Coatings

Almost every floor sold out of this category is a system, not a single product. A system is a primer or moisture barrier, a body coat that carries the color or the flake, and a clear topcoat that takes the abuse. The resin chemistries in this category are not interchangeable layers you pick by price. They behave differently in the bucket, on the substrate, and two years later under a hot tire.

Epoxy is the workhorse base. It wets out concrete well, builds film, fills minor texture, and gives you enough working time to roll a room and broadcast flake into it. The trade-offs are speed and sunlight. Epoxy takes longer to reach foot traffic than the fast chemistries, and most epoxies amber under UV, which is why an epoxy is rarely the last coat on a floor that sees daylight. Pot life shortens as the mixed material sits in the bucket and as the slab warms, so pour it out rather than letting it kick in the pail.

Polyaspartic and polyurea sit at the other end. They cure fast, hold color under UV, and let a crew grind, coat and return a garage in a compressed schedule. The price of that speed is working time. A polyaspartic pot life is measured in minutes, not the better part of an hour, and it gets shorter as the temperature climbs. Crews that fail on polyaspartic almost always fail on batch size and on trying to keep a wet edge across too much floor with too few people.

The decisions that actually govern this category are made before any resin is opened. Test the slab for moisture. Concrete that is pushing vapor will delaminate a coating regardless of how good the coating is, and that is what the moisture vapor barrier products in this category exist for. Profile the slab mechanically. Grinding gives a consistent, clean, open surface across the whole floor, while acid etching gives an inconsistent one and leaves residue that has to be neutralized and rinsed. Then check compatibility down the stack, because the primer, the body coat and the topcoat all have to belong to the same conversation.

Match the system to the exposure, not to the room name. A shop floor that sees forklift traffic, a residential garage that sees road salt in winter, a commercial kitchen that gets hosed down and a showroom that only sees shoes are four different specifications. Coverage varies with slab porosity and profile, so buy off the manufacturer's stated rate for the product you are using and add for a profiled or thirsty slab.