garage floor epoxy

How to Tell the Difference Between High Quality Epoxy Paint and Floor Paint

 in Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Homeowners only want the best for their Difference between Garage Floor Epoxy Paint and Garage Floor Paint

Homeowners always want their property to look amazing. This is why they keep it looking good by adding fresh licks of paint, getting the best looking garage door from Tip Top Garage Doors – Charlotte NC and keep the landscaping neat. If you’re not looking to get a brand new garage door, but instead want to make sure yours is in full working order, it may be worth approaching a business that specialise in garage door repair in Lansdale, PA. Anyway – the burning question – if homeowners pay so much attention to their exterior then why not use the best products, like epoxy, on the interior?

If you are a homeowner with a garage, there is a good chance that you want to apply garage floor epoxy to keep it properly protected and defended against everyday wear and tear. If that is so, then there is also a good chance that you’ve heard all kinds of myths and rumors about what a garage floor epoxy coat actually is. For example, there has probably been at least one person who has told you that the epoxy coating just paints. We’re here to tell you that you can’t just slap a coat of paint down and hope for the best – it doesn’t work like that. So here’s the big question: what is the difference between a coat of garage floor paint and garage epoxy coating? Which one is best? Let’s take a look!

Garage Floor Epoxy is Not Paint

This is without a doubt one of the most common misconceptions that we deal with – epoxy coating NOT paints, not by any means. Companies that specialize in garage flooring find it frustrating that there is still this confusion. Much of this confusion comes from the fact that manufacturers offer paint with epoxy in the mix, and they refer to it as 1-part epoxy. Why? Because it creates better adhesion. If you’re not looking for the best in garage floor protection, then this might be a great option for you. If you want to take your garage flooring to the next level, however, you’re going to need something more.

Quality Epoxy Paint

What is Epoxy Coating?

Before we go any further it would be beneficial to explain precisely what epoxy coating is and why it is different. First of all, epoxy coating is a two-part product consisting of the following:

  • Epoxy Resin
  • Polyamine Hardener

In order to achieve a full epoxy coating, you will need to mix these two parts together and apply them within the time specified by the product itself. When the epoxy dries, it will provide a hard surface that unlike paint is resistant to abrasion, chemicals, staining, etc. Also keep in mind that the amount of resistance provided by the flooring is going to be determined by the quality, so remember that when you’re shopping for your new epoxy coating solution.

How to Determine the Quality of your Epoxy

Making a quality determination doesn’t necessarily have to be difficult. All you need to do is take a look at the percentage on the side of the product can. If you have 100%, then you have 100% of the product on the floor after it cures. The same goes for 50% and so on.

When you’re applying your epoxy coating, you will find that those with a 100% rating are much thicker and will require more time to apply. Not only does it have a thicker viscosity, but it will also dry faster, meaning you have to be absolutely ready to lay it down the moment you begin the mix.

You Get what you Pay For

In the end, to put it simply, you get what you pay for. Our garage floor epoxy price is reasonable and provides you with a quality product that will last for ten to twenty years. In addition to that, you’re going to have a product that is resistant to chemical abrasion, stains, and even light impacts. Finally, consider that there is an energy efficiency benefit to your new epoxy flooring, particularly in that it reflects light much better than its bare concrete counterpart. This will allow you to use less electric lighting and ultimately save you money.

As you can see, there are a number of different benefits to the installation of an epoxy floor coat, and it won’t be long before you’re using it in your home garage floor. Now would be a great time to take a quick look at our residential garage floor epoxy products and see what would work best for you. It’s time to protect your garage and make sure that it is ready to withstand everything you have to throw at it. After all, this is your garage – make sure it lasts for the foreseeable future. You want to do the best you can for your home and you want to make sure that every eventuality is covered in case something happens to your home when you are making changes or doing a renovation to your property. Check on your insurance to see if it covers your garage and surrounding areas of your home, click here to have a look at some different insurance companies to see if a new one could be better for you when making these types of changes.

From Here to There – Get your Floor Covered with Garage Floor Epoxy Coating

 in Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices / industrial epoxy flooring / industrial epoxy flooring for sale by

You have a garage and you want it to look great. Who can blame you?

If you have bare concrete then there’s a good chance that your floor looks just awful as is prone to happen to the concrete after a significant period of time. Did you know that concrete is actually porous? The implications of this are immense; prolonged water exposure on the floor could cause significant damage, especially if it’s full of road salt, which is why garage epoxy is so incredibly important. You do, after all, face the prospect of far more than water damage, especially if you work in your garage. Things are going to happen and you’re going to need to protect your floor from things such as oil leaks, battery leaks, chemical, and solvent exposure just to mention a few. If your floor has been damaged in a residential or commercial garage, ServiceMaster of Lake Shore can be available to help clean and restore what is needed.

How does Garage Floor Epoxy Coating Work?

It’s pretty much like any other type of paint, though it definitely has more benefits. You can pick out the color you want, and apply it to the floor, in the same manner, you would any type of paint, but you need to make sure you’re choosing a high-quality epoxy. In other words, try to avoid visiting your local home improvement store. It might work for a time but it’s not going to look nearly as good as an ArmorGarage epoxy floor, and it’s not going to be nearly as durable. Trust us, you’re going to notice wear and tear within a month if you use store-bought epoxy and it will probably start the first time you try to park your car on it. Tire abrasion does a lot to a floor and it’s simply not worth saving a few dollars. We all want our garage to look at its best and we’ll tend to do whatever we can to achieve that. For many people, this can include using Garage door repair professionals in Elmont, NY. whenever an issue arises with the entrance to their garage.

A Coating you Can Trust

Once you lay your garage floor epoxy down you don’t want to do it again, that’s for sure. ArmorGarage products are able to help you to avoid the nightmare of having to recoat your floor again entirely, and we’re able to do this thanks to our years of experience.

Armor Chip Garage Flooring Epoxy – It’s the Way to Go

Garage Floor Epoxy CoatingWho can apply a garage floor epoxy coating? Anyone! There is a common misconception that only a team of trained professionals can effectively perform an installation but that is absolutely untrue. Armor chip epoxy flooring is designed for the raw novice with these benefits:

  • Available at a very Low Price
  • 100% Military grade Ingredients
  • High Gloss Floor
  • Hot Tire Lifting Prof
  • 5 Year Guarantee Against Wear

The Armor Chip garage floor epoxy kit comes with everything you need to finish off your floor including a protective topcoat. When held in comparison to other kits on the market, you’re going to see that this one really takes the cake.

Armor Chip epoxy flooring kits come with the distinction of a guarantee against hot tire abrasion, and if you take a look at our epoxy comparison chart you will find that when held in comparison to other epoxies on the market, and in the end, it’s just more cost effective. The 10 year guarantee against hot tire lifting is great but it also comes with other guarantees including those against:

  • Yellowing
  • Fading
  • Cracking

When you buy cheaper epoxy flooring products one of the problems that you’re going to run into is the fact that it doesn’t hide all of the concrete or all of the imperfections. In that instance, you would be forced to buy more floor epoxy to cover up the rest of the imperfections, at which point you would have to question whether or not you were saving money. The average garage floor epoxy price should cover enough material to make your floor look absolutely amazing.

Top Coat – For Looks and Protection

The last point we’d like to make is that your garage epoxy floor needs a topcoat. The first benefit is that it will make it look better than just the epoxy coating on it. Commonly, people think that a topcoat can be substituted with another coat of epoxy, but if you want your floor to look absolutely amazing then you’re going to need a real topcoat product. Secondly, it will protect the epoxy beneath for the foreseeable future. Simply because a real topcoat is much harder than any epoxy paint and is also UV resistant which 100% solids epoxies are not. So don’t make the mistake of applying an epoxy floor coating without a good quality topcoat.

The Armor Chip & Armor Granite garage floor epoxy coating kits are a great way to give your garage floor the protection it needs for the foreseeable future. Don’t settle for less!

Ready to Install Garage Flooring? Make sure you Read this Checklist!

 in Epoxy Coating / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged epoxy coating / garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices / industrial epoxy flooring / industrial epoxy flooring for sale / industrial epoxy flooring online / industrial epoxy flooring prices by

Installing Garage Flooring

garage floor epoxy coatingSo you’re ready to install garage epoxy flooring, but you’re not quite sure how to go about it. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have the right materials, and that means buying a high quality epoxy flooring. Once you have it properly applied to your floor you will experience a number of different benefits. Most notably, your floor is going to look a lot better than it did as just bare concrete.

Along with that, it’s going to protect your concrete floor from the elements and harmful vehicle fluids. There are many other benefits, such as greater reflection (it’s going to be brighter), greater resistance to scratching, and of course, easier cleaning. Before you can apply your new flooring however, there are a few things that you will need to get out of the way. Take a look at our checklist and make sure you’re ready to give your floor the upgrade of a lifetime.

Preparing your Floor

The first and most obvious thing you will want to do is to properly prep your concrete for the new garage floor epoxy. You will need to start by clearing it out, obviously, and then you can move on to the more important business of cleaning it. The idea is to get your floor back to the condition it was in after it was first laid – it’s a bit of a chore but totally worth it. To get it done thoroughly, we strongly recommend that you do a thorough acid etching. It’s a procedure that might take two passes, but it is a critical step to get the proper bond between the epoxy and your floor. Of course if your floor is really dirty and in poor condition, shot blasting or grinding might be needed to get you a better profile. You can also try the combination of a tornado diamond buffing pad and super blue cleaning solution from Concrete Floor Supply Inc. However, if you do not want to do it yourself and would much rather prefer a professional doing it, you can always check out companies like floor buffing services in NYC or ones more local to you to get your garage the way you want it.

Get the Right Tools

You need the right tools for the job, and when it comes to epoxy flooring, that means making sure you have rollers (multiples if you are having someone help you), jiffy mixer, duct tape but perhaps the most important, and the most overlooked piece of equipment, is the calibrated squeegee not just a flat squeegee, this helps spread the epoxy at the right thickness. For more detailed application info see our How To Prep and Epoxy Paint Your Floor Page. Make sure you use a good duct tape tape and some Xylene for cleanup. Painter’s tape is too thin for our epoxy, duct tape ensures that you do not inadvertently get epoxy seeping over or through the tape. In most cases, especially with paint, you could simply ‘wipe it off’ if you made a mistake, but our epoxy is a bit different. As we like to say, once it’s on, it’s on. That said, if you make any mistakes, wipe the epoxy clean immediately with Xylene – otherwise you’ll have to sand or grind it off.

Have a Topcoat Ready

Install Garage Flooring

The biggest mistake people make, aside from forgetting to tape off their walls, is not applying a topcoat. Your floor needs a topcoat for several reasons! First of all, it makes the floor look even better than it would with just a layer of epoxy coating on it since it has a higher gloss finish. Another great reason to apply a topcoat rather than just a clear epoxy is that a real topcoat is much much harder than an epoxy. Remember – epoxy is NOT a topcoat and you can’t make an epoxy into a topcoat by just adding in some UV or other additives like some of our competition claims to do!

The above information will go a long way toward helping you to successfully apply your epoxy coating, and you will quickly find that your floor is much more enjoyable. Once you have applied your floor coating, however, do try to remember that it’s not completely impervious to damage. It cannot take massive impacts, such as dropping an engine block onto it, but it can should withstand dropped tools and parts. That being said, now would be a great time to start looking into epoxy flooring and making sure that your surface is ready for what’s coming. Most importantly, when your floor is finished, you are going to want to look after it. You can visit here to find comparison reviews of wall mounted garage vacuums. This is especially important if you want your epoxy floor to last as long as possible.

Remember, a properly applied high-quality epoxy coating will last for a long time, and in most cases, for at least ten to twenty years. If taken care of properly, the sky really can be the limit as far as longevity is concerned. The most important piece of advice that we can give you in this regard, is to avoid purchasing discounted or store-bought epoxy. Buy the best and reap the benefits for many years to come.

What is a Topcoat and Why is it Important for a Garage Epoxy Floor?

 in Application Tips  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Are you considering the installation of garage flooring epoxy?

If so, then you must add a topcoat to your floor. If you’ve never applied an epoxy floor coating, then you might be curious as to why you need one, and we are here to tell you that it is not optional. By itself, an epoxy floor can withstand small impacts, it is scratch resistant, slip resistant, and it is even able to resist chemical spills that would tear any other garage floor to pieces! This can help you avoid anyone suffering a slip-and-fall accident in Houston, or anywhere else that your garage may be based. Once you have installed your epoxy flooring however, a topcoat can add that little something that you just can’t get otherwise. Let’s talk about some of the benefits of a topcoat and why you should most definitely consider covering up.

Shinier and More Attractive

ArmorGarageThe garage floor epoxy cost will only raise marginally with the addition of a topcoat, and one cannot argue with the fresh, clean shine that a topcoat awards to the already formidable epoxy coating. Once you add a topcoat, the flooring will become very reflective, which will help to make the room you’re in a bit brighter, even if the floor is of a darker color. The topcoat is a much harder coating than the epoxy and is there to protect the epoxy for wear and tear. Our military topcoats are designed to last up to 20 years. If and when you ever do wear one out you can simply roll on another topcoat and bring the floor back to new. The epoxy stays protected indefinitely.

Easier to Clean

The epoxy flooring was going to be pretty easy to clean in the first place, but now, with a topcoat, it will become even simpler. All you need is a garden hose and some dish detergent for stubborn spots. Your topcoat acts like a Teflon coating so that nothing likes to stick to it.

Cover the Armor Chips

Some people broadcast multi color chips when into the epoxy and of course others do not. We don’t’ know for sure which of these camps you’re going to fall into, but there are definitely benefits to using armor chips. For example, they will draw attention away from imperfections that existed on the garage floor prior to epoxy. In addition to that, they can add a splash of color to pick up or accent other colors in the room. Chips will add a little texture to the floor but are mainly there for aesthetic purposes.

Make your Floor Last Longer

Garage Epoxy FloorEveryone knows that epoxy flooring wears out eventually, even if you were to opt for a professional installation. The general lifespan of the best garage floor epoxy is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen-twenty years, a good topcoat can help to ensure a long life for your epoxy coating. First of all, a topcoat is going to make the floor more wear resistant, and secondly, it will ensure that all damage done to the floor is done only to the topcoat , which can be touched up or replaced as needed. An epoxy cannot and should not be used as a topcoat. Even though some of our competitors sell a clear version of their epoxy as a topcoat. This is a complete waste of your time and money. One of our competitors says that they add in UV additives to the clear epoxy, that still does not make it a topcoat and is still a complete waste of time and money. Don’t be lured into an inferior product by saving a few dollars.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to use a true topcoat in your garage. There are many who might consider the topcoat to be unnecessary or ‘overkill’ when you are simply equipping a residential garage, but let’s be honest, you need an extra layer of protection. From chemical spills, to car tire abrasion, to potential scratches, all of that falls under the umbrella of protection that your topcoat offers. Don’t leave your epoxy uncovered!

 

How Garage Floor Epoxy Creates a Brighter Cleaner Work Space

 in Commercial Epoxy Flooring / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Garage Floor EpoxyThere are many reasons to like garage floor epoxy coatings whether you are trying to make your garage look better, protect your concrete slab or if you’re trying to increase functionality. Before we get into that, let’s talk about your garage. Let’s face it, you can put a lot of work into your garage to make sure that it is the ultimate workspace. Even simple things like making sure your garage doors work will help you have the ultimate workspace, you don’t want to struggle to bring in cars if your doors don’t work properly. If something like this happens, then you can easily call up something like these Crofton Maryland Garage door repair professionals to help get this fixed for you. You don’t want there to be any issue when it comes to your garage, particularly if you are working in there constantly. Maybe you’re working on restoring a classic car, maybe it’s a woodshop, or maybe it’s just a general workshop – there are many different reasons to use a garage as your workshop, and we would be hard-pressed to list every single one of them here. If you are using your garage to store your collection of classic cars, you may want to consider professional auto transport to move them between your properties or to and from auto shows. The one thing that all workshops have in common, however, is that they need a high-quality floor, which can contribute in more ways than one. Sure, a garage floor epoxy solution makes for a very durable surface, but most people think the benefits end there. Don’t worry, you definitely get more bang for your buck than you think.

A Cleaner Work Space

It’s a workshop; mistakes are bound to happen, whether you spill a cup of coffee or tip over a drum of industrial grade corrosive material. On a typical garage floor, both of these would present a serious problem; coffee would stain the concrete, and the corrosive, well, we don’t even want to discuss what that would do. This is where floor epoxy has the advantage – it might require a bit of an investment but it’s well worth the cost. Here there are two different benefits. First of all, epoxy is very durable, but you should also consider that it is stain resistant. It does a great job of closing the pores that would otherwise rather easily absorb and accept any number of materials. Instead of permitting damage or even a stain, the chemicals will remain on the surface, allowing you to clean them at your leisure. Protecting your floor from staining and corrosion plus having dramatic porcelain-like finish a great reason to consider ArmorGarage epoxy coatings.

In addition to the above it is far easier to clean. You can use a simple washrag or a bucket of soapy water to get your epoxy floor back to its original shine, and it really doesn’t take that much effort on your part. That being said, not only does it reduce the mess, it also takes the effort out of cleaning. You were, after all, planning to expend your effort on other, more important things, weren’t you?

One of the better side effects of being able to keep a clean work space is the ability to get rid of most germs and allergens. If you suffer from allergies or simply want to prevent illness, these flooring options are not only outstanding, they are completely mold and mildew proof. You will keep your work space clean, you will ensure there are no nasty allergens or airborne illnesses wandering around your shop or garage. It doesn’t get much better than that – unless you consider how much brighter your workshop will be.

A Brighter Workspace

ArmorGarageWhat many people fail to consider is how much brighter garage floor epoxy will make their work space. You will find that one of the many benefits is the floor’s ability to make your work space brighter. If you use standard fluorescent lights, you will discover that they reflect well off of your high gloss epoxy floor, making for a much brighter space. Not only is this aesthetically pleasing, it will be a great way to conserve on energy that you might have otherwise wasted in lighting. In the end, you’re going to save on energy you’re going to have a slip resistant surface, and most importantly you’re going to have a garage/shop that you can be proud of. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, as long as your garage is clean, of course. If you’re investing in epoxy flooring, you may as well also invest in cleaning out your garage to make the place look spotless. It’s likely a lot of rubbish and useless items you no longer need have gathered in your garage; it’s useful to look into dumpster rental service in Kansas City MO if this is the case. Get that garage looking as good as new!

Take a look at the garage flooring prices today and get ready to give your work space the treatment it deserves. Installation is easy and lasts for up to twenty years.

The Most Common Mistakes Made When installing Epoxy Flooring

 in Commercial Epoxy Flooring / Epoxy Trouble Shooting Guide / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged commercial epoxy flooring / epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy installation / industrial epoxy flooring by

Installing Garage Epoxy Flooring

When it comes to garage flooring epoxy there are several mistakes that could be made, but we are going to split them into two categories: Technical and Outright Blunders. The idea behind installing epoxy in garage, warehouse, home, or workshop, of course, is to make sure that the floor does not become damaged for any reason and to add a beautiful high gloss finish that you can be proud of. Before you can get to that point, you need to make sure that you are using the right product and performing the installation properly, which is sometimes easier said than done. Let’s start with some of the more obvious mistakes and then move on to the steps you can take to prevent them.

Technical Mistakes to Watch out For

The biggest technical mistake that you can make when you’re in the process of installing your new Epoxy Garage Flooring is choosing an epoxy mix that doesn’t actually match what you are doing. What do we mean by this exactly? Well, consider that the lowest form of epoxy is water based, and there is a good chance that it does not have a very high abrasion rating. The abrasion rating determines how much abuse the floor in question can take before it needs to be replaced or at the very least re-coated.

When you are buying your epoxy, take a look at the technical specifications first and see what the abrasion rating is. The lower the number, the better the floor will be protected. Yes, this might sound a bit backward, but it is the truth in this case.

The technical specifications will generally display the following attributes:

Solids content – Percent of Solids remaining following the curing of content, the higher the better. With 100% being the best an Aliphatic epoxies being the best 100% solids epoxies available.

Volatile Organic Contents – This goes toward the idea of eco-friendliness in garage epoxy flooring. It involves the number of Volatile Organic Compounds that are released into the environment as the coat/sealer dries. Some states now require that any epoxy sold must be Low VOC. Low VOC epoxies are also good for areas where odor would be a problem. Being Low VOC means that fewer chemicals/solvents are released into the air and therefore less odor.

Abrasion Resistance – Once again we have the abrasion resistance which is determined by the Taber CS-17. This test involves an abrasive plate being mounted to a turntable and weighted at 1000 grams. The industry standard for this test is 500 cycles and all removed coating is recovered via a vacuum system for maximum accuracy. The coating loss is measured in milligrams, and the lower the number, the more durable the coating. Note that most epoxy coatings generally have a loss range of 20-45, a heavy duty topcoat for residential use should have a loss rating of no more than 20. For commercial or industrial applications a rating of no more than 4-8 should be used. Many so called heavy duty or industrial epoxies have very high abrasion ratings of 25 and higher which means if you don’t check the ratings prior to purchase you will be wasting your time and money. Keep in mind that abrasion ratings are like the Richter scale and that each mg less in the abrasion loss rating is exponential.

Adhesion – This is exemplified in Pounds per Square Inch, showing how much force is needed to remove the coating from the surface. Any rating below 350 PSI generally means that the coating can be removed, a good epoxy should have an adhesion rating of 375psi – 450psi. This is means on a properly prepared surface the epoxy should not be able to be separated from the concrete.

Chemical Resistance – Determines how well the floor is able to stand up to corrosives and acids that can leak from your vehicle or from the type of work you may be doing on the floor. Epoxies provide some protection from acids and caustic chemicals but a properly done epoxy flooring job will have a high quality urethane topcoat applied over the epoxy which provides substantially more protection against chemicals and acids.

A note here, an epoxy is not a topcoat and can never be made into a topcoat by simply adding in so called additives. This is just a way some companies try to cut corners because they don’t or can’t make a true urethane based topcoat.

Failing to pay attention to these important facts can result in serious problems, so make sure you read the performance specifications of the epoxy you are considering to buy and if you don’t understand any of it, call and ask questions.

The More Common Blunders

There are many mistakes that can be made during the installation of garage epoxy flooring as we are sure you are aware, but we have cut it down to just a few for the sake of expedience.

Failing to Prepare your Floor

Your floor most definitely needs to be prepared if you are to complete the installation properly. You need to do more than just move everything out of the way; you need to make sure that you have scrubbed the floor, getting someone like Wise Guys Pressure Washing of Atlanta Georgia to power wash the floor prior to acid etching to remove all dirt and debris is always recommended, and most importantly make sure that when you’re done with the preparation process that your floor is completely clean and 100% dry. If not it’s recommended that you etch the floor a second time and scrub in a perpendicular direction to the first etching to ensure you clean any small missed spots from the first etching. A small spot you might have missed will usually at some point in the future result in what we call a pop. It’s a small spot that just seems to pop off the floor. This is not the fault of the epoxy but simply a result of a little dirt or moisture left in the floor after you prepped it. Not something to freak out about, you can just sand the area clean and apply some touch up epoxy to fix the problem.

Failing to Check for Moisture

Always make sure that your concrete is dry before you try to apply epoxy; we cannot stress this enough. The garage flooring epoxy will not adhere to a wet surface, either from moisture coming up through the slab or leftover moisture from cleaning. before considering applying an epoxy to your floor, tape down a piece of 3′ x 3′ plastic to your floor with a good duct tape making sure all edges are sealed 100%. Let sit for 2-3 days and then see if any moisture has accumulated underneath. No moisture means you’re good to go. The presence of moisture means you need to take an extra step such as applying a moisture sealing epoxy primer. With this being said, if you have noticed a slab leak, getting in touch with a professional repair company could help get everything looking as good as new. You don’t want to leave it too long to get it fixed, as the damage could get worse over time.

After cleaning it’s recommended to wait a minimum of 24hrs to let the floor dry properly, 48 hrs may be needed depending on temperature and humidity. Always better to allow extra dry time to be safe. Just a note for clarification purposes. Once your floor has been epoxied it is waterproof and no amount of water hitting the surface of it can harm it. It’s only water and or moisture coming up through the slab that is the problem. So remember if you do get a slab leak you will need to contact a professional, always be vigilant.

Trying to Stretch it Out

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make is to try stretching out your epoxy when you are running low. If you think you’re running low work your way to a corner so that you run out at the corner, then order more product to fill in the corner. If you are top coating, apply the topcoat once the epoxy has dried but stay back 6″ from the edge of the unfinished epoxy so that when you apply the new epoxy to the unfinished area you can lightly overlap that epoxy edge to blend in. Then apply the topcoat and overlap lightly onto the previously applied topcoat. We recommend that you lightly sand a strip of the topcoat with 100 grit paper to rough up, this will ensure that the overlap topcoat area bonds properly.

If you do try to stretch it out, it might be thinner in some areas, causing it to be different shades and less glossy in some areas. In the end, it will completely defeat the purpose.

Bad Mixing Practices

Don’t mix too fast! There’s no rush! If you mix too quickly, you will usually end up with air bubbles in your mixture which will translate to the surface that you are applying it to. Additionally, make sure that you are paying attention to the ratios and mixing everything properly. it’s important to follow the directions of your particular epoxy. High quality epoxies will stress not to mix all the epoxy at once. Since high quality epoxies cure via chemical reaction and not air drying which means the more you mix the more chemical reaction you get and it could cause the epoxy to cure rock hard in the bucket in about 5-10 minutes. Also it’s a good idea that after mixing a small batch is to pour it out onto the floor in a bead. The cooler floor temp will slow down the curing process. We recommend that you mix no more than 1 gallon per person rolling.

These are just a few of the big mistakes you might find yourself making when you are dealing with epoxy. Remember, garage flooring epoxy can be an amazing innovation for your garage, warehouse, home, or shop, but you need to make sure that it is done correctly. Our expert Reps are always on hand to help you do it right.