Base Coats: Why Epoxy Outperforms Polyaspartic for Central Florida Garages

Perform a Google search for "garage floor coatings," "epoxy flooring," or "concrete floor coatings in DeLand" and you’ll quickly find confusing, conflicting, and downright misleading information on what is needed to produce a beautiful, durable, and long-lasting floor. In this post, we’ll outline the steps involved in the garage floor coating process. Although the steps to produce a high-quality floor are straightforward, one step, in particular, has caused some confusion. Our goal is to clear up the confusion so that Central Florida homeowners can make a smart and informed decision when choosing an hiring a professional epoxy/polyaspartic flooring expert.

Step 1: The Critical Foundation—Concrete Floor Preparation

Let’s start with floor preparation. The industry standard for concrete floor preparation is machine grinding the surface using diamond inserts. Other methods are commonly used, but nothing is as effective in opening up the pores in the concrete slab as diamond grinding the floor. The surface must be porous enough for the base coat to penetrate into the concrete slab. Next, apply a moisture-blocking, two-part crack repair material to fill any settlement cracks, pits, or other imperfections in your Central Florida concrete garage floor.

Step 2: The Base Coat Debate—Penetration and Moisture Blocking

After the prep work is complete, we’re ready to apply the base coat. Here’s where things get confusing. The purpose of the base coat is to penetrate deep into and become one with the concrete slab to receive the decorative flake that follows.

The base coat must also be equipped with the ability to block damaging moisture that pushes up from beneath the concrete slab—a common issue in the Florida climate. If it isn’t, it can cause the garage floor coating to become detached. Some companies use a polyaspartic base coat, and others use an epoxy base coat. The critical question is, which base coat meets the above criteria for a durable Central Florida epoxy floor?

Why Some Installers Promote Polyaspartic Base Coats

Some contractors promote polyaspartic base coats as being far superior to epoxy base coats. Why?

Speed = More Completed Jobs = More Profit

You see, after the base coat is applied and the flake is broadcasted into the wet base coat, the base coat needs to dry before the installer can move on to the final steps.

Guess which material dries extremely fast?

Yup, polyaspartic dries waaaaaaay faster than epoxy—about 30 minutes for polyaspartic compared to at least 2 hours for epoxy. When used as a base coat, installers are able to complete large garage floors in a single day, which increases their overall profits.

The Problem: Moisture Vapor Emissions in Florida Concrete

Unfortunately, a faster drying polyaspartic base coat does not produce a higher quality floor. A fast-drying polyaspartic simply doesn't have the time to penetrate deep into the concrete slab and provide the necessary moisture blocking protection that a slower drying epoxy base coat can.

To compensate for the lack of inherent moisture blocking properties in a polyaspartic base coat, a separate moisture barrier needs to be applied to the concrete prior to the base coat. This is mandatory if the concrete has more than 3 pounds or 5.5% moisture, because Florida's high humidity and water table can severely affect the life of the flooring and cause the coating to peel.

The Garage Rehab Solution for Central Florida Epoxy/Polyaspartic Flooring

This extra cost for a separate moisture barrier, combined with the more expensive polyaspartic (compared to epoxy), makes the square foot cost of an all-polyaspartic floor higher than a professionally installed epoxy/polyaspartic floor, while offering no clear advantages in moisture protection or long-term adhesion. That unnecessary extra cost is passed onto the customer.

While we do offer all-polyaspartic coatings, we highly recommend a moisture-blocking epoxy base coat (ours is equip ped with 8 lbs of moisture vapor emissions blocking power) and a durable polyaspartic top coat. This combination provides the best adhesion and moisture protection at the smartest price for your Central Florida garage. A polyaspartic top code preserves the life and finish of your investment.

Hopefully, this information clears up any confusion about polyaspartic vs. epoxy for your new garage floor coating, but if you still have questions, feel free to reach out to the Garage Rehab team in Central Florida.