The five common causes
- Poor prep. Acid etching or a quick wash leaves the surface too smooth and weak for a coating to grab. Diamond grinding removes the weak top layer and opens the pores.
- Moisture vapor. Water moving up through the slab pushes on the coating from below. Slabs without a vapor barrier, common in older garages, need a check and sometimes a moisture-tolerant base coat.
- Contamination. Oil, tire dressing, curing compounds and old sealers block the bond. They have to be ground off, not covered.
- Hot-tire pickup. A thin coating softens under hot tires, sticks to the rubber and lifts. Proper film thickness and the right topcoat prevent it.
- Wrong conditions. Coating a slab that's too cold or too damp leads to a weak cure.
What a lasting install does differently
- 1Moisture checkBefore anything else, so the base coat matches the slab.
- 2Diamond grind the whole floorEdges included, with dust extraction.
- 3Repair the slabCracks, joints and pits are filled, and sunken sections are lifted first.
- 4Build proper thicknessA full base coat, full flake broadcast and a real topcoat, not a single thin roll.
Can a peeling floor be fixed?
Yes, but the old coating has to come off. Grinding removes it along with the weak surface, and then the floor is prepped and coated as if it were new.