What's The Difference Between All The Primers, Epoxies And Topcoats Out There?
Posted by ArmorGarage LLC on Aug 21st 2025
What You Should Know About Each Layer of an Epoxy Floor System
Primers, base coats, and topcoats — what each layer does, why it matters, and how to tell quality from marketing hype
There are a lot of different products on the market today, which can be confusing and even misleading. In this article, we'll go over each part of an epoxy floor system and explain what each layer is, what it does, and how to tell the good from the bad.
Layer 1: The Base Coat — Understanding Epoxy Types
Let's start with the composition of epoxy coatings. Not all epoxies are created equal — the differences are enormous, and they directly determine how long your floor will last.
Water-Based Epoxy
A water-based epoxy has a percentage of hardeners and resins and a percentage of water — usually between 40–50%. As the coating dries, that 40–50% evaporates out as water vapor, leaving a very thin film on your floor surface. It's why water-based epoxies have a very poor performance record.
Bottom Line: Water-based epoxies leave up to half their volume behind as nothing — you're literally paying for water that evaporates. The resulting film is too thin to withstand any real traffic.
Solvent-Based Epoxy
Solvent-based epoxies have a percentage of hardeners and resins — just like water-based — but use solvents rather than water. The higher the solids content, the better. Medium to high solids epoxies should only be used as primers. Even a very small percentage below 100% makes a big difference.
100% Solids Epoxy — Where It Gets Tricky
The term "100% solids epoxy" is thrown around constantly. But there are major differences hiding behind that label.
β οΈ Beware of Fake 100% Solids:
Fake 100% solids — If you look at the spec sheet and notice it's only 100% in either weight or volume but not both, it's not a true 100% solids epoxy. This is misleading marketing.
Low-quality 100% solids — Some products are genuinely 100% in both weight and volume, but are made with cheap imported hardeners, resins, and pigments — or are entirely imported. The only thing that's 100% is that all of it is made with subpar materials.
If you poured a high-quality 100% solids epoxy next to a 97% solids epoxy, the difference is like milk and honey — that's how significant even a small percentage below 100% really is.
ArmorGarage epoxy is made of 100% military-grade solids and is 100% USA-made. It's why our floors last so long. You'll see examples and videos of floors that are 16 years or older that still look brand new.
Layer 2: The Primer — Your Foundation
The primer is the unsung hero of an epoxy floor system. A good primer doesn't just sit on top of your concrete — it penetrates into it.
Our primer is our 100% military-grade epoxy thinned down with solvents so it soaks into the open pores of your concrete — pores that are created when you properly prepare the surface. Once inside, it expands as it cures, locking itself into the pores and creating a bond that can only be broken by removing the top layer of your concrete.
Think About That: Our primers alone outperform 90% of the actual floor epoxies on the market. That's the foundation your ArmorGarage floor is built on.
Layer 3: The Topcoat — Your Shield
The topcoat is your floor's armor. Its job is to provide abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, and UV protection. Good topcoats are solids-based and use urethane as the other part of their composition.
Avoid These Topcoats:
Water-based topcoats — offer very little of what a topcoat is supposed to do
Solvent-based topcoats — same problem, should be avoided at all costs
Clear epoxy as a topcoat — one competitor tried this and it was 100% worthless. Epoxies are not topcoats.
How to Judge a Topcoat
Abrasion Loss Rating — the lower the number, the better. This measures how much coating wears off as your tires twist and turn on the surface.
Hardness Rating — the harder the better. A harder topcoat resists scratches more effectively.
Composition — it should be made with solids and urethane. Urethane is to epoxy what rebar is to concrete.
ArmorGarage topcoats have the best hardness and abrasion loss ratings in the industry. It's why our floors not only last the longest, but stay looking new the longest. Any epoxy coating can stick to your floor and look good right after you apply it. It's how long it stays looking new that counts.
Real-World Proof
Side-by-Side: ArmorGarage vs. Home Improvement Store Epoxy
On our Garage Epoxy Flooring page, you'll see a section showing two parking spots next to each other in a condo building that lets owners coat their own spots. One owner used a home improvement store epoxy. The other used our Armor Chip Garage Epoxy Kit with our standard topcoat.
After a year or two, the home improvement store epoxy started looking shabby, stained, and dull. Ten years later, the ArmorGarage spot still looked great.
The Difference: The ArmorGarage customer only had to do a light sanding and roll on a new topcoat — and his floor came back looking brand new. He upgraded to the military topcoat, which means he'll probably never have to touch his floor again. The other owner? Full diamond grind and a complete redo.
The 16-Year Liquor Warehouse
In our Case Studies, we show a floor that looks like it went through hell and back. It's in a very high-volume liquor warehouse in South Jersey near Atlantic City — thousands of customers 7 days a week, 365 days a year, plus forklifts, pallet jacks, hand trucks, shopping carts, and dollies rolling over it nonstop.
After 16 years, the floor looks badly worn — and we couldn't be prouder of it. Any other epoxy coating would've been vaporized off that floor in no more than a year or two. The customer was so happy that they used the same Military-Industrial Three Layer Epoxy System on their new store.
It's like how long a car can last. A car that makes it to 500,000 miles in two years is a better car than one that only makes it to 100,000 miles in ten years before falling apart. We think the car that made it to 500,000 miles is the better car.
The Toughest Epoxy on Earth
To give you an idea of the ArmorGarage difference: we have a Heavy Tonnage Epoxy System that we call the Toughest Epoxy on Earth. It's not just for heavy loads — it's a super heavy-duty coating for any application that demands the absolute best.
When we made our first batch, we applied it to our warehouse floor and drove forklifts on it in circles with the forks pointed down on the floor — and there wasn't a mark. It has a hardness rating many levels higher than even construction hard hats. It's what bunker-hardened concrete is to regular garage concrete.
We hope this clears up some of the confusion about epoxy coatings. If you have any questions about which epoxy system is right for your project, please don't hesitate to give us a call or send us an email — we're here all the time and happy to help.
Browse our complete line of epoxy floor systems:
Garage Epoxy Flooring · Commercial Epoxy Flooring · Industrial Epoxy Flooring
866-532-3979 — info@armorgarage.com