DIY vs. Prestige Floor Coating
The technicians and installers at Prestige Garage and Floor Coating are often asked how effective the discount kits at the big box home centers are. As we all know, big home centers sell (relatively) inexpensive one- and two-part kits from Rustoleum, Behr, and other manufacturers.
Although we do not wish to disparage any particular brand, generally speaking, these discount kits are of inferior quality, and can not withstand the heavy duty use required for automobile parking, the stress of weather elements (substrate expanding and contracting), and can not fill pre-existing cracks and imperfections. Unfortunately, some commercial installers are using discount kits in order to keep their costs down. If you have received a low-ball bid on a concrete coating job at your home, you should be quite suspicious.
Always ask your installer:
- The brand of coating they intend to use.
- Where the installer intends to purchase it. High-grade coatings are purchased from concrete specialty supply houses and directly from manufacturers.
- What is the installer’s method of preparation of the concrete?
- Can they provide a list of references of previous jobs you can see?
It has been our experience, in reviewing and inspecting concrete that is coated with such products, that the discount coatings fail prematurely (usually in the first year) for two reasons. The first problem with such coatings, a significant failure that occurs, is the failure of adhesion between concrete and coating. When a concrete coating fails to adhere to the concrete below, the coating chips away, revealing the concrete underneath. This is why proper preparation is crucial. We will diamond grind your surface, opening the pores of the concrete, allowing our product to enter the concrete, seek out the moisture and molecularly bond with the moisture in the concrete, creating an impermeable bond. A second reason for failure, as important as the first, is when the coating can not flex/shift with the concrete during climate/temperature changes. Concrete is always shifting and expanding, your coating needs to be able to as well, otherwise you will end up with cracking, peeling, and an unsatisfied feeling. The custom blend of products we use include 1/3 poly-urea for durability, and 1/3 rubberized membrane for elasticity. This mix is custom tailored to each individual application after a moisture test, hardness test and acid test is performed. What we put in your garage, could be completely different from what we put in your neighbors garage, and that’s what makes it last, it’s not one size fits all. When your concrete shifts, this coating will too, guaranteed.
The garage shown to left was coated with an inexpensive two-part system from one of the big box stores. As you can see at the entrance, the clear coat has come completely off, along with the chips in such a large area and is spotting in other areas. The clear coat that has remained has turned yellow, as it was not UV stable. The customer stated that this floor was coated 4 months ago.
This photograph of the same location shows that there is no chip uniformity. There is a very heavy spread in some areas and virtually no chips in other areas. Chip placement is truly an art, and if you are unfamiliar with it, this is unfortunately what it will look like.
This photograph shows a close up of the same floor. As you can see, the coating has loosened from the concrete below and will continue to chip away, revealing a larger and larger gap in the coating.
This last before picture shows a crack that went across the entire garage. One of many. A garage should not have any cracks after being properly coated.
Due to the failure of the original kit coating system, the entire floor had to be ground down to the concrete underneath–at a greater expense to the customer.
After floor was completely prepped, two coats of our custom blend, specific to that concrete is applied, chips were then scattered on top.
This is the completed, final product by Prestige Garage Floor Coating. The cracks are filled and sealed, an industrial grade product is now applied, there is a LIFETIME warranty for residential applications, and more importantly…the customer is now satisfied. More pictures can be seen from this job in our image gallery. Thank you for your time reading this, please contact us with any further questions.
