Almost every peeling garage floor we see in London has the same story: it looked great for a few months, then patches started lifting where the car tires sit. A coating that's bonded properly to concrete doesn't do that. When it does, the cause is almost always one of the five below.
1. The concrete wasn't properly prepared
Bare concrete has a weak, dusty top layer and, in most garages, years of oil and tire residue. A coating applied over that bonds to the dust and dirt, not the concrete. Washing or acid-etching the floor helps a little, but it doesn't remove that weak layer or give the coating much to grip.
Diamond grinding does. A floor grinder takes off the top layer and opens up the concrete's surface so the primer soaks in and grips. It's the slowest, dustiest part of the job, and it's the part that decides whether the floor lasts.
2. Hot tire pickup
Tires get hot on the drive home. Park on a thin or poorly bonded coating and the heat softens it; when you pull out, the tire pulls the coating with it. That's "hot tire pickup," and it's why peeling usually starts in two neat strips where you park. A proper bond to ground concrete and a hard topcoat are the fix.
3. Moisture coming up through the slab
Concrete slabs on the ground can push moisture vapour up from below. If it gets trapped under a coating, it can cause bubbles and lifting. Basements and older garages are the most likely to have it. Ask any installer how they deal with moisture; our system includes a primer and vapour barrier coat before anything else goes down.
4. Rushing the layers
Each coat needs time to cure before the next one goes on. Squeeze a whole floor into one day and the layers don't bond to each other the way they should. Our installs take three days on purpose: the primer and vapour barrier cure at least 6 hours, the flake basecoat dries 24 hours, and the clear topcoat goes on last.
5. A coating that was too thin
Many store-bought kits put down a single thin coat. Thin coatings wear through quickly, especially where you turn your tires, and they don't have the body to hold up to hot tires or dropped tools.
What to ask before you hire anyone
- Do you diamond-grind the concrete, or just clean or etch it?
- How do you repair cracks before coating?
- Is there a primer or vapour barrier coat?
- How many layers, and how long does each one cure?
- What's the topcoat, and will it yellow in the sun?
- What does the warranty cover, in writing?
Our answers are all on our garage epoxy flooring page, along with our 2-year workmanship warranty: if the coating peels or delaminates because of how we prepped or installed it, we come back and fix it.