemical cross-linking only. (depends on the solid content, the waster based stuff is ussually the first). If the epoxy is not thoroughly mixed no amount of activator added to the surface will cause the product to kick over and dry. It needs to be mixed into the entire film.

If you try to put a correctly mixed product over an incorrectly mixed one, you can end up with a few issues, all of which lead to failure. The new coating may wrinkle. The new coating may not dry due to the excess solvent being brought into the new coating. The new coating may dry, but the lower coating is still wet and not sticking to the substrate. Once stressed (driven on) the first coating will delaminate from the substrate, i.e. peel.

The only way to "fix" incorrectly mixed epoxy is to remove it.

I am assuming that he used some sort of epoxy, otherwise no matter what he does, the product will, in all likelihood, fail.

I beg to differ sir...but anyway, agreed any floor that isn't properly etched will fail at some point anyway. I would try the sample area as I suggest....and report back......