Important Epoxy Flooring Facts & Fictions To Know
Not all epoxy floor coatings are equal. They vary widely in solids content, thickness, abrasion resistance, and adhesion. The biggest myths — that all epoxies are the same, that "100% solids" guarantees quality, that polyaspartics are "10x stronger," or that thinner is better — lead to premature failure. The realities that actually determine how long a floor lasts are abrasion rating (lower mg loss is better), adhesion strength, and proper surface prep. Choosing based on specs and real-world performance, not marketing labels, is what separates a floor that lasts 15+ years from one that fails in one or two.
Epoxy flooring has become a DIY favorite, but misinformation is widespread. This page separates the facts from the fiction so you can choose and apply a coating with confidence — without falling for marketing hype or misconceptions.
Before you move forward, if you're interested in understanding exactly why epoxy floors fail and how to prevent failure, see our authority guide:
How to Avoid an Epoxy Flooring Failure.
Fact vs Fiction — What You Really Need to Know
Are All Epoxy Floor Coatings the Same?
No. Epoxy products vary widely in solids content, formulation quality, abrasion resistance, and adhesion strength. Many off-the-shelf floor paints and water-based "epoxy" kits are not truly engineered for floor use and will fail quickly under tire traffic or chemical exposure. We see it every day! (Fiction: "All epoxy floor coatings are essentially the same.")
Does "100% Solids" Mean the Epoxy Is Better?
Not necessarily. Not all products labeled "100% solids" are truly 100% solids by both weight and volume — which means they're fake 100% solids. High solids make good primers, but the label alone does not guarantee durability. Look at specification sheets, abrasion ratings, and real-world performance data. Our Technical Performance Resource Hub has all the information you need. (Fiction: "100% solids always means best performance.")
Is Polyaspartic or Polyurea Really 10x Stronger Than Epoxy?
No. Promotional marketing claims do not always reflect actual performance. Many polyaspartic and polyurea formulas exhibit higher abrasion loss in industry tests than high-quality epoxy + polyurethane systems. We make both of these types of coatings and sell them only when the application fits their performance characteristics. (Fiction: "Polyaspartic or polyurea is 10x stronger than epoxy.")
Is a Thinner Epoxy Coating Better?
No — thickness matters. Thin film coatings (2–4 mils) behave more like paint than a floor system. For long-lasting performance, a true floor coating should be significantly thicker (minimum 12–14 mils thick) and engineered to resist wear, impacts, and tire abrasion. (Fiction: "The thinner the coating, the better the finish.")
Key Technical Realities (That Make a Real Difference)
What Is a Good Abrasion Rating for Epoxy Flooring?
Abrasion resistance is measured by the Taber CS-17 test, and lower milligram loss means a harder, more durable coating. Most consumer products show 24–50 mg loss. Our military-grade topcoats test at ~4 mg — a performance level that keeps floors looking new for years.
Why Does Adhesion Strength Determine How Long a Floor Lasts?
A coating can be thick and hard, but if it doesn't adhere to the concrete surface, it will delaminate. All ArmorGarage epoxies have top adhesion ratings, meaning the top layer of your concrete will let loose with our epoxy stuck to it before the epoxy delaminates from the concrete.
Do I Really Need to Prep the Concrete Before Epoxy?
Yes — surface prep is not optional. No matter how good the epoxy product is, it cannot bond to a slick, dirty, or inadequately profiled surface. Mechanical profiling or proper acid etching opens pores for the epoxy to lock into — the foundation of a durable floor. Our How To Prep & Paint Your Floor The Right Way is a must read.
When Myths Hurt Performance (What Users Often Get Wrong)
Does Any Acid Etch Work for Epoxy Prep?
No — not all etching products are equally effective. Many DIY kits use insufficient acid volume or strength. Proper etching requires the correct acid concentration and complete neutralization (very important!) — or the epoxies won't bond as intended. (Myth: "Any acid etch will do.")
Are Home Improvement Store Epoxy Paints Good Enough?
No. Standard paints, even if labeled "epoxy," are built for walls and ceilings, not floors. Their abrasion resistance and bonding strength are not engineered for load, tire stress, or chemicals. (Myth: "Home improvement paints are good enough.")
There are a lot of destructive forces at work on your floor that will make short work of listening to bad advice on the internet or using an inferior product for your application. To avoid falling victim to the many factors that destroy epoxy floors, if you haven't done so already please read the How To Avoid An Epoxy Floor Failure page — several years down the road you'll be glad you did.
Are Epoxy Floors Easy to Clean and Stain-Resistant?
Yes. With a good quality epoxy floor system, your floor will have a much more dramatic look with a super high-gloss finish no conventional paint or big-box-store epoxy can match. A good epoxy floor coating, when cured, is just about stain-proof, and cleaning it is similar to cleaning your nonstick pan. An ArmorGarage epoxy floor will be waterproof, mold & mildew proof, and tough as nails — and we mean it!
Tough as nails — literally. Our epoxy cured so hard and thick in this roller tray it holds a steel nail standing straight up. That's the rock-hard, concrete-like finish you get.
Our Epoxy Floor Coatings
Why Do So Many DIY Epoxy Floors Fail Early?
We get calls every day from customers who went to a big-box store or bought online what they thought was a heavy-duty product with a good warranty — or what looked like a good deal — without doing any research. Then they had to buy additional epoxy kits to cover the floor properly so the concrete didn't bleed through. And when it failed prematurely, they discovered their guarantee didn't cover the coating wearing out (peeling off and wearing out are two different things), or the unsightliness of the coating dulling, yellowing, and failing to come clean — in just a year or two.
They never took a few minutes to read about proper floor prep or what type of epoxies are best.
Our Interactive Epoxy Floor Selector Tool takes the guesswork out of choosing the right epoxy floor system for your application. When you buy one of our floor systems, you can rest assured that all you need to do is prep your floor properly, supply the elbow grease, and our product will do the rest.
Here's Just One of Our Recent Garage Floor Epoxy Reviews
“No issues with anything from armorgarage.com. Great website that was easy to use.”
Recommend this Company: 5.0 / 5.0 | Product Satisfaction: 5.0 / 5.0 | Information: 5.0 / 5.0 | Shopping Ease: 5.0 / 5.0
“Previous epoxy supplier went out of business so I found Armor Garage, did a little research, and figured it was as good as it gets.”
“Great product, super fast shipping and looks great! Will buy again on the next floor I do for sure.”
— Chris B. | Verified purchase: Armor Chip Garage Epoxy Flooring Kit
Watch: Armor Chip Garage Epoxy vs. Heavy-Duty Off-the-Shelf Epoxy
This video shows exactly what we try to help you avoid: thinking you're putting down a great heavy-duty epoxy you believed was 100% solids when it really wasn't — or some hybrid epoxy supposedly "10X stronger," or worse, a water-based product. Keep in mind as you watch that the non-ArmorGarage section has no vehicle traffic on it at all.
The following are two of our most popular epoxy flooring kits used by customers. Both floors below were done by first-time users who had never done anything like this before — and they got professional-looking results at a fraction of franchise company prices. Plus our floors last 5 times longer!
To get your floor looking like this, just click the links below the images for the Armor Chip or Armor Granite kit. Either one gives you the easiest installation and the most beautiful, durable results.
FAQ's
Visit our Epoxy Floor FAQ page for the most frequent and also the most important questions we get asked. It's important that you're able to separate the facts from the fiction and believe us when we tell you there's a lot of fiction out there. Between this page, our How To Prep & Paint Your Floor page and our made for first time users Garage Epoxy Kits you'll be coating your floor like an expert. But if at anytime you're unsure what to do or buy give us a call or send an email or Request A Quote and one of our expert sales reps will be more than happy to help.
Have More Questions About Epoxy Flooring?
Visit our Epoxy Floor FAQ page for the most frequent and most important questions we get asked. It's important to separate the facts from the fiction — and believe us, there's a lot of fiction out there. For detailed specs and performance data, see our Technical Performance Resource Hub. Between these resources, our How To Prep & Paint Your Floor guide, and our made-for-first-time-users Garage Epoxy Kits, you'll be coating your floor like an expert. If at any point you're unsure what to do or buy, give us a call, send an email, or submit a Request A Quote and one of our expert sales reps will be happy to help.
Do ArmorGarage Epoxy Floors Really Last? See a 16-Year-Old Floor
This is a video update on an Armor Chip garage epoxy floor installed almost 16 years ago — proof that Armor Chip is as good as we say it is. It's a follow-up to the video we did 8 years ago, which is still on our YouTube channel for comparison.
The floor was finished with our best-in-class Military Grade Clear Topcoat, and you'll see it still looks new — despite several vehicles, including a very heavy SUV, twisting and turning in and out of their parking spots. This floor has another 10 years in it before a refresher topcoat is needed, so imagine how durable your floor will be if you're pulling straight in and out. You simply will not get this kind of performance from any other epoxy type or brand.
Watch: Armor Chip Garage Epoxy vs. Heavy-Duty Off-the-Shelf Epoxy
This video shows exactly what we try to help you avoid: thinking you're putting down a great heavy-duty epoxy you believed was 100% solids when it really wasn't — or some hybrid epoxy supposedly "10X stronger," or worse, a water-based product. Keep in mind as you watch that the non-ArmorGarage section has no vehicle traffic on it at all.
Do ArmorGarage Epoxy Floors Really Last? See a 16-Year-Old Floor
This is a video update on an Armor Chip garage epoxy floor installed almost 16 years ago — proof that Armor Chip is as good as we say it is. It's a follow-up to the video we did 8 years ago, which is still on our YouTube channel for comparison.
The floor was finished with our best-in-class Military Grade Clear Topcoat, and you'll see it still looks new — despite several vehicles, including a very heavy SUV, twisting and turning in and out of their parking spots. This floor has another 10 years in it before a refresher topcoat is needed, so imagine how durable your floor will be if you're pulling straight in and out. You simply will not get this kind of performance from any other epoxy type or brand.
How Durable Are Epoxy Floors Under Extreme Use? A 17-Year Warehouse Floor
Here's an example that's truly out of the ordinary — you won't see any other epoxy flooring company post images like these. When you first look at the photos below, you're going to think "that floor looks terrible." We'd agree — and we couldn't be prouder of it.
This floor has been abused from the day it was put down 17+ years ago: nonstop forklift traffic, pallet jacks, rolling ladders, hand trucks, and dollies, with an average of 3,000 people a day, 12 hours a day, 365 days a year — never cleaned or maintained, with employees dragging wooden pallets across it by hand all day on top of everything else.
It's the equivalent of running your car 100,000 miles a year for 14 years with no maintenance. Any other coating would have been vaporized off the floor long ago. So rolling your car, SUV, riding mower, boat trailer, tool chests, floor jacks, or large power tools in and out of your garage is child's play for our coatings. This floor should have been re-topcoated several years ago, but they're so busy they just don't have the time — and they think it's fine! Understandable, considering every other product they tried never lasted more than 6 months. When we say ArmorGarage floors are the most durable, we mean it.
See our complete list of Industrial & Commercial Epoxy Systems and the Case Studies page for more real-world examples.
We assemble our Garage Floor Coatings into complete packages so you don't have to figure out which tools and materials you need to do the job properly. Not sure which epoxy floor system is right for you? Try our Interactive 1-Minute Epoxy Floor Selector Tool. If you still need help with product selection or application, contact us at 866-532-3979 or email info@armorgarage.com. You can even email us pictures of your floor and the type of traffic on it if you're concerned about any problem areas. We're here to guide you from start to finish to make sure your project is a complete, long-term success.