Garage Floor Coatings

Michelle bought a new condo in Plainfield.  The garage floor had a thick coating of cure and seal on it, but the worst part is that the interior wall was built just to the side of the foundation block between the house and garage, leaving the block exposed, rough, and just plain ugly.  The builder did a great job on the condo, but the mistakes they made in the garage were below the standard found in the rest in the house. 

Michelle called Indianapolis Garage Floors, which is the local franchisee for Slide-Lok Garage Interiors.  They came out and gave her an estimate and worked with the builder to finish the floor on a weekend so other contractors would not have to be re-scheduled.  The removal of the cure and seal is normally done with special pads on the grinder, or just the standard diamond pads, but this just wasn't coming up.  The floor coating owner spent additional time to strip and then grind the floor to properly prepare it at no additional cost.  They also filled in the cracks next to the exposed foundation wall at the back of the garage and fill in the roughness of the block to smooth everything over.  There were no cracks across the floor, although cracks are common in concrete floors.   

They then applied 3 full coats of polyaspartic concrete floor coatings and a layer of flake.  Normally, they do a full broadcast of flake that fully covers the entire floor, but Michelle wanted a little smoother floor surface and less flake visually.  Indianapolis Garage Floors can apply whatever percentage covering that the customer wants so Michelle was happy to get just what she wanted.   

Polyaspartic is harder than epoxy so it is less likely to scratch.  It also cures faster.  Many epoxies take 12 hours or so to dry to walk on, so multiple layers have to be applied the following day.  Some epoxy primers dry in 3-5 hours so a 2nd coat can be applied the same day, albeit much later.  Polyspartic can be re-coated after 2 hours.  The applicator should wear special shoes to avoid leaving footprints though.  All 3 coats of polyaspartic can be applied in one (1) day if the preparation is done in advance or can be done quickly first thing in the morning with multiple staff.  

Polyaspartic is also UV stable, which means it will not yellow in UV light (sunlight).  I've seen some garages that were done with epoxy and the area by the overhead doors were yellowed, especially in south-facing garages.  Epoxy is typically not UV stable and should not be used in outdoor applications.  Sometimes, a contractor will use epoxy for the base and cover it fully with flake and then topcoat it with polyaspartic, polyurethane or urethane to avoid the yellowing.  This is typical for Epoxy Garage Floors.  Epoxy contractors should also be using a primer coat first, but some skip this step due to cost and timing.  

Most epoxy contractors do not offer a warranty either.  Water present in the slab with any sort of hydronic pressure will cause epoxy to delaminate.  Polyaspartic provides a much better adhesion when applied properly.  Indianapolis Garage Floors can be reached at 317-773-3051.




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