Flooring is an often overlooked component of your home in Houston, TX. Especially when it comes to the garage. But a good floor can drastically increase your home’s feel, appeal, and most importantly, its value.
Previously, your best bet for sealing your garage floor was using epoxy. But today there are other options to consider. With this article, we will look at polyurea vs. polyaspartic coatings.
These new sealants are sweeping the home improvement scene but aren’t entirely understood. We’re here to help you make the best decision for your space. Let’s take a look at these epoxy alternatives.
Polyurea vs. Polyaspartic
We’re going to get a little technical here for a moment.
Polyurea is a subgroup of polyurethane. As with epoxy, polyurea has a 2-part component. It mixes resin with a catalyst that causes it to cure and harden.
Unlike epoxy, polyureas have more flexibility when dry. Polyureas have very few VOCs and an elongation rate of over 300%. Oftentimes they are used in truck bed liners, plumbing, and other industrial applications. It has a super-fast dry time, a mere 5 minutes, and requires special equipment to apply it because of it.
Polyaspartic is a type of aliphatic polyurea. Mixtures will increase ‘pot-time’ from 5 minutes up to 120 minutes. Making it easier to apply without compromising the durability and flexibility of polyurea.
To summarize, a polyaspartic is always a polyurea. But not all polyureas are a polyaspartic. Their strength, flexibility, and fast cure times make them ideal as floor sealants.
Polyurea vs. Polyaspartic Garage Floor Coatings
Using a polyurea to seal your garage is a great idea. It can be applied and dried quickly at any temperature.
Using epoxy you have to work within certain temperature ranges. But with a polyurea or polyaspartic blend, those limitations disappear.
Typically a polyurea sealant can be applied in two coats. The primer/color coat, and the clear coat. The whole install can be completed and dry within 24-hours.
Compare this to an epoxy seal, which can take 3-4 days to dry depending on climate conditions, and the benefits are obvious.
Benefits of Polyurea Garage Floor Coatings
The quick install and dry time is definitely a benefit to a polyurea coating. But if that’s not enough to win you over, here are some additional benefits.
- 100% U.V. stability means floors will never yellow
- Crystal clear finish
- High abrasion and scratch resistance
- High tolerance to heat
- High film build-up that can be controlled by the applicator
- So shiny, with a high gloss finish
- Little to no VOC’s
- High stain and chemical resistance
- Flexibility means higher impact resistance
- Maintains a strong bond to the concrete
- Fast cure rate means less chance of bubbles
Keep in mind that not all sealants are created equal. Some DIY kits aren’t the best quality. For best results, you’ll want to bring in the pros.
Ready to Upgrade Your Floors?
We hope that the polyurea vs. polyaspartic argument has been settled. If you are ready to take your concrete floors to the next level, we are ready to help.
Reach out today for a free quote or to learn more about our process. We offer top-quality concrete coating options to people around the country. Whether it’s residential or commercial garage flooring, auto shops, basements, driveways, or pool decks, we can make it shine.
