Professionally installed epoxy and polyaspartic flooring is as much about preparation as application. And preparation includes repairing damaged concrete…like hairline cracks, spalling, minor “pitting” and major cracks. The time spent repairing damaged concrete will significantly enhance the final appearance of your installed flooring.
Small Cracks
When it comes to damaged concrete, the old adage “size matters” does apply. Small hairline cracks, saw cuts and tool joints, and isolation joints can be relatively easy to repair or conceal.
Hairline Cracks: Once the first (primer) coat is applied, small hairline concrete cracks only require a little siliconized acrylic latex caulk. A quick scrape with a putty knife and presto, you’re done!
Saw Cuts & Tools Joints: Like hairline cracks, saw cuts and tool joints, often seen in exterior concrete and garages, can also be repaired with siliconized acrylic latex caulk. (Saw cuts and tool joints are cuts in the concrete that provide “planes of weakness” allowing for drying and shrinkage. They prevent the formation of random cracks in the concrete slab).
Isolation Joints:Isolation joints (separations where vertical wall meets horizontal floor) can also be “repaired” by using siliconized acrylic latex caulk. However, isolation joints can be large and may require the addition of one or more backer rods before caulking.
Large Cracks
Larger cracks simply require more effort. A large crack exceeds the width of a dime and includes large concrete indentations and broken concrete edges. If you attempt to repair these problems with siliconized acrylic latex caulk alone, you’ll be back for re-repairs in short order.
These issues require the preparation and application of complex, quick-cure polyaspartic, fine aggregate, and solvent mixtures of varying ratios. Switch the fine aggregate out for a thickening additive for repairs to vertical substrates and broken concrete. This allows the mixture to stick to the vertical surface or broken edge.
To summarize, do not use excessive caulking to fill large gaps in the concrete.
Large-Scale Damage
For large-scale damage on horizontal substrates, preparation and application of multi-component “cementitious” mixtures may be required. GarageFloorCoating.com (www.garagefloorcoating.com) recently introduced a polymer-modified cement series of products called Zycrete PMC. It also introduced it’s fast-cure concrete patch product called Duracuire. These moisture-mitigating concrete repair products hide concrete imperfections varying from 1/16” to 1/4” in depth and beyond. Because these products combine concrete repair and primer coat in one step, they can save one or more days of installation!
The Wrap
To summarize, quality concrete preparation includes repairing damaged concrete. This can be simple in the case of hairline cracks or complex in the case of large cracks or large-scale damage. But these repairs will determine whether your installed flooring is beautiful, functional and durable…or not! So leave the installation of epoxy-polyaspartic flooring to the professionals.
Talk to an authorized GarageFloorCoating.com flooring specialist about your floor coating project. You can find an authorized dealer near you by going to www.garagefloorcoating.com. We’ll be happy to show you our stunning coating systems and colors. All you need to do is choose your price range and style and let us do the rest. Because we’ve been in the business for over 23 years, you can be confident you’re hiring an epoxy-polyaspartic floor coating installation professional.
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