FAQ

First, Armor Chip and Armor Granite are garage floor epoxies with colored flakes while ArmorGarage II Commercial Epoxy Flooring is a base color epoxy with a color topcoat. ArmorGarage II has a little thinner base coat that is not suitable for applying chips. The epoxy for Armor Chip is a thick 100% military grade solids epoxy to provide a good base for the chips and Armor Granite's epoxy is even thicker since you are adding in 18lbs of chips as opposed to 6lbs for Armor Chip. ArmorGarage II has a much heavier duty topcoat than either the Chip or Granite kits making it suitable for forklift use and other commercial duty applications. Armor Chip and Armor Granite garage kits come with two and four layers of topcoat respectively. If you want the equivalent in durability to ArmorGarage II with Armor Chip or Armor Granite than upgrade the topcoat to the military grade version.

Surface prep is the MOST important step of any epoxy floor coating project. This is a short summary of the steps needed to prepare concrete for any of our garage floor epoxies, or any epoxy floor coating, for that matter. For a detailed step-by-step guide for applying garage floor epoxy, see The How To Prep & Paint Your Garage Floor" page. It's a must-read; an improperly prepared floor will result in either a failure or a shortened performance life of the coating. Prepping can be done by either using the acid etch method or grinding. If you have a larger project of 4000 sf or more, it's best to rent an industrial-grade grinder with 25 grit bits. Tell your rental shop you want new bits and a Vac attachment. This will make the process much easier. For smaller areas, the Floor Prep Machine you can rent from Home Depot does a great job. New concrete MUST be prepped the same as old concrete, either etched twice or diamond grinded.

b. Acid Etching: Etching is an excellent, low-cost way to prep. Etching removes any surface lime and contaminants that all concrete has, and creates millions of microscopic pores in the surface for the epoxy to flow and lock into. If you plan on acid etching, you can use the etch supplied with most orders. Etching is a very simple process. See our How To Prep & Paint Your Floor page in the Need To Know Section for complete details. If an epoxy kit you are considering to purchase includes an etching solution, always check to see the amount of etch provided. Many times, due to packaging limitations, only a quart is supplied. This will not do the job properly. Power washing prior to etching and neutralizing the slab after etching will yield the best adhesion.

Normal mix is 3-4 parts water to 1 part acid, but you can use less water if your floor is sealed or particularly dirty. If your floor is older or extra dirty you should etch twice, if your floor was power troweled smooth, you should etch twice, if your floor is new (less than a year) you should etch twice. Always rinse well and neutralize and allow to dry fully before coating with epoxy (for best results, allow 48 hours for drying. If neutralizing your floor, simply sprinkle neutralizing powder over floor while wet and prior to rinsing. Scrub in lightly and rinse the neutralizer and Etching solution off thoroughly. Your concrete should resemble newly poured concrete and have a slight rough texture when you rub your hand across it. If etching twice, make sure to neutralize after the second etch.

To etch your floor, simply wet a section of the floor (do it in sections from back to front), mix the etching solution, and sprinkle it evenly over the wet floor. A Garden Watering can works great for this. Scrub in vigorously with a stiff-bristle shop broom. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and rinse off. Try to avoid as best as possible of running rinse water over an already etched surface. You do not want to overetch. If it is unavoidable, keep the already etched section wet, and before rinsing the new section, neutralize the acid. This will prevent over-etching. If rinse water is running over finished driveways, keep the surface wet and or neutralize prior to rinsing.

c. Sealed floors: Many floors have sealers added to them when poured or applied at a later date. To determine if your floor is sealed, walk around and dribble water droplets on the floor. If it beads up’ like on the hood of a waxed car, then you have a sealer, and sealed floors will resist all coatings. The sealer must be removed by acid etching (usually at higher concentrations, or multiple times), or mechanical means such as grinding or sanding. Repeat prep steps until water does not bead. Sanding a sealed floor prior to using acid etch helps to open up the floor to allow the acid to penetrate and etch. A strong muriatic acid solution of 2 parts water to every 1 part acid is usually needed to remove sealers. Fortunately, most sealers are of a retail nature and are easily removed with the above methods.

d. Mechanical methods: You can use the Floor Prep Machine available for rental from your local Home Depot. If the vac attachment is available, take that too. You can also use a diamond grinder available at most tool rental places. Grinding is necessary if you used the wrong or low-grade epoxy that is staining and peeling up. It doesn't matter how old or new the epoxy is; it has to come off, even if it's less than a year old. We get calls from people in this situation every day, and unfortunately, grinding everything off is the only right way to do it, so it never happens again. If using a grinder, rent a good quality grinder of the largest size you can handle with at least dual heads equipped with 25 grit diamond blades. If a Vac System is available with the grinder, we recommend using it. It will minimize the dust. Do not try a shop vac since they will simply clog up after a few minutes of use. Make sure to vacuum well after this step as sanding or grinding creates a lot of dust. If possible, do a light etching to remove any leftover dust.

e. Oily/greasy floors: No standard coating can stick to an oily floor. If your floor is oil-soaked and/or stained, after degreasing and etching, check with the water drop test to see if water still beads up or if the water displays a rainbow color. You may need to degrease and etch several times to remove oil stains; they can be very stubborn and difficult to remove. Another effective method is to clean oil stains with Tide Liquid Detergent, scrub some Tide into the stain and then scrub some dilute muriatic acid into the Tide, the stain should start bubbling out. You may have to do it more than once. Make sure that after using any cleaning agent, you rinse and clean the spots thoroughly with TSP to remove any cleaning residues. Some stains are impossible to remove, if all of the above has failed, then you need to use our Oil Primer which is a special primer designed to stick to oily floors. This is an excellent product that is patent-pending.

Even though all our garage epoxy flooring is self-priming, it's never a bad idea to prime any concrete floor prior to applying an epoxy coating. You should prime if your floor size is very close to or slightly over the stated coverage of the Armor Chip or Armor Granite Garage Epoxy kit you intend on using. Priming will extend the coverage of the epoxy by up to 20% thus alleviating the need to purchase an additional kit. If using Armorgarage II Epoxy Floor Coating (no color flakes) for your garage floor, there's no need to prime, as the primer comes standard as the basecoat. A primer will add extra adhesion, increase the coverage and provide you with an overall thicker coating for more durability. Priming is also a good idea if you'll be using your garage as a workshop, you have an exotic sports car, you have large trucks and toys such as riding mowers, tractors, Bobcats or your floor is older and in poor condition. Our primer is really a high performance epoxy floor coating that we thin down a little to allow for deeper penetration, it will outperform 90% of actual epoxy floor coatings out there. When doing our own floors we always prime!

If your floor is in good condition and you have regular passenger cars or SUVs, or your workshop doesn't have heavy abrasive items such as car jacks, jack stands, engine hoists, such as in wood shops, then you don't need to use an epoxy primer. But again, if the budget allows and you have the time it's never a bad thing to use the primer.

If you apply the primer allow 5-6 hours for the primer to dry to the touch (no fingerprints when pressed into coating). For the epoxy allow overnight curing before applying the topcoat. Do not let more than 24 hrs pass between any two coats, otherwise you must sand with 100 grit to rough up. Allow all topcoats to cure for 6-8 hrs before foot traffic and placing objects on it. Allow 2-3 days before driving vehicles on your new epoxy floor.

Yes all our epoxy systems are waterproof. If using one of our garage epoxy kits we strongly recommend you use the primer also if your garage is over a finished space. We recommend that you seal all cracks and seams first. We also recommend that you install a cove base. We have Cove Base Mortar kits that you can purchase on our Concrete Repair Products Page and easily do it yourself. Cove base is a must in any commercial kitchen or if you have a finished space under your garage. When you use cove base you can run the epoxy across the floor and right up the cove base thus forming a waterproof tub!

Hair line cracks should be filled with our Instant Crack Repair. They can actually run the depth of the slab and must be filled. All larger cracks should be repaired with either our Crack and Joint Compound or our Instant Crack Repair Compound. Trying to fill cracks that run the depth of the slab will consume large amounts of costly epoxy product and may end up like a bottomless pit if there is a void under the crack, so we recommend the use of backer rod. The Instant Crack compound can be used after etching. Mix equal parts of A & B and putty knife into cracks and scrape smooth. Then apply the epoxy coating right over it, no need to let the repair compound harden. The crack & joint compound can be applied before etching, mix with up to 50lbs of playground sand (purchased locally) till you get a pasty dry type of grout. Trowel or putty knife into cracks, scrape smooth and let cure for 24 hrs prior to etching and coating over. Both compounds can be hand grinded if needed to get a smooth finish.

Polyaspartics and Polyurea are good coatings in the right applications. The fact is, they are not as durable as Aliphatic epoxy with a primer basecoat and a Urethane Fortified Topcoat. Polyaspartics are great for outdoor epoxy projects since they are 100% UV proof, and they’re also great when you need to get your floor back in service in the same or next day. Polyureas are a great lower-cost floor coating option. The Blue arrow was done with a Polyurea epoxy right after the Armor Chip floor was installed. As you can see, the ArmorGarage part still looks brand new and the blue doesn't at all. you want a bulletproof floor, use the right epoxy for the right job and stick to 100% military grade solids aliphatic epoxies. Beware of high solids and low-grade 100% solids epoxies; these are primers and nothing more!

Standard colors ship out in 1-2 business days by FedEx ground. Cut off time is 2 PM Eastern time. Orders placed after this time are processed as next day orders. Large orders requiring delivery via common carriers depending on the size require 2-3 business days for shipping. Please allow the appropriate shipping time from our distribution center in NJ to your location.

Water based epoxy companies make misleading statements by claiming their epoxies are safer for the environment. Typical water based epoxies in addition to being inferior epoxy, are not better for the environment! They contain 1 lb of VOCs per gallon of epoxy. ArmorGarage Military Industrial Epoxy, Armor Chip Garage Epoxy, Armor GraniteGarage Epoxy and ArmorGarage Basement Paint all contain ZERO VOCs! It's pretty clear which is better for the environment!

Hot Tire Lifting is when your hot tires come in contact with a thin epoxy coating of low quality, the heat from you tires reactivates the curing process and the epoxy begins to revert back to it's liquid state and then as your tires cool down the epoxy gets bonded to your tires. So that the next time you pull your car out of the garage part of your new epoxy floor goes along for the ride We get dozens of calls everyday from people that bought all sorts of hyped up epoxies or water based epoxy kits only to have the coating destroyed within the first year of application. You don't want that happening to you! See the CASE STUDIES PAGE for examples of what can happen and to see ArmorGarage floors on their way to 20 year lifespans. All our Epoxy kits are engineered and guaranteed 100% against Hot Tire Lifting.

Yes you can coat over them if the majority of the epoxy paint you used is still firmly bonded to the floor. You can remove the failed paint or about to fail paint. Power washing and scraping is one method. This usually does the trick since most epoxies are low quality and paper thin. Another method is to rent a floor prep machine from your local Home Improvement Center or a tool rental company for about $150.00 for the day. It won't get 100% of the epoxy off but that's OK. It will remove all the epoxy that is not properly adhered and rough up the remaining paint. If only small spots have failed give the paint a rough sanding and power wash, then etch the entire floor with our etching solution and rinse well with a garden hose then do a final rinse with the power washer. Any remaining paint and concrete is now ready for our bonding primer and coating with any of our epoxy floor coatings. The Bonding Primer will act as a bonding agent between your existing coating and our epoxy coating. One final point, during this process it's essential you remove any oil stains. For this you will need a good quality degreaser. Or you can try some Liquid Tide scrubbed in with muriatic acid. It will most likely take multiple washings to get the oil & grease stains out. To test sprinkle some water on the stained area, if it beads up or turns a rainbowish blue then the oil is still in the floor. A hand grinder will assist in removing very stubborn stains.

Yes, our epoxies are not water based and adhere extremely well to all vertical surfaces without running or dripping. This applies whether your using just a solid color epoxy or epoxy with the colored chips. We recommend you use a good quality brush on the vertical surfaces. Brush marks will disappear as the epoxy cures. If applying chips to the curb, try spreading a bead of chips along the curb and blowing them up onto the epoxy with a leaf blower with low short bursts of air! We recommend not applying the epoxy higher than 24" to avoid the risk of sagging. If you need to coat a vertical surface greater than 24" high, use our Industrial Epoxy Wall Paint that can actually fill in the voids in cinder blocks.

This is a question we get asked often and the short answer is we manufacture our epoxy floor coatings with the highest quantity and the highest grade epoxy resins, polymers, hardeners and pigments available. We don't use water or cheap filler chemicals to water down our epoxies so that they sell at a lower price. Water and substitute chemicals mean a lower price but also fewer resins, polymers, pigments, and hardeners in your epoxy, leading to lower quality and early failure.

Our topcoats are the best in the business and are actually more expensive than the epoxy itself. When our epoxy and topcoat bond together, they result in a coating with a cross-link density that is incredibly hard yet flexible enough not to crack during normal floor expansion and contraction. So just like any other product, there are the prime quality versions and the cheap imitation versions. Below are 7 detailed paragraphs you should consider before purchasing an epoxy:

1. Is the epoxy I'm considering water-based, such as many of the brands available in Home Improvement Centers? Armor Garage will not sell any water-based epoxies! Is the epoxy you're considering a fake and or imported 100% solids epoxy? Is the epoxy being promoted to you a high-solids epoxy? If the answer is yes to any of this then you'll be applying an epoxy paint with inferior performance ratings and risking a meesy failure a lot sooner than you ever imagined. All our epoxies are pure military grade solids-based two-part epoxies with no added substitutes or imported chemicals. We manufacture only in either heavy-duty or extra-heavy-duty grades. While most water-based epoxies, high solids, low grade 100% solids epoxies and fake 100% solids epoxies are well-marketed, they are all prone to short lifespans and a high rate of failures. In fact, most of our customers are ex-users of those types of epoxies. The best course of action is not to use them in the first place. But if you did, call us, and we can help.

2. What is the guarantee of the epoxy I'm considering? Our epoxies are the only ones guaranteed against wear and provide a 10-year new look guarantee when using our military grade topcoat! All our epoxies are engineered with a 15-20 year life expectancy. Lifetime guarantees are just slick marketing fluff that usually exclude just about everything except peeling and have almost impossible qualifying technicalities, resulting in you having no real guarantee (read the fine print). Why don't other epoxies guarantee against wear? Because they can't! The best guarantee is the one you'll never have to use! This is the one reason to buy an Armor Garage Epoxy kit.

3. What are the specifications of the epoxy I'm considering? Kits with exaggerated coverages and inferior chemistry result in a paper-thin covering guaranteed to fail! Armor Garage's epoxy floor coatings provide the thickest final coatings and the best Specification ratings for Abrasion, Impact, Glossiness, and Adhesion! These are the FOUR most important factors to consider when purchasing any epoxy paint! Anyone can say what they want about their epoxy, but if you start with an epoxy that is a thinner coating with a softer final cure, lower impact ratings, and lower adhesion, which epoxy do you think will last longer on your floor, theirs or ours? What are you buying if you purchase one of these products other than a low price and some good marketing?? Our epoxies will not dull from tire abrasion, will not experience any hot tire lifting and will never peel, crack, fade or yellow.

4. How do you know you are applying the epoxy at the right thickness? Armor Garage kits are the only ones with a calibrated squeegee so that you can spread the epoxy at the right thickness automatically. Assuring no thin spots that are prone to failure.

5. How many pounds of chips are you getting? Armor Chip Garage Epoxy and Armor Granite Garage Epoxy kits provide you with 6 & 18lbs of color flakes, respectively. This will provide coverage of 75% up to 95%. 6. Are you getting a topcoat and how good is it? All Armor Garage kits are supplied with either a heavy-duty topcoat or a military grade topcoat. It's a must to have the best quality topcoat to guard against abrasion wear. We cannot stress this point hard enough! This is the single biggest mistake most people make when coating their floors with epoxy, not using a Urethane fortified topcoat with a low abrasion loss rating (the lower the number the better), it's a guarantee to premature failure, no matter what anybody tells you. Please note that any and all epoxies with any amount of solids in them will Yellow without a protective Urethane Topcoat. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about that; it's indisputable epoxy paint chemistry, and anyone telling you otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about or isn't being truthful. Also if you are applying decorative chips with a protective topcoat, know that the chips do not fully embed themselves into the epoxy and have millions of tiny raised edges. These raised edges will collect dirt and grime, making it a nightmare to keep your floor clean. Not to mention that common sense tells you that exposed flakes cannot withstand the abrasion from your vehicle's hot tires!

7. What is the real price of the other epoxy I'm considering? Some companies don't include shipping in their prices, don't include a topcoat, only include a minuscule amount of color flakes, and provide coatings that are less than half as thick as our epoxy flooring kits, which means you need more of their product to equal ours! Other competing epoxy floor coatings are made with low-quality pigments, often resulting in concrete bleed through, forcing you to buy multiple garage epoxy floor kits to cover the concrete properly. We could go on, but we think you get the point. Talk to one of our experts so that you know exactly what you are buying before you buy it.

No experience is needed for professional results. It's a simple straight forward process and all our Garage Epoxy Flooring kits are designed assuming you have never done this before. All the beautiful garage floor images you see on our website we're done by first time users! As long as you've used a roller before and can follow clear & easy instructions it is basically fool proof. The important factors in a successful epoxy job are as follows: Be sure your floor is clean of all dirt and stains then prep the floor with the etching solution provided, let the floor dry completely, mix the components of the epoxy accurately and thoroughly. If you do the above your floor will turn out perfect, it's as simple as that. Read the HOW TO PREP & PAINT YOUR GARAGE FLOOR THE RIGHT WAYpage for step-by-step instructions, videos and pro tips. If you accidentally splatter one of our epoxies on something, simply wipe clean with paint thinner or Xylene (available at Home Depot/Lowes) before it cures. Do not let our epoxy harden! Once cured there is no way to remove our epoxy other than by grinding.

Should you have any questions or issues at anytime we provide unlimited phone & email support even on the weekends!

Yes, we suggest you purchase our Wood & Tile Epoxy Floor Kit. It's the most effective way to deal with any type of tiles, including VCT tiles containing Asbestos, which is dangerous to handle and costly to dispose of. Please note that you need to secure any loose tiles, patch any missing ones, and either acid etch or sand them to provide a clean, rough surface for the epoxy. DO NOT sand any VCT tile containing asbestos! If sanding non-asbestos VCT tiles, please wear a respirator! We always strongly recommend that if the tiles are not asbestos to remove them and then use the Wood & Tile Epoxy kit to coat right over the black mastic. This will eliminate any chance of seeing the tile seams and damage to the epoxy finish should the tiles underneath continue to deteriorate, shift or crack.

We now have a clear product in our Specialty Coating Section that can go right over any VCT tile and provide unparalleled shine and protection. Prior to this, the only clear coats to use on VCT were waxes and sealers that had to be continuously stripped and reapplied. Not anymore, now it's one coat and done!

Yes we have several epoxy kits for going over indoor wood floors. We do not recommend epoxy on outdoor wood; it will not hold up for more than 2 years. Please call us to discuss your wood floor application so that we can assist you in selecting the right epoxy flooring kit for your project.

Great questions! If you don't etch or grind the floor, you will not be removing all the dirt and curing residues that have been ground into your concrete. You will also not open the pores of your concrete. Both of these factors will prevent the epoxy from adhering to your concrete properly, and any epoxy coating you put on your floor will peel up in a very short time. In other words, you will be wasting your time and money if you don't etch. If you are grinding your floor, great, etching is not necessary, but if you're rinsing your floor to get rid of the dust, you might as well etch it, since it's such a quick and easy process while the floor is wet to fully open the pores of the concrete.

If your floor is new or was power trowelled smooth or very dirty, you must acid etch twice! Regarding the topcoat we cannot stress enough how important the topcoat is. Our Urethane fortified topcoats, when bonded to our epoxy base coats, provide you with UV protection and increased durability against tire abrasion, chemicals and stains far beyond any epoxy-only coating. No reputable epoxy installation company would ever do a job without applying a topcoat and neither should you. Induction time is the time you need to wait between mixing the epoxy and applying it. Any garage epoxy flooring product requiring an induction time is an epoxy to stay away from. That is the sign of a cheap, low-grade product; none of our garage epoxies require any induction time. After mixing our epoxies, you should immediately apply them to your floor to slow the curing process down. Our garage epoxies are not like standard off the shelf type epoxies. You have about 30 minutes working time which is plenty if you follow our step-by-step instructions.

See our HOW TO PREP & PAINT YOUR GARAGE FLOOR THE RIGHT WAY for detailed instructions, images and videos for guidance when applying our garage epoxy flooring. We also recommend reading our article on to learn about some of the most common pitfalls people have when doing a garage epoxy flooring project and how to avoid them. Our #1 goal is to make your garage floor epoxy project go smoothly and turn your garage into a showroom that will last you 15-20 years.

No you don't. Most nonskids are low grade grit and not worth much. But our non skid additives are very high quality and actually reinforce the topcoat making it even more durable. Plus they will not yellow or wear out of the topcoat. We strongly recommend the use of the nonskid also because it prevents slips on a wet floor. Remember when our epoxy fully cures in your garage it's a poreless high gloss surface which will get slippery when wet. If your floor will not be getting wet then you can omit using the nonskid.

We manufacture all our garage epoxy flooring to a much higher standard than retail type epoxy paints. We don't use any substitute chemicals or water in our epoxy coatings. Epoxy is no different then anything else you buy, there are many different grades of Quality for every product. There are many different ways to make the same thing cheaper. All solids garage epoxies are not created equal! We don't cut any corners and use pure military grade epoxy materials of the highest quality available. We specialize in long life military grade garage epoxy floors which require us to manufacture in a specific manner. It's why are floors look the best and stay looking the best the longest! We guarantee if you buy an garage epoxy kit because it's a brand name you recognize or because of the price you will be sorry in a short period of time, we see and hear it everyday! See our CASE STUDIES page for some examples. If you take a moment to compare what you get when you purchase an Armor Garage epoxy kit versus what you get from other popular brands you will quickly see we are in fact the Best Priced Epoxy Kits on the market!

The thickness of your garage epoxy is very important. It's the amount of material between your finished surface and the concrete slab. The more material (epoxy), the more tire heat and abrasion the coating can absorb. Thin coatings will get discolored, blistered and dulled much more quickly then a thicker coating. Plus just like with any type of material subject to wear, a thicker material will last longer than a thinner material. That's another reason to buy Armor Garage epoxy kits, we are the only company that provides you with a calibrated squeegee that ensures that you apply the epoxy at the proper thickness. With other kits claiming greater coverage and not using a calibrated squeegee you are just getting a paper thin coating of unknown thickness subject to bubbles, hot tire failure and other maladies. ArmorGarage epoxy flooring kits have the thickest, longest lasting hihg gloss finish on the market!

First let us just state that there is no such thing as a lifetime epoxy, even our garage epoxy flooring will need to have new topcoat rolled on after 15 to 20 years,the good news is that the epoxy underneath the topcoat should still be looking new. Lifetime epoxy guarantees are just marketing fluff. Guaranteed for life against what? If you read the details of those guarantees, you will see that they exclude everything except peeling; adhesion is just one part of the battle. They do not guarantee against wearing, dulling or cracking. They also make it next to impossible to qualify for the guarantee. You must prove you prepared the floor properly, mixed it properly and applied it properly. How do you do that? So when your lifetime guaranteed floor fails in any way, you will find out you have no guarantee.

What good is a garage floor epoxy coating guarantee to stick to your floor for life when it gets ugly stains, dulls and yellows? Our garage floor epoxies when used with our military grade topcoat for residential usage are guaranteed for to stay looking new for 10 years! We are the only company that offers a guarantee on wear. Wear (durability) is what you should be most concerned with; it's what makes your floor look old and shabby prematurely. We have more floors over 15 years old that still look new. We challenge you to find other companies that can show you old age floors!

For more information on this question see our article Why ArmorGarage Has The Best Garage Epoxy Flooring>

We'll say it again, why is our epoxy floor guarantee the best? Because it's the one you'll never need to use.