# Concrete garage floor cover is peeling



## hickspn (Jul 22, 2009)

Good morning all, 

I'm having some issues with my garage floor. It's about 3.5 yrs old, and the builder coated the floor with something that looks like a really thick paint. It's not an epoxy or a poly coating. 

The problem is that the coating seems to be peeling off of the concrete in several places. The concrete underneath is in pretty good shape. The is a little, but not much crumbling, peeling, spalling, etc. 

I want to repair the floor, but I'm not sure where to begin… Do I need to get all of the existing covering off of the floor and repair it…can I simply fix the problem areas…in either case, what can I use to do this… do I need to call a pro? I know I haven't given you a lot to work with, but it's what I have.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625807518636/


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

The photo doesn't show up. If the concrete is spalling and flaking that is your problem. You will need to scrape all the loose stuff off. If you can find out what the product is then you could patch the bad areas according what the manufacturere says.


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## suprvee (Sep 2, 2010)

Pealing is very common with many paint-on garage floor coatings. Most of the time it's due to a vehicles tires, but sometimes it's caused by high moisture content on the concrete. If you're only seeing these issues where you park or have heavy foot traffic, it's not a moisture issue. My suggestion would be to simply use "garage tiles" where you park your vehicle. They will hold up much better than paint, and since your floor is mostly coated, you don't need to do your entire garage. 










Just my two cents.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

hickspn said:


> Good morning all,
> 
> I'm having some issues with my garage floor. It's about 3.5 yrs old, and the builder coated the floor with something that looks like a really thick paint. It's not an epoxy or a poly coating.
> 
> ...


There may be a couple of things that may have caused the covering to peel, back a few years most folks didn't install a vapor barrier in the concrete in the garage, if that is the case moisture under the material could have made it turn loose. Another thing that could have made the material to turn loose was the concrete may not have been washed with acid and neutralized with soda. If either of these are the problem the remaining material will come up at a later time also. JMHO


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## hickspn (Jul 22, 2009)

*Link to pics added*

Link to pics added...sorry about the difficulty earlier.


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm with "jiju". #1 problem: Lack of vapor barrier allowing moisture to weep up through concrete. #2 problem: Inadequate concrete prep before applying any coating of any kind. IMO: I would remove any of the coating that would come up with a scraping of a stiff scraper, not "putty knife". The rest of the coating needs to be sanded with different grits of paper, I'd start with 80 grit, then 120 grit, and finish this with 160-180 grit. Then do a test for moisture, place a piece of plastic about 36" square on the bare concrete, tape it down all around, leave it for three days, and see how much moisture is under it. If ANY, then there is your problem. IF NONE, then you might get lucky with an acid wash, a good neutralizing, a clean wash, drying for a long time, and re-coat with an epoxy. Just my opinion also.


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## hickspn (Jul 22, 2009)

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it a lot. 

Thurman, I understand that if I run the moisture test and I get condensation under the plastic then its a problem. What's my next step then?


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