Epoxy-Coat Failure?

[CosmosMpower]

I applied the basic Epoxy coat to my 2 car garage in May 2010. The house was new but built in 2007 and sat unoccupied so the concrete was well cured. I did all the proper prep and install per their instructions. Everything was great for about a year. I started getting a few spots that flaked up where the tires do not even touch (between my 2 cars).

Christine sent me a kit to patch and I patched the few bare areas. Unfortunately the patch epoxy didn't match in color but oh well. Fast forward another 6 months and I have a few other spots starting to pull up in about silver dollar size pieces.

Has anyone had an issue with their epoxy-coat flooring as well? What was the fix?

 

[Interex]

No issues with mine so far. What kind of prep did you do to the floor? Did you do a moisture check?

 

[Repsolracer22]

I'm interested In this too. Got a single car garage with new concrete (3mo old) and I've heard all sorts of horror stories about moisture and etching, etc etc

 

[GarageEnvy]

Approaching 2 years on mine and the only chips were caused by bouncing hot sharp metal from my chop saw off of it and dropping a 50 pound lista cabinet on it. Yes, it has scratches, but I still recommend it.

 

[Hmrhead]

Is it just the epoxy coat flaking off or is there concrete stuck to the back of the flakes that come up off the floor? Any photos of the spots or flakes?

At a place I used to work we had both problems in different areas with a different mfg. of epoxy coating. One area we figured we were going to have problems with old ink soaked into the floor that we couldn't get cleaned out and the coating peeled up. (Print shop) the other area was a low foot traffic area only and the coating flaked but had concrete stuck to back side.

A friend of the owner ran an engineering company that did failure analysis for commercial insurance companies. He had his guys analyze our coating and found that we had either over etched the floor by using too hot an acid solution or let it set too long and we damaged concrete surface. They said that over etching was the second most common problem they came across regarding floor coatings in insurance claims. The first was incomplete cleaning even though "We cleaned according to instructions"

 

[CosmosMpower]

Concrete was fresh. I did the acid etch and prep according to the instructions in the kit. I made sure the concrete was completely dry and the humidity levels etc were correct. 95% of the floor is holding up fine just a few random spots are flaking off for no apparent reason.

The chunks that flaked off do not have any concrete stuck to them at all, just chips of epoxy that came off. I already had to patch a few areas last time and the color didn't match (see the miss matched slightly unlevel blobs in pic) but now I'm getting a few new areas. Not happy.

note: I took these pics right after I cleaned out my garage and hosed off the floor so there was still some water on the floor.

 

[rugerlady]

From the looks of the second picture something is causing the coating to bubble up. Have you ever had the opportunity to pop a bubble and see whats in it? It is not bonded well to the concrete from what I can tell. Call me at the office and we will see what other options we can figure out for you. We may need to do some testing, but I would like to help you solve and fix this.

 

[CosmosMpower]

There are no bubbles in the floor, I think it just looks that way. It's more like an edge starts to lift and then anything that catches it pulls up another small piece and then it makes a hole.

The epoxy laid down completely flat and never had any bubbles. The spots where it wore through and chipped off had good thick epoxy chips as it came off. I do agree it probably isn't bonded to the concrete well in those spots but I don't know why.

 

[Rudyjr]

Mistake post, sorry

 

[fingalconstruction]

could it possibly be rising damp?

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[Gearhead559]

second pic. there is something, coming up thru the concrete , that is causing it. IMO

could be moisture doing it too.

but really, it looks like its bubbling off, is that water on the left side of pic number 2?

 

[Edger]

It is probably not the Epoxy Coat product, but it may have something to do with their preparation instructions because lifting without concrete adhered to the back of the epoxy shows a clear lack of adhesion. Nothing coming up can cause the epoxy to separate cleanly if it was adhered properly.

Epoxy can adhere for a while, but with lots of hot and cold expansion and contraction each day it eventually gives way at the interface.

If you followed the preparation instructions properly then either the instructions are not specific enough, or they were not correct or the prep products you used were not good enough in my opinion.

 

[Grumpy365]

Nothing coming up can cause the epoxy to separate cleanly if it was adhered properly.

I don't necessarily agree. If you have moisture rising from the slab, it will peel.

You can use a product like Koester VAP 1000 and create a vapor barrier and cure it, but its expensive and has to be applied by a pro.

 

[Edger]

Hi Grumpy365, I can only speak for the experience I have and the moisture problems I have seen pull a thin (& sometimes thick) piece of concrete with the coating. If the coating is adhered into the top surface then the concrete itself usually gives way as the water pushes up. Most floor epoxies I believe are harder than the concrete so it is usually a bonding issue if the epoxy peels away without taking any concrete with it.

I guess if moisture was in the concrete coming up when the epoxy was rolled out and the epoxy used was moisture sensitive then it would stop it from bonding in the beginning.