What Causes Concrete Coatings to Fail?

This graphic shows the reasons that causes of epoxy floor coatings to fail.

Why Coatings Fail?

As you can see from the chart above there are many reasons why coatings fail, but there is one main reason that makes up 73% of all failures.

We see this all the time in our industry and that is unfortunate, it gives coatings a bad name. People lose faith in the product, instead of the poor craftsmanship. The largest reason for failure is happening due to poor quality, rushed work, improper equipment and tooling or inexperienced workers. This has seemed to increase over the past few years as one day installs made a push into the market. The rush to finish a job in a single day has led already inexperienced installers to cut corners to keep a schedule. Very simply, floors are required to be prepared (profiled) properly before they are ready to accept coatings. The generally accepted standard for coating is a rating scale referred to as CSP (Concrete Surface Profile) which is established by the ICRI (International Concrete Repair Institute). Many contractors do not know this, or even how to achieve this. They think a simple running of the grinder over the floor is all that is required, or as in the Do IT Yourself Kit that you simply wash the floor with a low PH cleaner, pressure washer, or muriatic acid. If the concrete is not profiled properly the coating will not adhere or create a bond. Epoxy is designed to create a mechanical bond with the floor, but only if the floor is properly prepared and cleaned.

The next major reason for failure (16%) is moisture and/or humidity. Coatings are very sensitive to these elements and many contractors do not pay attention to weather and floor conditions, such as temperature and moisture content when applying coatings.

We see this failure especially in systems such as the 1 day install which is rapidly applying coats and not taking moisture/humidity conditions into account. Make sure your contractor is doing the necessary tests and understands the readings and limitations of the product they are applying.

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is true in many cases and very true when selecting the right floor coating contractor for your epoxy floor.

An investment in your epoxy floor should be a lasting investment, not an unpleasant experience.