Recipe: Quicksilver Facelift High-build Metallic Floor Finish

Even with a substrate riddled with cracks, pits and spalls, this high-build metallic finish will give your floor a look that is quietly mesmerizing.
Photo courtesy of Westcoat Specialty Coating Systems

Larin Felker
Life Deck Coating Installations
San Diego, Calif.

Even with a substrate riddled with cracks, pits and spalls, this high-build metallic finish will give your floor a look that is quietly mesmerizing.

Ingredients:

  • Westcoat EC-72 epoxy patch gel
  • Westcoat EC-12 low-viscosity primer
  • Westcoat EC-31 pigmented epoxy topcoat: White
  • Westcoat EC-38 Liquid Dazzle: Silver
  • Required equipment: shotblaster, roller with a carpet-textured roller cover

Directions:

  • Prep your surface with a shotblaster and patch any remaining imperfections with the epoxy patch gel.
  • Once the patch gel has dried, sand the surface with a palm sander and 80-grit paper. Wipe clean with solvent.
  • Put down one coat of primer and let dry.
  • Put down one coat of the pigmented epoxy. Keep in mind that while this is your base coat, it will still have an impact on the finished look because Liquid Dazzle is somewhat translucent.
  • Once the base coat has dried, mix up the Liquid Dazzle and spread it over the entire surface at a uniform depth.
  • Using the carpet roller, go over the entire surface. This will allow air to escape.
  • Once you’ve rolled the surface, the Liquid Dazzle will level itself out and take on that mercury-like sheen you’re after. Let the surface cure completely. (This usually takes 6 to 8 hours.)
  • The floor pictured here is straight Liquid Dazzle, with no additional topcoat, but Felker says that for a less glossy look that retains the same reflective dazzle, you could use a satin finish over the top.

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