In Maryland, your garage floor sees it all—coastal humidity, icy winters, muddy spring rain, and hot, hazy summers. Many homeowners install coatings hoping to protect against it all, but when the base coat isn’t up to the challenge, the results can disappoint. At Garage Floor Coatings of Maryland, we solve the problem where it starts—by using garage floor epoxy as the base layer of every system.
The Problem: Coatings That Don’t Stick (or Stay)
Too many companies offer “1-day” garage floor systems using quick-curing polyurea and polyaspartic coatings for both the direct-to-concrete base coat (the primer) and clear topcoat. These systems are fast to install (in the promised one day) precisely because they use these quick-cure coatings. However, they have an Achilles heel.
- Polyurea-polyaspartics cure very rapidly, in under one hour. In the presence of medium to high moisture (including high humidity), they cure even faster. So fast, in fact, that they don’t deeply penetrate the concrete slab, creating a thin layer that sits atop.
- This is a problem as moisture wicks up the porous concrete creating an upward pressure (hydrostatic pressure).
- The thin, poor-penetrating polyurea-polyaspartic base coat is more susceptible to these moisture-related issues (and is precisely why they won’t warrant against moisture).
The end result? Delamination, flaking, and frustration.
The Solution: Garage Floor Epoxy for Lasting Strength
Garage floor epoxy, specifically, a moisture-mitigating, 100%-solids epoxy, cures far more slowly. It allows time to seep into the concrete (we allow a full day) and form a much stronger mechanical bond. This deeper adhesion is critical in Maryland, where moisture and elevated humidity put extra pressure on the floor coating system.
Epoxy coatings are also “high-build”. That is, they can be applied thickly and create an effective moisture vapor barrier (MVB). The thick, moisture mitigating epoxy base coat blocks vapor from rising through the slab, thus preventing the bubbling and peeling often seen in lesser coating systems.
Why GFC Maryland Does It Differently
At Garage Floor Coatings of Maryland, we never sacrifice quality for speed. Our 2-day system includes:
- A slow-curing, moisture-mitigating, 100%-solids epoxy base coat
- Full flake broadcast of the selected flake blend
- Two 100%-solids polyaspartic topcoats for UV and wear resistance
Don’t settle for a floor that looks good on day one but fails by year two. For garage flooring that’s built for Maryland’s seasons, start with a true garage floor epoxy base from Garage Floor Coatings of Maryland.
