Polyurea Polyaspartic Coatings

The Pitfalls of 1-Day Polyurea Polyaspartic Garage Floor Coatings

Polyurea and polyaspartic coatings are ‘quick-cure’ concrete coatings. They have some excellent properties when used as the final clear top coat(s), providing extreme UV, stain, chemical and impact resistance. And, once applied, they cure in an hour or less. What’s not to love! Well, the problem with a polyurea polyaspartic arises when they’re used as primer coats (direct-to-concrete)…like they are in low-quality “One-Day Polyurea” or “One-Day Polyaspartic” coating systems.

If there’s medium-to-high moisture in the concrete, these fast-cure primer coats cure even faster! And for this reason, polyurea-polyaspartics are often not the best choice as direct-to-concrete primers.

What potential issues could arise when applying polyurea garage coating?

Polyurea-polyaspartic coatings, like all coating types – epoxies, polyurethanes and polyurea-polyaspartics – have pluses and minuses. Polyureas and polyaspartics (a polyaspartic is an aliphatic polyurea) are ‘quick-cure’ coatings that provide extreme UV, chemical, stain, and impact resistance.

What’s their Achilles heel? They poorly adhere to concrete in the presence of moisture. These quick-cure coatings cure faster still in the presence of moisture in the concrete (and humidity in the air). The sped-up cure-rate of an already fast-cure coating prevents these coatings from properly penetrating the porous concrete.

Combine this with the fact that polyurea-polyaspartics can’t be applied thickly (they’re not “high-build” coatings like epoxies). So, when applied as direct-to-concrete primer coats in the presence of concrete moisture, you get a wafer-thin, poorly-penetrating primer coat. And you’re entire coating system is only as strong as it’s primer coat. “Houston, we have a problem”!

What questions should a homeowner ask before hiring a contractor?

Other than the ever-popular: ‘Are you licensed, bonded and insured?’, the most vital enquiry a homeowner can ask before hiring a contractor is about the warranty on the coating being installed (or more precisely, the exclusions to that warranty).

‘Lifetime warranty’, ‘limited warranty’ or warranties of 15 to 20 years are typical for full-flake, residential garage floor coatings offered by most coating contractors. But “One-Day Polyurea” and “One-Day Polyaspartic” contractors insert fine-print exclusions for ‘moisture-related issues’, ‘hydrostatic pressure’, ‘moisture vapour transmission’ and even hot-tire staining in their contracts. 

Because these issues are the most prevalent causes for coating system failures, excluding them makes the warranty meaningless. We call them ‘sleight-of-hand’ warranties. If you experience bubbling, peeling or staining, the contractor isn’t required to fix the problem thanks to the warranty exclusions.

So, it’s the warranty exclusions that show the contractor’s hand. For this reason, insist on the bidding contractor show you their warranty exclusions. If he/she is confident in their coating products and application process, “moisture-related issues” and staining will be fully covered.

Is there a benefit to hiring a professional?

Much of our work are DIY and “1-day polyurea” redo’s. The coatings and equipment required to do the job properly are commercial-grade. Non-professionals typically don’t have the equipment, like propane grinders, HEPA-filtered vacuums, etc. And, despite what you read, acid-washing simply doesn’t provide the concrete profile needed for proper concrete adhesion.

Furthermore, according to the concrete moisture readings (assessed using a calibrated Tramex moisture meter), a number of coating types must be available to the applicator. For readings of 1 percent or higher, a moisture mitigating epoxy should be used as a primer coat – not a quick-curing polyurea-polyaspartic. Professional applicators have a range of coatings available and can apply the coatings best suited for your unique concrete environment. The DIY applicator and “One-day” guys typically do not.

Photos 1-3: “1-day polyurea” coating system that has completely delaminated. Polyureas are a poor choice as the primer (direct-to-concrete) coat given that they do not properly mitigate for moisture. Under medium to high concrete moisture conditions, these coatings peel, which is exactly why they are never fully warranted for “moisture-related issues”.

Backing Our Promise

“One-day polyurea” and “One-day polyurea” contractors offer rapid 1-day installations. But they’re selling speed over quality. With Garage Floor Coating Inland NW, our Moisture Vapor Barrier (MVB) concrete coating systems use a moisture-mitigating epoxy as the direct-to-concrete primer coat. We use our fast-curing, 100%-solids polyurea-polyaspartics as clear coats only. The way they should be. Because of this, we warrant our full-flake, residential garage floor coatings against all moisture-related issues and staining from automotive fluids and hot-tire transfer (we only exclude battery acid). You just won’t find a more durable garage floor coating.