The Truth About Epoxy Garage Floors:

THE MAGIC TOPCOAT: Polyaspartic Protection

Once your epoxy base is in place, we finish it with a polyaspartic topcoat — the key to long-term beauty and protection.

• Scratch & abrasion resistance: Keeps your floor looking brand new, even under daily wear.
• UV stability: Won’t yellow or fade in sunlight.
• Fast cure time: Walk on it quickly, without sacrificing strength.
• Beautiful finish: That glossy, showroom-worthy look without the maintenance headache.

Why “ONE-DAY FLOORS” Don’t Last

You’ve probably seen ads promising a new garage floor in just one day. Sounds great, until it starts peeling by next season. Here’s what they don’t tell you:

• One-day floors do not use a primer
• Rushed prep = poor adhesion. Skipping proper grinding and moisture testing means coatings won’t bond well.
• Wrong product in the wrong place. Polyaspartic is great as a topcoat, not as a basecoat.
• No room for error. One-day systems cure so fast there’s no time to fix bubbles, dust, or thickness issues.
• Temperature sensitivity. New England garages aren’t controlled environments, humidity and cold can ruin fast-cure systems.
• note about polyurea

WHY WE USE A PRIMER

THE REASONS WE USE A DEDICATED LAYER OF RESIN AS A PRIMER

• An installer’s primary responsibility is getting a bond with the concrete that is consistent and durable, avoiding common failure points. This means having a consistent absorption depth across the entire floor. Anywhere that the first layer of resin doesn’t absorb into the concrete capillaries to the specified depth is where the floor is most likely to debond (a failure.)
• If you only use one first coat (some will refer to it as an all-in-one primer and base coat), when you throw the decorative broadcast material into that coat, that broadcast material is a three-dimensional object which will displace some of the thin resin and change how much that layer absorbs into the concrete, or create areas of inconsistent bonding. Use of a primer gives us a dedicated layer for absorbing into the concrete, and then we lay a second coat of resin as a base coat, which is what we broadcast the decorative material into.
• Additionally, concrete outgasses when the first layer of liquid resin absorbs into the surface. This is a predictable phenomenon. When the liquid resin cures into a solid, those outgassing air bubbles form pinholes in the first layer you install. That occurs in the primer, and then we install a base coat over the primer. Because the base coat is not absorbing into the concrete, it does not cause new outgassing bubbles, and it seals in the existing pin holes. If we did not do this, over long term use of the floor, water would find its way into the pinholes and get under the system, causing dime-to-quarter sized bubbles in the floor (this is another failure that can occur if a primer is not used.)

A primer serves an important function in floor coatings, but not all companies can or choose to offer a primer in their systems. As we mentioned earlier, this industry is not regulated (unlike plumbing or electrical, for example) and anyone can install any product they choose.

WHO DOESN’T USE A PRIMER AND WHY?

1. Installers looking to compete solely on price might skip the primer, since you don’t see it as part of the finished system and you wouldn’t know if it was there unless you’re a well-educated buyer.
2. Installers who mean well but don’t know better, often GC’s or painters who are trying to offer an additional
   service but don’t have the specialty knowledge to know they are shooting themselves and you in the foot in terms of reliability, will often buy the consumer-grade kits from paint supplies that do not include a primer.
3. One day flooring companies - in order to install a floor in a day, it is not possible to include a primer because of cure time restrictions. This is the tradeoff for a one-day installation, and it has a carry-on effect of reducing reliability

Long story short: a dedicated primer layer is a necessary step, and we will not install a floor without one. Depending on your floor condition, you might hear us refer to a standard primer, a moisture-mitigation primer, or a thicker urethane primer for badly damaged floors.

WHY HOMEOWNERS TRUST REVEL

• Trained technicians with decades of combined experience.
• Free design consultations and transparent quotes.
• Floors backed by product and workmanship warranties.
• Locally owned and operated in Wilmington, MA.
• Proudly serving Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire homeowners year-round — yes, even in winter!