I live in dfw and had garage flooring pros do my epoxy floors. I am seeing some serious yellowing at the end of the garage. My garage faces west and we have the garage door open anytime we are home. Is this a defect in their product? Is it going to happen with any coating? I need some advice before I contact them.
Garage epoxy yellowing
- Thread starter jochute
- Start date
Shea
Well-known member
Here you go. This article will help explain ambering (yellowing) of epoxy.
allgaragefloors.com
Why Epoxy Garage Floor Coatings Yellow and Tips to Avoid It
Why epoxy coatings turn amber. Discover what type of epoxy coating to use and how to prevent a garage floor coating from ever turning yellow.
allgaragefloors.com
Metallitubby
Well-known member
Even after reading what Shea just posted, I've come to the conclusion that UV is a sonofab*tch and will eventually yellow my polyaspartic at some point. It's slowly started a year on, but it's only outside the garage door, and I'm ok with it (for now).
As has been stated, yellowing due to UV exposure is a known issue with epoxy. I DIY'd my floor and topped the epoxy with a PVC clear coat to provide a wear layer plus to minimize issues with UV degradation.
I thought the epoxy coat stunk the place up until I did the PVC clear coat. That was nasty!
I thought the epoxy coat stunk the place up until I did the PVC clear coat. That was nasty!
Metallitubby
Well-known member
OT, but our neighbor, some years ago, noticed our light gray latex painted garage floor. He said something like "so, did you paint your G floor"? I said yes, we did. His response was why? I told him it was badly stained by the previous owner. He said "I (he) wouldn't have bothered" because it was just a garage floor. Gotta say that he had a point.
CombatNinja
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Caveat Emptor on this one. This is a known quantity with epoxy, all the vendors here will tell you as much. Epoxy is not suitable for direct UV exposure. Did you not know this going in?
It's nice being able to wipe up oil and it not soaking into the concrete.
Nope sure didn't. I will do my best to know everything about everything next time, including knowing that the last 3 feet of my garage with a few hours of sunlight a day will yellow. Considering the company does entire driveways and outdoor patios I guess I assumed my garage would be ok.
CombatNinja
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I look at it this way: if you have enough money to pay a contractor without doing any research, then you probably have enough money to have someone grind it off and start over. Most decent-sized municipalities have a couple of these ‘garage floor’ dudes that don’t really prep properly, don’t really know what they are doing and charge $5/sq ft or more. They stay in business because most customers move before the floor completely goes to ****.
I can see you are already pissy about this matter, so I’ll go ahead and ask the obvious question: why do you keep your garage door open whenever you are home? Seems like a way to let every pair of eyes case what you have worth stealing and a great way to let in lots of dirt and debris.
As to the contractor doing exterior drives and patios in epoxy, doubtful. He probably uses polyurea or just concrete paint. Epoxy would yellow in a matter of weeks.
Good luck with your floor and getting resolution on it. I do feel the contractor is at least partially liable if he did not explain the chances if yellowing in your use case.
I can see you are already pissy about this matter, so I’ll go ahead and ask the obvious question: why do you keep your garage door open whenever you are home? Seems like a way to let every pair of eyes case what you have worth stealing and a great way to let in lots of dirt and debris.
As to the contractor doing exterior drives and patios in epoxy, doubtful. He probably uses polyurea or just concrete paint. Epoxy would yellow in a matter of weeks.
Good luck with your floor and getting resolution on it. I do feel the contractor is at least partially liable if he did not explain the chances if yellowing in your use case.
billt460
Well-known member
UV is a plastic killer. Epoxy floor coatings are a form of plastic. Out here, if you leave a piece of PVC pipe exposed to the Sun for a Summer, it will turn a deep purple color. And it will shatter like glass if you hit it against a rock or other hard surface.
It is why any and ALL above ground PVC pipe should be painted immediately after it is installed. Especially the stuff in and around swimming pools. Sun is horrible for plastic.
It is why any and ALL above ground PVC pipe should be painted immediately after it is installed. Especially the stuff in and around swimming pools. Sun is horrible for plastic.
For situations that get a lot of sun we recommend our SPGX Polyurea or one of our polyaspartic systems as these won't yellow. All true epoxies can discolor from sunlight, hence why they are not recommended for outdoor use.