Servicing Washington DC and all the surrounding areas, contractors & companies pride themselves in delivering capability and reliability professional services for decorative concrete surfacing and resurfacing of garage floors, for example, using the popular finishes of epoxy and urethane and the recently developed and much touted polyurea polyaspartic coating technology.
Polyaspartic is a kind of polyurea (actually a polyaspartic aliphatic polyurea) which was developed in the 1980s by Texaco Chemical Company (now Huntsman Chemical). It has been successfully used for corrosion-resistant coatings and repair materials. Application though is awkward and challenging since it has an extremely short useable life—about 3 seconds, though according to some, 5 minutes. The only way application can be done is by using an industrial spray equipment which requires a great deal of maintenance of the spray tip because of its rapid curing time.
With the development of polyureas to polyaspartic polyurea (or simply polyaspartics), these difficulties were surmounted while retaining the following characteristics and advantages:
=> Potlife of 5 to 120 minutes
=> Fast curing (from 5 to 120 minutes, depending on the formulation)
=> Can be safely and effectively applied at surface temperatures from -30°F to 140°F
=> Very low viscosity—equivalent to water—providing exceptional wetting ability on a properly prepared concrete floor
=> High film build (up to 18 mils in a single coat)
=> Bubble-free surfaces even at high humidity, the higher humidity the quicker the cure time
=> UV stable meaning it will never turn yellow and providing UV protection to underlying coatings at the same time
=> Made with a high solids content (as high as 100%), which means low or no volatile organics (VOCs) during application
=> The cured coating can handle temperatures up to 350°F
=> Crystal clear and does not produce haze or foggy effect from moisture in the concrete
=> Stain resistant, especially from oils and fats and even from red wine
=> Higher abrasion resistance than epoxy or urethane
=> And, still being studied is its resistance to internal moisture vapor emission rates than some other non-breathing coatings
Given these qualities, polyaspartics are ideal for:
=> Garage floors
This is one of the the first major decorative use of polyaspartics. The biggest selling point may be the speed in the application. A polyaspartic garage floor can be completed start to finish in about 5 hours while an epoxy floor typically takes 5 days. Some companies have come out with polyaspartic garage floors that are embedded with vinyl flecks or quartz sand beads, similar to epoxy floors. It would be wise though to consult with professional installers before deciding on this because depending on the condition of the concrete—especially if the floor has high moisture vapor emission rates, polyaspartics may not be the best material for all situations,
=> Commercial floors
Polyaspartics resistance to stains and heavy abrasion—as much as 3 times the abrasion resistance of epoxy, makes it ideal for kitchens, restrooms, and other commercial applications
=> Countertops sealers
Because cured coating can handle temperatures up to 350° F, polyaspartics, high resistant to stains, even to acidic materials like lemon juice and red wine is fast becoming the countertop sealer of choice.
Despite all the hoopla surrounding polyaspartics there are still some installers who remain a bit cautious because the use of polyaspartics is still relatively new, though it does show some potential.
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