Is an Epoxy Garage Floor a Good Choice?

Epoxy is still the best material for your concrete garage floor coating system. I get asked “why epoxy” often by customers looking into a coating system for their garage floor. And, if they don’t get to me first to ask about it, many folks are looking for this answer online. Let me tell you my experienced take on this answer.

Our experience is that the “new” polymer technologies other coating contractors may pitch you on were not developed for the customer. They were developed so that the installer could install more quickly, saving them time…in installation and in “windshield” time. The thinking…if they could accomplish the installation in one day, they could be more price competitive. So, the “new” polymer technologies are unlike epoxy and don’t get our vote. Epoxy, as the best material for your garage floor coating system earns our vote, as it as been developed for the customer, not the contractor.

We tried the low viscosity polys early, like ten years ago.  We found that the materials were thin (consistency of water) and did not deliver a floor with the heft that an epoxy floor does.   It was only time that we ever had to remove a coating system and install the products that we now use.  We also found that epoxies simply had better adhesion to floors, especially when damp. This is the performance we expect, and you should, too, from a garage floor coating system.

The new technologies usually include substantial solvents (about up to 25%) known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s).  These VOC’s “flash” off or evaporate and are used to expedite the curing process of the product, thus allowing the installer to get back on the floor for the next step.  VOC’s, however, are suspected to be carcinogens and thus are not healthy for the installers or the environment or you!

Our competitors admit that there will be significant odor during their installation process, and for a few days later on their websites.  This tells you that their products include VOC’s.

Look in the bucket.  The poly “whatever” products have a water like consistency.  This is known as viscosity, specifically low viscosity.  Our products are high viscosity, comparable to Karo syrup.

The formulators (the companies that create the formula for the product) recommend the application of their products at given number feet per gallon.  If applied differently, they will not perform.  Their application rate for the poly ”whatevers” approximates 200 to 350 feet per gallon.  So, they are spreading one gallon of material over up to 350 feet.

For comparison, a gallon of our products are spread over 120 feet.  Thus, we deliver 13 mils to the floor (a measure of thickness) while they deliver approximately 3 plus mils.  Even if two coats are applied, the result is approximately seven mils.

The choice should become obvious if you want a more substantial, long wearing floor. Epoxy is the best material for your garage floor coating system.

Our products are what is known as 100% solids, with no VOC’s.  Therefore, what we apply, all remains on the floors.  Thus, you get all of the product that you are paying for with no “flash off” or evaporation.  More coating results in more durability and strength of the coating system itself.

Our epoxy cures more slowly.  Time allows the epoxy to “sink” or migrate into the capillary like surface of the concrete that results from careful preparation.  We let it cure overnight to allow that cure time.

Along with our epoxy product, we do use a Polyaspartic product as our topcoat.  It has the advantage of technology that is more abrasion and UV (ultraviolet) resistant than epoxy.  The Polyaspartic that we use is high viscosity.  It is designed to be coated at a heavier rate for more durability.

Thus, we take advantage of the two technologies: Epoxy for its excellent adhesion capability to concrete and Polyaspartic for its excellent capacity to resist abrasion and ultraviolet light.  Again, the coverage of our top coat is at 120 square feet per gallon, yielding another 13 mil of coating to the floor.

Our epoxy and polyaspartic products are formulated by the largest chemical corporations in the business world wide.  We do not believe in “home brew” approach to the development of excellent products.  We rely on technologies of companies who have a staff of chemists and physicists who are studying epoxy and urethane technologies to come up with products that their companies can stand behind.

Architects and major project engineers continue to specify epoxy and urethane technologies that we use as the most reliable coating systems available.  The specifiers, who represent major companies, must have the confidence to sign off on the specification in the projects that they manage.  We get the benefit of that technology confidence in our applications to garage floors.

So, is epoxy still the best material for your concrete garage floor coating? Without question, “yes!”

An example:  US Bank Stadium has 128,000 square feet of the same materials that we use on your garage floor installed in the stadium.

Does the “good stuff” cost more?  It does, but we are willing to pay the price to provide the best. It’s the only way we can feel confident in putting our name on your garage floor and your project. I have every confidence that you, too, will agree, now that I have explained the differences between the new technologies you may hearing about and the true best material for your concrete garage floor coating system, hands down, epoxy.