Epoxy flooring

Polyaspartic vs. Epoxy: Which is the best concrete floor coating?

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The Best Alternative to Epoxy Garage Floors

Epoxy garage flooring has been an industry staple for decades, becoming so widespread that the word “epoxy” is practically synonymous with floor coating. However, epoxy flooring’s initial visual appeal and protection will wane under the stress of temperature fluctuations, heavy traffic and prolonged UV exposure.

At Hello Garage, we confidently recommend polyaspartic flooring as the best floor coating option. This seamless, high-performance floor coating option offers superior durability, performance and resistance to wear and tear. Unlike epoxy floors, polyaspartic coatings maintain their color and integrity for years, withstand the rigors of daily use and cure within 24 hours — minimizing installation downtime.

The Truth About Epoxy Garage Flooring

Epoxy floors for garages have several significant drawbacks that make them less than ideal. One issue is the extended curing time — epoxy can take nearly a week to fully cure. Additionally, this inflexible garage flooring material cracks easily, allowing moisture to penetrate the surface and break the bond with the concrete below. This vulnerability compromises the floor coating’s integrity, creating ongoing maintenance headaches.

If you’re searching for the best coatings for garage floors, polyaspartic is an epoxy alternative that cures faster and provides outstanding protection. Through our exhaustive research, we discovered polyaspartic flooring is excellent at weathering the demands of everyday garage use, providing a longer lasting and more reliable garage flooring solution without disadvantages like these:

Peeling and flaking in concrete
Peeling & Flaking

Unlike epoxy coatings, which just sort of sit on the concrete surface and are susceptible to peeling and flaking, polyaspartic coatings seep into the concrete’s pores, creating a permanent bond.

Hot tire mark in concrete coating
Hot Tire Pickup

When you drive, your tires heat up and expand. Then when you park, that heat transfers to the floor below them. With an inferior epoxy floor, your tires can “pick up” bits of the epoxy as they cool back down and contract. Thankfully, this isn’t an issue with polyaspartic flooring.

Chemical burn on concrete coating
Chemical Burns

Epoxy flooring is susceptible to stains caused by chemical burns from oils, gasoline, diesel and other spills. Polyaspartic concrete coatings aren’t affected by these chemicals, so long as you wipe them up quickly.

Poor flake distribution
Poor Flake Distribution

DIY epoxy floor solutions, in particular, often suffer from poor flake distribution, resulting in an uneven, unprofessional look. Hello Garage polyaspartic concrete flooring features full-broadcast flake distribution that gives it a natural, granite-like finish.

Yellowing concrete flooring
Yellowing

Epoxy floor coatings aren’t UV stable. That means they will often yellow over time due to repeated exposure to sunlight. Polyaspartic floor coatings are UV stable and will never yellow.

UV fading in concrete flooring
UV Fading

Epoxy floors can also fade over time due to exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. Since polyaspartic floor coatings are UV stable, this isn’t an issue with a Hello Garage floor.

Read about Polyaspartic by Hello Garage

Why Polyaspartic Floor Coatings Are Better Than Garage Floor Epoxy Coatings

Our team installs polyaspartic floor coatings as an alternative to epoxy garage floors. Ultimately, our decision to move beyond traditional epoxy flooring reflects our commitment to providing high-quality, reliable garage flooring that delivers exceptional value and performance.

Here are a few reasons to upgrade your garage floor and invest in your peace of mind with a polyaspartic floor coating.

We apply the polyaspartic floor coating material as a fluid. Its water-like flow lets it find every crack, crevice and pore of the concrete beneath. Beyond adhering to the concrete, it creates a strong bond, becoming one with your garage floor.

Due to this impressive bonding ability, polyaspartic floor coatings are not susceptible to hot-tire pickup. You can park in the same place over and over, even in the hottest climates.

The polyaspartic flooring material Hello Garage uses is 100% UV-resistant. It won’t yellow or fade like epoxy floor coatings do over time.

It only takes 24 hours for our polyaspartic concrete coating to cure. That means no waiting a week to use your garage, laundry room or patio. It’ll likely be ready the very next day!

When garage epoxy flooring fails in laboratory testing, it’s because it peels away from the concrete surface below. But when polyaspartic floor coating finally fails in lab testing, the surface layer of concrete peels away. The polyaspartic floor coating never breaks down — the underlying concrete does. It’s that strong of a bond.

When chemists first developed polyaspartic floor coating technology, its first commercial use was spray-in truck bed liners. Think of how tough a truck bed is! Plus, truck beds are steel, which doesn’t have open pores like concrete. So, if polyaspartic coatings can stick to that, you know it will bond with your concrete floor.

Hello Garage 100% Polyaspartic vs. Other Floor Coating Options

EpoxyPolyureaPolyaspartic
Bonds strongly to concrete to avoid peeling and flaking over timeX
UV resistant, so it won’t yellow or break down over timeXX
Greater flexibility to prevent crackingX
Appropriate hardness for optimum impact, abrasion and crack resistanceX
Resistant to hot tire pickupXX
Resistance to chemical damage
Looks great for years to comeXX
UV exposure to concrete coating in garage
Open garage flooring getting UV exposure | Hello Garage

Epoxy Floor Coatings and UV Exposure

The sunlight that warms our bodies and nourishes our plants also contains ultraviolet radiation. If you’ve ever gotten a sunburn, overexposure to UV radiation was to blame. And just as it can harm your skin over time, UV exposure can make your epoxy garage floor coating discolored and faded.

Polyaspartic: The UV-Resistant Concrete Floor Coating

You might not think your garage gets much sunlight. However, if you’re one of the many people who leaves your garage door open while you do yard work, that exposure will add up over time, making your garage floor epoxy coating look dingy and worn-out. And if you’re coating an exterior space, forget it; epoxy is not the way to go. Only polyaspartic concrete flooring will give you the UV resistance you’re looking for.

Polyaspartic
Epoxy
Clear coating on concrete floor

Clear Coat

Clear pearl coating on concrete floor

Clear Coat on HG Pearl Flake

dirty garage flooring | Hello GarageAfter epoxy coating applies to garage concrete floor
Before & After Spotlight

Epoxy vs. Polyaspartic Garage Floor Coating

Don’t just take our word that polyaspartic is better than epoxy. Check out this real-world example from a customer’s garage!

View More Transformations

Polyaspartic — The Superior, More Affordable Concrete Floor Coating

Polyaspartic floor coatings’ beauty and durability are ideal for improving your garage, patio, basement, or other interior or exterior concrete surface. And though a high-quality, 100% polyaspartic concrete coating costs a bit more up front, this epoxy alternative is a better value over time because it typically lasts up to four or five times longer when professionally installed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Polyaspartic floor coating is visually appealing, cures faster than epoxy, is UV-resistant and robust enough to hold up against heavy traffic. Choosing polyaspartic flooring is an investment in sustainable quality.

Epoxy garage floors are not the best long-term option. They do not last as long and won’t maintain their appearance well, due to problems like cracking, yellowing and peeling.

Epoxy floors typically have a shorter lifespan compared to polyaspartic coatings. Epoxy flooring is prone to issues like UV damage and hot-tire pickup. In contrast, Hello Garage’s polyaspartic floor coatings are UV-resistant and bond securely to concrete, making them a superior alternative to epoxy garage floors.

DIY garage flooring is never the best option. Unfortunately for DIYers everywhere, approximately 80% of garage floor coating success comes down to surface preparation. We have specialized equipment like walk-behind grinders and industrial vacuums, plus the expertise to get your job done right the first time. We ensure your concrete is free of damage, cracks and abrasions that cause other methods to fail. We also test your concrete slab’s moisture level with a professional tool to ensure the polyaspartic material will adhere properly.

Polyaspartic flooring has been the material of choice in warehouses, factories and other industrial applications for more than four decades. Now, this alternative to epoxy flooring is available for residential garages. Only polyaspartic flooring technology offers granite-like looks and durability with a one-day installation.