Homeowners spend more than $8,000 a year on home improvements, which doesn’t count additions, renovations, and garages.
So when you decide to upgrade your garage flooring from course cement to a finished product — smooth, easy to clean, and shining — what should you choose to spend your home improvement budget on?
When comparing polyurea coating to epoxy, there’s only one choice — polyurea floor coating.
Many homeowners are finding a good reason to go with this synthetic showstopper — the most significant being how good it looks when you’re finished.
In the following article, we’ll discuss some of the main reasons to always go with polyurea concrete coating over epoxy.
What Is Polyurea?
Durable and flexible, polyurea floor coatings come in a vast array of colors and styles and are made for high-traffic areas. While perfect for garage floors, polyurea is also great for basements, driveways, factory floors, restaurants, driveways, and patios.
One of the reasons you can use it outside for a patio is that it doesn’t fade in the sun’s harsh glare. Polyurea is UV-resistant, making it a long-lasting coating that you can apply on almost any high-traffic area.
A Polyurea Coating Dries Fast
The main alternative to polyurea is epoxy or paint with an epoxy additive. The epoxy coating uses a resin and a hardener to form a more robust material than paint but not as durable as polyurea.
Unlike polyurea, epoxy cures instead of dries. This will add days to the job of applying the floor covering.
Polyurea is typically applied in just two coats and can be installed in a day. However, the more typical procedure is the primer and color coat is installed on Day 1 and a clear coat on Day 2.
Remarkably, you can apply polyurea at any temperature, so you don’t have to wait for a precious summer weekend to empty the garage. An installer can apply a polyurea floor coating in temperatures in the 100s or the cold of -30. (That’s a little frosty to work, but you could!)
Polyurea Is More Durable
Longevity and durability are probably polyurea’s most significant selling point. Since it doesn’t fade and is made to handle high traffic areas, it could last for decades without more than a regular sweeping.
And polyurea won’t fade or chip like an epoxy coating. With your typical epoxy or epoxy paint, you’ll have to sweep and clean it constantly. If you don’t, then when a heavy vehicle rolls onto it, the fine dirt particles will grind away at the epoxy surface. You’ll soon notice fading, wear, and chipping. This is why even the best epoxy will only last 2 to 7 years.
The Price Is Right
While epoxy coatings are cheaper at $3 to $4 installed square foot, you also get what you pay for. Since epoxy tends only to last a fraction of the lifespan of polyurea, you’ll be spending those costs over-and-over again.
For a few dollars more a square foot, from $5 to $7 installed, polyurea will go down in half the time as epoxy and last decades longer. The dollars-and-cents savings there are obvious.
Also, many polyurea floor coatings come with a significant warranty to guarantee customer satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction
But the biggest reason to chose a polyurea coating for your garage, basement, or patio — after durability — is customer satisfaction. You won’t believe the versatility and color combinations that polyurea installers have to offer.
And customers are impressed with its dazzling clear shine and ability to look new and fresh after years of exposure to harsh sunlight.
Are you ready to install a polyurea floor coating? Contact us today to get started.