Homeowner Guide
Should I recoat or replace my garage floor coating?
Replace, do not recoat, when the garage film is unknown epoxy, peeling from road salt, or printed by hot tires, because Michigan freeze-thaw will finish any skim coat, and the published rule on this site is 100% removal to bare concrete, a moisture test against 4.0 lbs, and a new grind-first system—not another layer on a 1940–1980 slab.
Recoat means a new topcoat on a sound, known, well-bonded film. Replace means strip and rebuild. Most failed Metro Detroit garages are the second job.
If a cost-ratio rule (“recoat only if it is under X% of replace”) is not on the facts ledger, it is marked [VERIFY] below. Do not treat that cell as a published Elite number.
How do I decide recoat versus replace on a Michigan garage?
If the film is unknown, peeling, or failing a moisture test, replace. Recoat only if the existing system is known, bonded, and UV-stable enough for the door light.
Why is failed garage epoxy always a full strip here?
Unknown epoxies hide plasticizers, oil, and weak intercoats. Hot tires and chloride find them.
The installation guide on this site is explicit: 100% removal, no skim. Calculator removal adders are $1–$2 / sq ft extra on the replacement quote.
After strip, the new system sits in the published $5–$12 / sq ft garage range, with flake at $5–$9 and metallic at $8–$12.
How do moisture and road salt change the recoat call?
Vapor and chloride are why Metro Detroit recoats fail even when the old film “looks mostly okay.”
1940–1980 garages often have no polyethylene vapor barrier. If MVER is at or above 4.0 lbs, a new topcoat traps the same vapor. Test first.
Salt-scaling over more than 50% of the field is a flood-coat rebuild after the film is gone, not a winter refresh roll.
If I replace, how soon can I park, and can you do it in the cold?
Polyaspartic is typically light parking within 24 hours and full cure in 48–72 hours, and many systems install from about 35°F to 100°F+.
Standard epoxy is 3–7 days to drive-on and wants 50°F–90°F. A January replace on epoxy is how you get a soft film and hot-tire pickup.
Warranty on a proper polyaspartic replace is 15+ year residential (per quote). A recoat on a failed film does not inherit that language.
What do people ask about garage recoat versus replace?
No. Failed or unknown epoxy is 100% removal to bare concrete. A skim coat is how Michigan salt and hot tires peel the new layer with the old one.
At or above 4.0 lbs / 1,000 sq ft / 24 hr, this site requires a moisture barrier before a decorative build. Recoating over that number traps vapor, especially on 1940–1980 slabs with no vapor barrier.
A coating-delamination percent cutoff is [VERIFY] on this site. What is published: more than 50% pinholes or salt-scaling is a flood-coat rebuild after strip, and any unknown epoxy is a full strip.
A recoat-to-replace cost ratio is [VERIFY]. What is published: removal adders are $1–$2 / sq ft extra, and a full garage system is $5–$12 / sq ft after the slab is bare.
Yes. Those prints are a chemistry and cure failure. Recoating the same soft epoxy leaves the next set of circles. Replace with a grind-first polyaspartic build.
Polyaspartic is typically light parking within 24 hours and full cure in 48–72 hours. Standard epoxy is 3–7 days to drive-on. Get that window in writing on the replace quote.