If you’re one of the thousands of Floridians living in Orlando looking to preserve your garage floor, you may want to reach out to a professional before checking this one off your DIY list.
Like anything else you do that’s new, you should conduct all the research to ensure you are fully aware of the risks and disappointments often associated with the expense of epoxy flooring in Orlando.
We take a look at a few reasons why DIY epoxy floors don’t quite stand the test of time and why DIYers should call in a professional to handle the dirty work.
1. Prepping
As strange as it may sound, prepping doesn’t necessarily mean priming. And priming has nothing to do with prepping, at least not when it comes to epoxy sealing a floor in a garage, basement, or any hard surface that epoxy can safely seal and preserve.
The bottom line is that some DIYers cut corners or can take steps out of sequence which can lead to costly fixes.
2. Priming the Floor
Most DIYers know what is meant “to prime.” That doesn’t mean all DIYers understand why or how a floor should also be primed. One of the many reasons is most DIYers are unaware that epoxy bonds with the primer to seal the floor.
Industry Guidelines for Creating a Surface Profile (CSP) are an industry-standard with which your local expert on epoxy flooring can help you define your project needs.
Read: Metallic Epoxy Flooring: Everything You Need to Know
3. Weak Incompatible Substrate
Let’s talk a bit about incompatible substrates. Epoxy, with all its durability and sturdiness, is a demanding substance.
If the concrete is old and already suffered a great deal of wear and tear, the epoxy will eat right through the old material when applied to the bonding agent. This is the very reason most DIYers use the wrong CSP and the garage floor remains inadequately primed.
It may seem unnecessary, but when DIYers skip this step along with step 2 above, the results can be devastatingly expensive.
4. Another Common Problem – Impatience
If the surface is old, such as a garage floor, there may be cracks and chips in need of repair. We frequently see DIYers cutting corners by using the wrong sealant or a cheaper sealant to fill in those cracks and chips.
Another common problem with sealing chips or cracks is choosing to skip this step or being impatient by not allowing the sealant enough time to completely dry.
Deciding to skip or rush this process could risk cracking the entire foundation of your home, creating an out-of-pocket expense that DIYers could avoid if they had hired a flooring professional.
5. Epoxy Material Cost
Buying the right material the first time is tough. DIYers that miss a step or fail to purchase enough supplies frequently risk spending more money or more time working on the wrong thing.
In the end, it all comes down to square footage. A DIYer’s cost to do it themselves is still in the thousands, and a lot of their time is devoted to researching and fixing their costly mistakes.
Get the wrong material or purchase a lower grade material, and you may wind up calling a flooring expert with a specialty in epoxy sealing in Orlando.
6. Different Result, Different Team
As previously mentioned, when DIYers cut corners on materials, they stand to gain nothing.
Flooring professionals have suppliers who provide best in class material for epoxy sealant. The material grade is of a higher quality and often supplied with technology not yet available in stores.
There’s some real truth behind proper product mixture, since some manufacturers design their products to work in conjunction to help speed up the timeline to cure. Store-bought DIY kits often miss the mark on that crucial factor and cause plenty of headaches for homeowners that decide to tackle a project as a DIYer.
7. Humidity
One of the biggest problems with epoxy is its natural repellent of water. When epoxy comes into contact with water or moisture, there’s a chemical reaction that results in a weakened finished product.
Humidity is no different. If the water becomes trapped beneath, gravity begins to pull it between two surface areas into the foundation, where it can start cracking away at the foundation of a home.
Moisture-wicking is another technology that leads back to step 2, priming. Suppose the primer did not cover the surface evenly or the primer did not dry completely before applying the epoxy. In that case, the epoxy will not bond entirely with the primer, and the damage can go undetected until it is too late.
All the more reason why homeowners should talk with a flooring pro on epoxy sealing in Orlando.
Setting Up For Success
When you bring in a team of flooring professionals, you get a better picture of the work involved. The biggest question weighing on a new customer’s mind is the cost.
An excellent first step to answering that question is a line item quote. A detailed outline of the expense incurred and associated with every task is better than jumping into the deep end of an industry you are unfamiliar with.
So, don’t be misled into thinking you can tackle this daunting task alone. Let the experts at Dreamcrete Custom Creations help you with epoxy flooring. Call us to schedule a convenient time for a free estimate at 407-285-8476.