If you’re looking to protect, preserve, and beautify your garage floor, applying a floor-finishing product is the way to accomplish that. But if you’re considering applying that product yourself, you’re asking for trouble.
Lots of trouble.
That’s because the best floor finishing products – and TLC’s Polyaspartic Polyurea is the very best – aren’t particularly easy to apply. A homeowner without lots of experience can easily get into trouble.
I recently came across a story of a homeowner who found that out the hard way.
A Cautionary Tale
In this blog post I’m going to be quoting heavily from a forum thread at the GarageJournal.com.
It’s about a homeowner who tried to install a DIY Polyaspartic floor covering system (not the same thing as TLC’s Polyaspartic Polyurea system, in case you’re wondering). And I think it provides a nice illustration of why it’s best to leave garage floor finishing to experienced professionals applying quality products.
A Problem Product
To begin with, there were apparently some significant problems with the product itself. A few excerpts from the story will illustrate:
- “I noticed a strange color of dark gray to almost black product at the bottom of the cans…” He called the company to find out if this was a problem, and in effect they said: Naw, don’t worry about it. It’s just a little corrosion in the cans; won’t be a problem.
- After beginning the application, the next problem cropped up: “After rolling out a good size area of the floor with the primer coat, I noticed what looked like very small rocks or beads in the coating…”
He called the company again. They said that he had failed to remove solidified chunks from the primer. The solution? He needed to put on a pair of special booties, and walk out onto the floor to pick up all the little chunks. After an hour of tedious chunk-gathering he was ready to continue with the application.
- When time came to apply the clear topcoat, he encountered another problem: “I…noticed the product was getting really thick or stiff as I approached the end of the first batch.” Roller marks were left all over the floor. He hoped they would disappear as the product cured. They did not.
He called the company. They told him he had made mistakes in the application process. He ended up renting a sander, scuffing the entire floor, cleaning it with acetone, and repeating the process.
Living With the Results
So after the application ordeal was finally over, was the homeowner happy with the results?
Not so much.
He did manage to end up with some of the benefits of a Polyaspartic floor. Two years after installation, he noted that:
- “The floor is very resistive to chemicals of all sorts. I have spilled everything you can usually find in a working garage and have had no problems just wiping them up…”
- “The floor is easy to clean. Usually just hose it off with water…”
- “The floor has retained its gloss and is still very shiny…”
- “The UV resistance to fading has proven itself as a 1-foot section of the floor extends past the overhead garage door and is exposed to the sunlight. There is no discoloration…”
But overall, the homeowner is not happy with the results. He complains that the floor is fragile, and chips and scratches easily. He has to be careful using a jack stand or a scissors lift.
To sum up, he spent more than $3000 for a garage floor that he is unhappy with: “…I am disappointed with the long term performance.”
Please Don’t Make the Same Mistake…
If you’re thinking about refinishing your garage floor, I hope you’ll decide to do so.
The concrete of your floor will be protected from the usual effects of degradation. You’ll be amazed at the finished appearance of your floor. And the benefits of that finish will last for decades. But only if your floor is finished with the right product (like TLC’s proprietary floor finishing product), applied by experienced applicators.
There are plenty of DIY projects that can be great experiences for homeowners. Garage floor finishing isn’t one of them.