Stop painting garage floors without etching first

Saw a guy on Nextdoor show off his new epoxy floor and it's already peeling after 3 months. He skipped the etching step, whole thing is wasted. Anyone else dealing with customers or neighbors cutting corners on prep?

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3 Comments

finleyl392mo ago

Got to disagree with you here. I've done three garage floors myself over the years and never etched a single one. They all held up fine for years with just a good pressure wash and letting it dry fully before applying the epoxy. Etching can actually be risky if you don't rinse it right, the acid residue messes up the bond worse than skipping it. People mess up prep in other ways too, like not cleaning oil stains or painting when it's humid.

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drewr152mo ago

Oh man, this brings back memories. My buddy tried to do his garage floor a few years back and skipped the etching too. He pressure washed it, let it dry for two days, even vacuumed it like he was prepping for surgery. Looked great for like three months until his wife parked her minivan on it and the epoxy peeled up in this huge strip right where the tires sat. He was so mad he just painted over it with plain old concrete paint and called it a day.

1

reese_hayes712mo ago

Wait, you really think etching can mess up the bond if you don't rinse right? That's kinda backwards though, isn't it? The acid wash is supposed to open the pores up so the epoxy can grab on, skipping it is way more of a gamble.

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