GARAGE FLOOR COATINGS, WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
It looks really cool and it seems like it would be easy to clean. Are there many color options? Can I do it myself? How long does it last? What do I need to know about Resinous Concrete Coatings?
Resinous garage floor coatings and driveway coatings are very popular now and come in many colors. Having a top quality coating professionally installed is nice but it can be really expensive! Why would you pay that kind of money for something so simple? Painters, handymen and homeowners are installing them all over town… What could go wrong? Let’s take a look….
There are four parts to a resinous floor coating:
Crack repair product:
Most floors have small crack that need to be repaired prior to coating. A mixture of silica sand and crack repair material are worked into the void once the crack is opened up with a specialty grinder. With chips applied at 100% coverage you can get away without repairing small cracks but they may still be visible at certain angles in the right lighting.
Color coat(s):
The color that goes down on the floor first. It needs to be applied quickly so chips will stick to it if you are using a 3 coat method.
Chips:
Chips are cast into the still wet 1st or 2nd color coat. They can be applied sporadically (feeding the chickens) or with 100% coverage so the only bits of color coat you see are what soak around the edges of the chips. Feeding the chickens takes practice for the perfectionist eye.
Top coat(s):
Clear Product such as epoxy, Polyaspartic or Poly 90. The poly top coats are UV stable and several times harder than epoxy. It’s all about application. Garage floor coatings work well for one person to put it down with a squeegee while others back roll with a paint roller.
There are several crucial concerns when setting up resinous chip coatings. The quantity of solids within your item, the Extremely Violet balance, Proper Crack restore, the amount of product or service occurring the floor and Prep. A very powerful of all may be the prep.
Prep:
based on the product or service you might be Placing down, you'll find three acknowledged ways of prep. Grinding, shot blasting or perhaps a deep acid etch. The completed product is just pretty much as good because the prep. A tough profile is required from wall to wall. Any places that aren't thoroughly profiled or still left dirty will eventually Allow free.
Most get more info it done oneself kits with the big box keep would require 1 colour coat being quickly utilized, a quick smattering of chips and one coat of clear epoxy which can convert amber in coloration as time passes. If prepped appropriately it may possibly hold up for a while but there isn’t a whole lot of fabric to don.
Crack repair can frequently moments be the hold up for that Do it yourself type. It will take follow and a few specialty instruments similar to a grinder/vac to receive it ideal.
A high solids item Like Graniflex covers totally in one coat and is not going to shrink although drying. Though it is possible to deal with in a single coat a specialist installer will generally slim out the 1st coat and send out it deep to the pores of the floor for the ultimate adhesion. The chips will likely be cast into the slower drying next coloration coat with one hundred% chip coverage. After the chips are correctly scraped and prepped two UV stable Poly major coats are used.
No matter if getting it on oneself or employing the big guns not less than now you may have an concept of what to expect. If you are doing go the cheap route just be well prepared…. It's going to cost extra to get rid of a failed coating prior to deciding to have it skillfully carried out the 2nd time. Thank you for taking the time.
Jon Molden
Blood Sweat & Tears Concrete