While the idea of installing a garage floor in a single day might seem convenient, especially for busy homeowners and business owners, the reality is far from ideal. Rushed installations often overlook critical aspects like moisture management and proper surface preparation. As a result, this leads to problems. Sometimes these problems only take a few months to present themselves.
Key Challenges
Moisture Control: Western Colorado’s climate can lead to significant moisture content in concrete. Unfortunately, one-day systems don’t adequately mitigate moisture (we’ll explain why), resulting in issues like blistering, cracking, and surface lifting.
Temperature Swings: The region’s temperature fluctuations cause concrete to expand and contract. One-day installations often fail to create a robust coating system/concrete slab bond to handle these changes, leading to delamination and coating failure.
Surface Preparation: Proper surface profiling is essential for good adhesion. The rushed nature of one-day systems may mean this step is often inadequately performed, compromising the floor’s longevity and performance.
The Achilles Heel of One-Day Coating Systems
One day coating systems use a quick-curing polyurea-polyaspartic as both the direct-to-concrete primer coat and the clear top coat. They use these fast-cure coatings for each layer of the coating system. Why? To ensure they finish the installation in the promised 1 day.
However, polyurea-polyaspartics have an Achilles heel. When exposed to moisture in the concrete (or humid air), these fast-cure coatings cure even faster. In well under an hour! While this helps complete the installation quickly, the fast-cure polyurea-polyaspartic doesn’t have time to properly penetrate and bond with the concrete slab below.
This results in a wafer-thin, poorly penetrating primer coat, susceptible to high hydrostatic pressures (caused by accumulating moisture vapor wicking up the concrete slab). And remember that the entire coating system is only as strong as its primer coat! So, a better approach would be to apply a thick, concrete penetrating primer coat.
Enter: The Two-Day Process
The two-day installation method addresses these issues effectively. Here’s how these coating systems are installed:
- Day One: A slow-curing, moisture-mitigating, 100%-solids epoxy primer is applied as a moisture vapor barrier. Its slow cure rate allows for proper concrete penetration and bonding. As a result, a solid foundation that mitigates for potential moisture issues is created. One full day is typically allowed for proper curing and concrete penetration.
- Day Two: Dual 100%-solids polyurea-polyaspartic top coats are applied (not one), providing the necessary UV, stain, chemical and impact resistance. One-day installers apply a single coat only and use less-than-100%-solids polyurea-polyaspartics (hence, this is why they tend not to warrant hot tire staining, aka “plasticizer migration”). Note that a polyurea-polyaspartic is used in these industrial-grade systems…but as a top coat only; never as a primer coat!
Here’s how it addresses those same issues:
Surface Preparation: A two-day installation ensures thorough surface profiling. The additional time allows for meticulous preparation of the concrete surface, ensuring it is properly roughened and cleaned. This enhances the adhesion of the primer coat, resulting in a more durable and long-lasting floor.
Moisture Control: The first-day moisture-mitigating primer penetrates deeply into the concrete, effectively mitigating and managing moisture by creating a moisture vapor barrier that prevents moisture-related damage…the number one cause of coating failures.
Dual 100%-Solids Topcoats: On the second day of installation, two separate 100%-solids polyurea-polyaspartic top coats are applied, forming a strong, flexible bond that can withstand UV fading, impacts, and staining from automotive fluids and hot tire transfer. The end result is a 35-mil plus thick coating that’s more durable and moisture-resistant than any one-day system on the market.
Quality Beats Speed, Every Time
Investing in a thorough, two-day installation ensures that your garage floor remains durable, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. By prioritizing quality over speed, homeowners and businesses out here in Colorado can enjoy a long-lasting flooring solution that stands the test of time.
Media Contact
Garage Floor Coating Western Colorado, Garage Floor Coating Western Colorado, (970) 822-1112, salesleads.westco@garagefloorcoating.com, https://www.garagefloorcoatinggrandjunction.com/
SOURCE Garage Floor Coating Western Colorado
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