Epoxy Flooring

The very best gifts are the ones that keep on giving…like epoxy flooring. Treat yourself, or your special someone, to a makeover. A man-cave, she-shed, workout or hobby room, reading or entertaining area – made possible with professionally installed epoxy flooring.

Never was it a better time to turn your ugly gray garage or basement concrete floor into a beautiful, livable space.

Refurbishing Your Garage or Basement with Epoxy Flooring

Epoxy coatings can be applied over any concrete substrate -indoors or out. Patios, walkways, driveways, bathrooms and kitchens…or over commercial and retail concrete floors – grocery stores, dog kennels, office spaces or industrial buildings.

But refreshing your ugly and dirty concrete garage floor or basement will give you more livable square footage in your own home (as well as enhance your home’s resale value!). Did you know that much of the dust and dirt in your garage actually comes from the concrete floor itself? Concrete degrades over the years creating a dust that gets tracked into your clean house.

And most people just won’t clean their concrete floors. It’s such a chore. Why? Because concrete is porous. It holds dirt and bacteria in it’s pores and makes proper cleaning of the surface very difficult (unless you’re using a high-pressure hose, which will further degrade the concrete).

But there’s a simple solution that’ll keep your concrete space clean, moisture-resistant, and so easy to maintain. Epoxy flooring!

Start at Ground Level with Epoxy Flooring

If you’ve decided to upgrade your home’s basement or garage (or any other concrete substrate), start at ground level – the concrete floor. Once completed, you can decide later to add drywall, paint, cabinetry, furniture and accessories.

Or not…the new floor just might be good enough to create your special space.

Epoxies Aren’t the Only Coating Type

When most people think of concrete coatings, they think “epoxy”. The reality is, there are several different types of epoxies and “non-epoxy” coatings in an expert installers tool kit.

There are standard 100%-solids epoxies, water-borne epoxies, moisture-mitigating epoxies, polyurethanes, and polyurea-polyaspartics. (We hyphenated “polyurea-polyaspartic” because they are one-and-the-same. For the chemistry nerds our there, a polyaspartic is just an aliphatic polyurea).

But what’s important to know is that each coating type has its own benefits…and drawbacks.

Epoxies

Epoxies penetrate concrete better than any other coating type and they can be applied thickly, burying small substrate imperfections. Water-borne and moisture-mitigating epoxies can mitigate substrate moisture problems too. All in all, epoxies are outstanding direct-to-concrete (primer) coats.

The drawback? Epoxies amber and chalk when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light and they’re susceptible to staining and tire lift. So as good as they are as primer coats, they’re not so great as final, protective top coats.

Polyurea-Polyaspartics

Polyurea-polyaspartics are precisely the opposite. Their fast-cure, impact, stain and UV resistance makes them incredible top coats (or color coats). But they have one major Achilles heel – they don’t penetrate concrete nearly as well as an epoxy – the exact properties that are required for a good “direct-to-concrete” coat.

(“1-day” applicators use polyurea-polyaspartics as both the primer coat and the top coat; this is very risky in the present of medium to high concrete moisture. It’s why the tend to delaminate over time).

Polyurethanes

Polyurethanes use an “older technology” that doesn’t provide the binding strength or millage (“build”) of an epoxy. However, when applied in the proper re-coat window, say over an epoxy primer coat, polyurethanes can provide highly durable, application-friendly, UV- and stain-resistant flooring.

However, polyurethanes are not recommended for garages as they’re susceptible to staining by the plasticizers in “new technology” tires. Given this limitation, polyurethanes are typically used on exterior patios and in buildings where vehicles are not parked for extended periods.

Industrial-grade concrete coating systems leverage the benefits of each coating type – epoxies, polyurethanes, and polyurea-polyaspartics – to create the most durable, highest-grade coating system. (Look for contractors that use all coating types in their tool kits…“1-day’ installers don’t).

But what’s a “coating system”?

Concrete Coating Systems

The various coating types – epoxies, polyurethanes, polyurea-polyaspartics – can be layered, one on top of the other, to create a multi-layered “coating system”. Typical coating systems consist of at least 3 layers (…but quality systems can consist of more).

Coating systems may include:

(a) An initial primer coat (a coating applied direct to concrete)
(b) In some cases, a color or “sandwich” coat
(c) A layer of flakes broadcast into the primer or color coat
(d) One or more clear topcoats

Types of Epoxy Flooring Coating Systems

There are several types of coating systems, falling into three broad categories:

Solid Coating Systems – These are the old-school, solid resinous floor coating systems with no superfluous additions. No chips, no metallic pigments…just simple solid beauty. Despite being around for a long time, these coating systems are still popular for use in basements, retail stores, restaurants, spas and shop floors.

Our Classic coating system series is an example.

Partial and Full-Flake Coating Systems – The most popular coating systems are the “flaked” systems, whereby colored flake blends are broadcast into the primer coat while still wet. The flakes provide texture, depth and reflectivity to the flooring.

In partial-flake coating systems, thermoplastic polyvinyl acetate (PVA) flakes or a mixture of PVA and mica mineral flakes are scattered into the epoxy primer coat in a medium to heavy spread. In full-flake coating systems, the flakes are broadcast in a full spread…”to rejection” is the term used in the business.

Our full-flake collections include Ultra, Earth Effects, Bagari SE and Vintage Mica. The Ultra collection uses thermoplastic (PVA) flakes only. But our other full-flake systems – Earth Effects, Bagari SE and Vintage Mica – use a mix of PVA and mica mineral flake blends. This enhances the shimmer and beauty of our full flake systems.

Metallic Coating Systems – Quickly gaining in popularity are the metallic coating systems. These glass-like, 3-dimensional coating systems have a beautiful flowing appearance. They’re used when visual impact is of primary importance. They’re typically for indoor use only – they’re not recommended for use in garages.

Evaluating & Preparing the Concrete

The start of the process begins with an evaluation of your space to be coated. We’ll assess concrete moisture (using a moisture meter) and evaluate the condition of your concrete. Are there any cracks, pitting, efflorescence, or staining? When this consultation is complete, at your cue, we’ll schedule the installation.

On the first day of installation, we’ll bring our propane diamond grinders, hand grinders, and HEPA-filtered vacuums to create the perfect concrete profile, ensuring the first epoxy primer coat perfectly penetrates and bonds to the concrete canvas.

Epoxy Flooring Coating Process

Following concrete grinding, we begin by applying the first moisture-mitigating epoxy primer coat (we’ll never apply a polyurea-polyaspartic direct-to-concrete; this is a sure sign of an amateur application). In our flaked systems, we then broadcast your selected PVA or PVA-mica mineral flake blend into the wet primer coat. This completes Day 1 of the installation of your epoxy flooring.

On Day 2, we reclaim unadhered flakes, and buff down the adhered flakes, to create a smooth substrate. We’ll vacuum and then top it off with one or more clear topcoats (…for garages, we always apply 2 protective, clear 100%-solids polyaspartic topcoats). Your epoxy flooring is now complete!

Your Dream Garage or Basement Epoxy Flooring

Treat yourself or your significant other by transforming your ugly gray garage or basement into a man cave, she-shed, gym, gaming room or home office.

Garage Floor Coating of the Front Range is your local, expert installer of quality, industrial-grade concrete epoxy flooring. We’re a 2-day installer…you’ll not find any “1-day polyurea” systems here. Call us for your free estimate at (719) 867-5420.

If you’d like to explore our coating systems, click here: Your dream garage or basement awaits.