Frequently Asked Questions
The questions garage owners, shops, and coating contractors bring us most often.
Moisture & Waterproofing
What does "waterproof" actually mean for a garage floor?
Two things at once. Liquid water on top — brine, snowmelt, wash water — cannot reach the concrete, because the film is continuous, coved at the wall base, and sealed at the threshold rather than terminated at an open joint. And moisture moving up through the slab as vapor is accounted for in the system selection instead of being allowed to push the coating off. A film that only addresses the first half is the one you see peeling in sheets.
How do I test my slab for moisture?
ASTM F1869 uses an anhydrous calcium chloride kit to measure vapor emission in pounds per 1,000 sq ft per 24 hours. ASTM F2170 drills in-situ probes and reads relative humidity inside the slab, which is generally more reliable on garages built on grade. Both kits are inexpensive and widely available. As a rough field check, tape down a 2 ft square of clear plastic, seal the edges, and look for condensation after 24 hours — indicative, not a substitute for a real test.
My slab is below grade and sometimes damp. Can it still be coated?
Usually, but let us look at the numbers first, and be clear about the distinction. A vapor problem is a coating problem and we can spec for it. An active liquid water intrusion problem — water coming in through a wall joint or under footing pressure — is a drainage and exterior waterproofing problem, and no floor coating fixes it from the inside. We will tell you which one you have rather than sell you material that will fail.
Does the coating go up the walls?
It should. A 4–6 inch integral cove at the wall base turns the floor-to-wall joint from the most vulnerable detail in the room into part of the sealed surface. Meltwater running off a vehicle heads for the perimeter, and an uncoved edge is an invitation. The same logic applies at the overhead door threshold, which gets a clean sealed termination.
Wear, Salt & Hot Tires
What causes hot-tire pickup, and how does this system avoid it?
A tire that has been running highway speeds comes home hot and its plasticizers soften. If the coating has better affinity for the tire than for the concrete, it lifts in a tread-shaped patch. The cure is adhesion, not hardness: grind the slab to CSP 3–5 so OR-621 keys mechanically into open concrete, then chemically bond OR-55 to the basecoat. Retail floor paints get picked up because they are thin films sitting on an acid-etched, still-sealed surface.
Will road salt and de-icer damage it?
Salt brine attacks the concrete, not the coating — chloride penetrates concrete, corrodes reinforcement, and accelerates freeze-thaw scaling. The coating's job is to keep it from ever reaching the slab, which is a continuity question: seamless surface, no unsealed cracks, coved perimeter. The topcoat itself is unaffected by chlorides at any concentration a garage will see.
What about the cracks I already have?
They get repaired with Concrete Mender before anything else happens. It penetrates the concrete surrounding the crack and cures within it, so the repair carries load as slab rather than sitting in the crack as a separate strip. Caulking a crack and coating over it produces a visible line within a year and a reopened crack within two, because the caulk moves and the film above it does not.
How do I clean it, and does it need resealing?
Mop, hose, or shop vac. Because the surface is seamless and non-porous, salt haze and brake dust come up rather than grinding into an open pore structure. There is no annual sealing or waxing cycle — that is a concrete sealer maintenance regime, and this is a bonded coating system, not a sealer.
Installation & Cost
Can it go over my existing garage floor paint?
No — plan on removing it. Almost all of it comes off in the grinding step anyway, and whatever is well-bonded enough to survive a diamond grinder is generally fine to leave as long as the profile behind it reaches CSP 3–5. The problem with coating over an old film is that your new floor inherits the old floor's adhesion, and the old floor is the one that failed.
How long before I can park on it?
Typically foot traffic the same day and vehicle traffic in 24–48 hours, with full chemical cure at 5–7 days. Keep vehicles off during that first window even if the floor feels hard — parking a hot tire on a green coating is the one way to cause hot-tire pickup on a system that would otherwise never have it.
Can I install it myself?
The coating itself is roller and squeegee work and is well within reach of a careful DIYer. The prep is not — you need a diamond grinder with dust collection, and grinding a two-car slab properly takes real time. Most people who do it themselves rent the equipment for a weekend. Be honest with yourself about the prep before you commit, because that is the step that decides the outcome.
What does it cost?
Material cost scales with square footage and build, and it is generally not the biggest line — prep is. A sound slab that needs a light grind and a standard flake system is very different from an oil-soaked shop floor with 60 feet of cracking and a moisture reading that forces a heavier build. Send your dimensions, slab age, crack condition, and any test results, and we will send real numbers instead of a per-foot figure that changes at the site visit.
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