When applying garage floor coatings, preparation ensures the coatings adhere properly and promotes a higher quality, longer-lasting concrete coating. Preparation is critical to a successful high gloss application; you cannot skip it.
While you can apply polyurea or polyaspartic coatings yourself, hiring a professional team ensures optimal appearance and performance. If you need a concrete floor coating, we can help.
The Armor Coating Co. team explains the following preparation steps for the polyurea application process.
Step One: Etch the Concrete Floor
Etching the area encourages a strong adhesion between the garage floor and the polyurea. You’ll need to etch before applying any coating, from garage floor epoxy to polyaspartic.
Regardless of how you choose to etch your floor, the idea is to create tiny scratches on your concrete. Your coating then sinks into the scrapes, establishing a strong bond. You’ll require varying levels of roughness depending on the coating formulation.
The concrete roughness scale, known as the concrete surface profile (CSP), helps professionals determine what roughness they need. For thicker solutions, you need a higher CSP and vice versa.
We’ve explained the three main ways to etch your floor in the following:
Acid Etching
Acid etching uses an acid solution to chemically eat away at your floor in a controlled setting. Typically, acid etching produces CSP-1 or CSP-2, or smoother concrete. To acid etch your surface, you must follow these steps:
- Thoroughly clean your surface of all debris and grease
- Dampen the area
- Distribute and scrub the acid solution on your concrete floor
- Wash away all traces of acid and allow to dry
A professional should perform acid etching. Doing so without training can cause inconsistencies or harm your property and yourself.
Grinding
To grind your floor, use a diamond-studded grinder and carefully go over every inch of the surface. Choose a course grit to ensure you rough the surface instead of smoothening it further. Professionals use diamond because it’s a hard enough substance to mar the concrete—lesser materials will not suffice.
There are two ways to grind your floor: wet and dry. Wet grinding requires water and eliminates dust. However, the dust gets replaced with mud, which is challenging to clean. Dry grinding creates large amounts of dust, so make sure you wear a mask.
Sandblasting
Sandblasting requires spraying the surface with pressurized air and sand. This action gently erodes the concrete, giving you an ideal surface for coating. However, it takes knowledge and skill to get the right CSP rating.
Step Two: Fill in the Cracks
Depending on the type of floor and its age, you may need to fill in some large cracks before applying garage floor coatings. You’ll need concrete or a mix of polyurea and sand to do this step. Allow the repaired cracks to dry before moving on.
If you are applying over garage floor tiles or other types of garage floor, confirm with a professional before you begin. Each type requires varying preparation techniques, and one mistake could lead to costly repairs.
Step Three: Clean the Surface
Before applying anything and after the preparation steps, you must clean the garage floor. Cleanliness is critical; specks, dust, debris, or spills will affect the appearance and lifespan of the coating.
Clean the area with warm water, soap, vinegar, and a deck brush. Shop vac the remaining water and allow it to dry completely.
Step Four: Porosity Test
The final step requires a porosity test. Ensuring porosity allows the coating to absorb better and create a strong bond, which is essential for a long-lasting coating.
To test porosity, spray water on your clean, dry concrete surface. If the water absorbs within a minute, the concrete is porous; if it does not, you may need to prepare your floor again.
Proper Preparation for Your Garage Floor Coatings in Duluth
If you choose to forgo the preparation or do it incorrectly, you will experience problems with the application and appearance. Hot tire pickup is a common symptom of amateur applications or inferior materials.
Hot tires will ruin a low-quality, incorrectly applied, or overly thin floor coating. Choosing a reputable company helps eliminate this issue.
Some other problems with improper preparation are as follows:
- Fisheyes
- Cloudiness or blushing
- Stickiness
- Pealing
Prevent these unsightly blemishes with our help. Armor Coating Co. offers a 15-year warranty and ensures complete customer satisfaction with every job. Contact our team at (715) 934-9037 to learn more about garage floor coatings in Duluth, MN, or if you have any questions about our salt pit removal services.