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kanderson6092

Cannot Correctly Apply Garage Floor Coating

8 years ago

Our builder's subcontractor has applied Rust-Oleum RockSolid (color Mocha) followed by Rust-Oleum Clear Top Coating 3 times now and cannot get a satisfactory result. The color is uneven, streaky and now we have bubbling. We have plenty of product for a 2.5 car garage and they mixed the entire product together. Anyone have any experience with this product? Suggestion for next steps? How would I find someone who has good experience and can do this correctly. Any advice appreciated. Thank you, K




Comments (5)

  • 8 years ago

    Honestly, throw that crap in the garbage and buy a quality product. The reviews online for this product tell you all you need to know. It's not the product you want to use if you want a quality finish. It's a cheap diy solution to make it look like a it's an expensive coating.

  • 8 years ago

    The 'real stuff'

    Rustoleum 9100 - Two Part Expoxy


    Also buy several bags of pumice to make it anti-skid.


  • 8 years ago

    The biggest problem is the bubbling. This indicates the slab has moisture in it...and plenty of it.

    If the contractor has tried this THREE TIMES it means that they are NOT AWARE of the pit-falls of garage slabs and therefore should not be hired to deal with garage coatings.

    Time to step it up and go with an epoxy SPECIALIST. They type of texture/finish you are looking for is pretty basic for epoxy specialists. It should come in around $7/sf.

    The problem with garages is MOISTURE! That is what is mucking up the entire system. The MOISTURE is NOT being dealt with! Why not? Because the contractor doesn't know that moisture is there. Why don't they know? Because they are not a concrete/epoxy specialist. Yah. It sounds like a circular argument because it is a circular argument.

    Garage slabs do NOT have moisture barriers underneath them. They sit on WET GROUND. And concrete is a MASSIVE sponge. Moisture enters the slab from the earth it is sitting on (imagine a big "Earth" sized bag of water drifting through space....that's how much water is underneath your slab). The moisture moves "down it's concentration gradient". In other words it moves from the "wet" earth in to the "dry concrete". And when it reaches the surface of the garage slab (the part you are trying to paint with low-grade Rustoleum products) it evaporates (just like spilled water evaporates from a counter top). This happens every second of every day. Gallons and gallons of water move through your garage slab.

    If you paint some low-end 'bad' DIY stuff (regardless of whether you pay someone to do it or you do it yourself) over top of this evaporating swimming pool, you will get bubbling and failure....every time.

    Epoxy specialists LOVE these DIY attempts. They make SOOOOO much money fixing the Rustoleum Ooopsas - it makes up a significant part of their job.

    The epoxy specialist will come in and remove the Rustoleum product ($1-$2/sf just for this). They will then shot blast/sand blast your concrete slab. They will then apply a moisture barrier and then prime it. If they shot blasted it, they will add a micro topping of concrete (smooth it out) and then apply the epoxy.

    If they sand blast the concrete (depends on how much the Rustoleum contaminated the concrete underneath) then they will simply apply your chosen epoxy finish over top. To reduce the roughness, they may add a few top coats of clear epoxy to your desired level of texture.

    As you can see, the removal of the Rustoleum will drive up the price of the original job by a few dollars per square foot. There is no way around this. If you wish to engage in the proper professionals (the epoxy specialist) I suggest you LEAVE the product on the floor. This way the workers will know exactly what was used and exactly what was done to remove it.

  • 8 years ago

    Thank you for your feedback and insight.

  • 8 years ago

    Heck just park on it for a couple years. The oil drips and mud tracks will obscure the color problem. When the finish finally fails - which may not be too many years out according to the above post! - hire the epoxy pros to replace it. Seriously, it's the garage. A lot of resources and chemicals went into making that coating. It would be a shame to just throw it away and buy MORE chemicals to replace it. I'd use it for awhile.

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