Hi All.
This forum has been a great source of information over the last couple of weeks for our Polyaspartic Flooring experience, so I thought I would share what's going on and see if any of the members here have input on what I should be doing and how I should approach this.
We just finished renovating our home (a year long process that would allow us to move from a condo to a house), and a coated garage floor was one of my bucket list items. We pulled the trigger on a local contractor with a good reputation to put in a Polyaspartic flake floor, which was completed in one day, 3 weeks ago. We were told the floor should cure enough for foot traffic at 24 hours, and at 4 days it should be 95% cured with the ability to resume typical vehicle traffic and place stationary objects like shelving units on the floor. We were also told the first few days would have non-toxic off-gassing, but by day 4 it should be 95% reduced. They also had to add a moisture barrier after testing the concrete prior to installing the floor.
We delayed moving in for an extra week to allow the floor time to cure. When we moved in after 7 days it was quite odorous. I spoke with the company that did the install and they said it shouldn't smell. They sent someone to look at it and they suggested that maybe it was applied a little thick, and that heat and time would allow it to cure. I noted we have a baby in the house, and the smell is worrisome and I wanted to understand just how 'non-toxic' this floor is. They suggested we leave the house. We have since moved back into our sparsely furnished condo given that all our belongings are now in the house.
I had the GC for our renovation bring out some 240v heaters and fans, and we have let the garage ventilate and stay warm for about a week - temps ranging from 20c to 28c, with relative humidity of 45%. Temps were lower during install, and humidity was high due to rain in the surrounding days.
The first day of heating produced a small change, but no additional change has occurred since. It still smells. On top of that, I find if I take a key, or the dull head of a screw, and push it into the floor it will leave indents in the coating.
The flooring company has never seen this before and believes it just needs more time. The vendor of the coating (a large company) says the same. However, with everything I have read on the forum, it sounds like one of two problems may be the culprit:
- A). The topcoat mix was off, which is why its soft enough for me to indent it three weeks later (likely also meaning it will never cure)
- B). The top coat cured quickly, not allowing the below coats to cure - either due to humidity or the contractor not waiting long enough between coats
I don't want to wait an indeterminate amount of time for this floor to cure - especially without knowing if it ever will. The only thing that is stopping us from living in that house today is this floor.
I am sure we could remove the floor and start again, but I am not sure if that is a better option than waiting. I am not keen on kicking up a bunch of chemical and concrete dust in the process.
I took the time to call a few other local Polyaspartic floor contractors - all of them seem to believe its a mixing error since the top coat should be very hard at this point, and the smell should be gone. One suggested adding another top coat, which I don't love (sealing in a coating that is not curing properly won't fix the issue).
My chief concern at this point is the health of my family - and the secondary concern is our ability to move into our currently vacant dream home.
If any forum members have any suggestions or insights to share, I would appreciate your input.
Thanks!
This forum has been a great source of information over the last couple of weeks for our Polyaspartic Flooring experience, so I thought I would share what's going on and see if any of the members here have input on what I should be doing and how I should approach this.
We just finished renovating our home (a year long process that would allow us to move from a condo to a house), and a coated garage floor was one of my bucket list items. We pulled the trigger on a local contractor with a good reputation to put in a Polyaspartic flake floor, which was completed in one day, 3 weeks ago. We were told the floor should cure enough for foot traffic at 24 hours, and at 4 days it should be 95% cured with the ability to resume typical vehicle traffic and place stationary objects like shelving units on the floor. We were also told the first few days would have non-toxic off-gassing, but by day 4 it should be 95% reduced. They also had to add a moisture barrier after testing the concrete prior to installing the floor.
We delayed moving in for an extra week to allow the floor time to cure. When we moved in after 7 days it was quite odorous. I spoke with the company that did the install and they said it shouldn't smell. They sent someone to look at it and they suggested that maybe it was applied a little thick, and that heat and time would allow it to cure. I noted we have a baby in the house, and the smell is worrisome and I wanted to understand just how 'non-toxic' this floor is. They suggested we leave the house. We have since moved back into our sparsely furnished condo given that all our belongings are now in the house.
I had the GC for our renovation bring out some 240v heaters and fans, and we have let the garage ventilate and stay warm for about a week - temps ranging from 20c to 28c, with relative humidity of 45%. Temps were lower during install, and humidity was high due to rain in the surrounding days.
The first day of heating produced a small change, but no additional change has occurred since. It still smells. On top of that, I find if I take a key, or the dull head of a screw, and push it into the floor it will leave indents in the coating.
The flooring company has never seen this before and believes it just needs more time. The vendor of the coating (a large company) says the same. However, with everything I have read on the forum, it sounds like one of two problems may be the culprit:
- A). The topcoat mix was off, which is why its soft enough for me to indent it three weeks later (likely also meaning it will never cure)
- B). The top coat cured quickly, not allowing the below coats to cure - either due to humidity or the contractor not waiting long enough between coats
I don't want to wait an indeterminate amount of time for this floor to cure - especially without knowing if it ever will. The only thing that is stopping us from living in that house today is this floor.
I am sure we could remove the floor and start again, but I am not sure if that is a better option than waiting. I am not keen on kicking up a bunch of chemical and concrete dust in the process.
I took the time to call a few other local Polyaspartic floor contractors - all of them seem to believe its a mixing error since the top coat should be very hard at this point, and the smell should be gone. One suggested adding another top coat, which I don't love (sealing in a coating that is not curing properly won't fix the issue).
My chief concern at this point is the health of my family - and the secondary concern is our ability to move into our currently vacant dream home.
If any forum members have any suggestions or insights to share, I would appreciate your input.
Thanks!
