What's The Difference Between All The Primers, Epoxies And Topcoats Out There?

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 is and what they do.

Let's start with the composition of epoxy coatings. An epoxy coating can be water-based, which means it has a percentage of hardeners and resins and a percentage of water, usually between 40-50%. This means that as the coating dries, 40-50% of the coating will evaporate out as water vapor, leaving a very thin film on your floor surface. It's why they have a very poor performance record.

Next is solvent-based epoxies. This means they have a percentage of hardeners and resins just like water-based epoxies, and a percentage of solvents rather than water. The higher the solids, the better. Medium to High Solids epoxies should only be used as primers. Even a very small percentage of less than 100% makes a big difference. If you poured a high-quality 100% solids epoxy next to a 97% solids epoxy, it's like milk & honey. Our primer is our 100% military grade epoxy that we thin down with solvents so that it soaks into the open pores of your concrete that are created when you poperly prepare it. Once into the pores, 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. Our primers outperform 90% of the actual epoxies on the market.

Next is 100% solids epoxies, and this is where it gets a little tricky. Why? Because all 100% solids epoxies are not created equal. The term 100% solids epoxy is frequently mentioned. But there are big differences. For instance, there are fake 100% solids, which means if you look at the specs, you'll notice that they are only 100% in either weight or volume, but not both. That's not a 100% solids epoxy and is misleading. Other 100% solids epoxies are 100% in both weight and volume, but are made with low-quality imported hardeners, resins, and or pigments, or are entirely imported, which is the only thing that is 100%: all of it is made with subpar materials. 

ArmorGarage epoxy is made of 100% military grade solids and 100% USA-made. It's why our floors last so long. You'll see examples and videos of our floors that are 16 years or older that still look brand new! You're not going to get that from any of the epoxies described above. We even show an example of a floor that looks like it went through hell and back again! It's a floor that was applied in a very high volume liquor warehouse in South Jersey near Atlantic City. It sees thousands of customers 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Plus, it has forklifts, pallet jacks, handtrucks, shopping carts, and dollies rolling over nonstop. After 16 years, the floor looks badly worn, but 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. Our customer was so happy with that floor that they used the same Military-Industrial Three Layer Epoxy System on their new store they opened. This is sort of like how long a car can last. You can have a car last only two years if you put 500,000 miles on it, or a car that lasts 10 years, but only made it to 100,000 miles before falling apart. We think the car that made it to 500,000 miles is the better car.

Now onto Topcoats. Good topcoats are solids-based, but instead of water or solids, they have urethane as the other part of their composition. As with primers and epoxies, there are water-based and solvent-based topcoats. These should be avoided at all costs. They offer very little of what a topcoat is supposed to do. That is to provide abrasion and scratch resistance and UV protection. There was a competitor at one time that used their epoxy in a clear version as a topcoat, which was 100% worthless. Epoxies are not topcoats. How do you know you have a good topcoat? Look at the abrasion loss rating; the lower the number, the better. It means that as your tires twist and turn on your coating, less of the coating is going to be worn off. Next is the hardness rating, the harder the better, which means it will not scratch as easily. And of course, 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, and again, it's why our floors not only last the longest, but they 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. On our Garage Epoxy Flooring page, you'll see a section of two parking spots next to each other. It's in a condo building that lets the owners paint their parking spots. On one side, the owner used a home improvement epoxy, and on the other spot, the owner used our Armor Chip Garage Epoxy kit with our standard topcoat. After a year or two, the home improvement store epoxy started looking very shabby, stained and dull, while 10 years later, the ArmorGarage spot still looked pretty good. The owner who used our garage epoxy only has to do a light sanding and roll on a new topcoat for the floor to come back to brand new looking. The other owner has to do a diamond grind and completely redo his floor. The ArmorGarage customer upgraded to the military topcoat when he called for a new topcoat, which means he'll probably never have to touch his floor again.

To give you an example of the ArmorGarage difference, we have a Heavy Tonnage Epoxy System that we like to call the Toughest Epoxy On Earth. It's called heavy tonnage, but it's not just for heavy loads, it's just a super heavy-duty coating. When we made our first batch of it, we applied it to our warehouse floor and drove our forklifts on it in circles with the forks pointed down on the floor, and there wasn't a mark. It's because it has a hardness rating many levels higher than even construction hard hats. It's what bunker-hardened concrete is to garage concrete.

So we hope this helps and clears up some of the confusion about epoxy coatings. If you have any questions on which epoxy to use, please don't hesitate to give us a call or send us an email.