Epoxy vs. Polyurea

Infamous Epoxy

Epoxy is found in countless garages. The foremost reason being that it’s low priced. It’s also sold as a simple diy-application. Like the majority of things in the open market, you get exactly what you pay for. Epoxy is misleading because when first applied, it looks pretty appealing. However, if you examine the details of epoxy, you will find it has some severe shortcomings.

    As i said, Epoxy has many drawbacks, these include things such as...
    Installation takes multiple days
    You must prepare the pavement very carefully
    There is a very short warranty and typically not one at all

Epoxy Failures

A well-known failure of epoxy is hot tire pick-up. On a hot Missouri summer day, your tires get very hot from the street and asphalt. When you park those hot tires on your epoxy floor and drive off the next day, your tires can rip away the epoxy film and leave a very unattractive tire mark.

Epoxy is also not impenetrable to staining, unlike polyurea. Although it can accommodate, epoxy can still be varnished or damaged from chemicals like salt, street de-icer, oil and gasoline.

Delamination is a common epoxy incompetency. If the concrete isn’t equipped correctly, epoxy will delaminate and wear away in a short amount of time. This delamination is prevalent with many of the concrete coatings in use today.

The only advantage epoxy has over polyurea is the equipment needed for installation. For example, most professionals will recommend requiring only:

    Broom
    Paint tray
    Plastic watering can
    Paint rollers and extension handles



Polyurea:

Polyurea, on the other hand has a big upside. Fast cure times, versatility and abrasion-resistance and nearly limitless color options are all intrinsic properties of Polyurea. This makes it a definite choice for the high demands of a garage floor coating job. Some more major upsides include:

    Can get job completed in one day's work
    Fast set time; walk on in couple hours, drive on in 24 hours
    Chemically resistant to harsh chemicals including gas, oil and salt
    Incredibly durable – 20 times stronger than epoxy
    98% more flexible than epoxy; will not crack or peel
    No VOC’s and odorless


Technology behind preserving your concrete

Polyurea is an natural polymer that is the reaction of isocyanate with an amine terminated polyether resin, creating a plastic-like or rubber-like composite that may be used in many of the same ways as traditional technologies – polyurethane, epoxy, vinyl ester, neoprene; to name a few. In other words, it’s elastic so it won’t crack like an epoxy will and it has a natural capability to bond to the exterior it’s sprayed on.
Numerous coating applications

Polyurea has a long history in industrial applicability such as pipe/pipeline coatings, water treatment factories, utility hole & sewer linings and of course concrete covers. In fact, if you are accustomed with spray-on truck bed liners, you are intimate with Polyurea. It’s popularity these days is in concrete coatings, but the possibilities for its use are endless!


Of course, all of these aspects are taken care of if you hire an installer. Get started by contacting our top rated and highest recommended supplier of polyurea, ArmorThane.