A garage floor coating increases the useful life of the floor's concrete. All too often, these floors become stained and suffer from salt induced damage such as cracking, flaking, and spalling. Whether or not you enjoy this benefit will depend on getting the details of its application right. Here are six mistakes that the best garage floor coating professionals never make:
Not Checking for Moisture Problems
Like a sponge, concrete has pores through which moisture penetrates. If the ground below your concrete garage floor is wet, this moisture will wick through to its top surface and evaporate. Sometimes this problem is obvious because parts of the floor appear damp even on low humidity days. Another sign is the presence of a white powdery deposit called efflorescence. When water migrates through the concrete, it carries dissolved salts, which are left behind on the …show more content…
The only way you can know for sure is to perform a simple moisture test. This involves duct taping a 16”x16” plastic sheet to a section of the floor that doesn't get sunlight exposure. Wait for 24 hours and then check the underside of the plastic for condensation as well as the floor beneath for dark areas caused by moisture. If you have moisture, then a non-breathing floor coating won't work because it will separate from the concrete.
Inadequate Surface Preparation
If you want to avoid floor coating problems such as peeling and fish eyes, which are round circles caused by oil or grease contamination, you must properly prep the garage floor before applying the coating. This means that dust, dirt, oil, grease, and other contaminants must be removed. Floor preparation also requires that you condition the concrete surface so that the coating bonds solidly. How you do this depends on a number of factors such as the condition of the concrete and the thickness of any preexisting coatings.
Applying the Floor Coating over Unrepaired
Not Checking for Moisture Problems
Like a sponge, concrete has pores through which moisture penetrates. If the ground below your concrete garage floor is wet, this moisture will wick through to its top surface and evaporate. Sometimes this problem is obvious because parts of the floor appear damp even on low humidity days. Another sign is the presence of a white powdery deposit called efflorescence. When water migrates through the concrete, it carries dissolved salts, which are left behind on the …show more content…
The only way you can know for sure is to perform a simple moisture test. This involves duct taping a 16”x16” plastic sheet to a section of the floor that doesn't get sunlight exposure. Wait for 24 hours and then check the underside of the plastic for condensation as well as the floor beneath for dark areas caused by moisture. If you have moisture, then a non-breathing floor coating won't work because it will separate from the concrete.
Inadequate Surface Preparation
If you want to avoid floor coating problems such as peeling and fish eyes, which are round circles caused by oil or grease contamination, you must properly prep the garage floor before applying the coating. This means that dust, dirt, oil, grease, and other contaminants must be removed. Floor preparation also requires that you condition the concrete surface so that the coating bonds solidly. How you do this depends on a number of factors such as the condition of the concrete and the thickness of any preexisting coatings.
Applying the Floor Coating over Unrepaired