Polyaspartic Floor Coating in Bethlehem, PA

Polyaspartic floor coating is a type of polyurea that cures much faster than epoxy and does not yellow in sunlight. For Bethlehem homeowners it answers two common questions: how soon can I use my garage again, and can the work be done when the weather turns cold? HomeGuide lists a full cure for polyaspartic in one to two days, compared with up to a week for epoxy. It also lists an application range of -30°F to 140°F for polyaspartic, where epoxy has a narrower window. In a valley where January highs average 37°F, that range is useful.

How it compares with epoxy

• Cure time: Bob Vila's guide says polyaspartic is walkable in about 3 to 4 hours and ready for vehicles in about 24 hours. Standard epoxy takes at least 12 hours for foot traffic and about three days for vehicles.
• UV stability: HomeGuide rates polyaspartic's UV resistance as excellent and epoxy's as poor to fair. Epoxy can amber where sunlight hits it.
• Build and bond: epoxy builds thicker per coat and has a long working time that lets it soak into ground concrete. Many of our systems use an epoxy base with a polyaspartic topcoat to get both.
• Lifespan: HomeGuide puts polyaspartic at 10 to 20+ years and solid epoxy at 10 to 20 years, with water-based epoxy at 3 to 5 years.

Full polyaspartic or a hybrid

A full polyaspartic system uses polyaspartic for the base, the flake or color layer and the topcoat. It can often be finished in a single day, and you can park the next day. A hybrid uses an epoxy base, which bonds deeply and tolerates more surface variation, under a polyaspartic topcoat. We choose between them based on the slab, the moisture reading, the temperature and how soon you need the space back.

Installing in the shoulder seasons

Spring and fall in the Lehigh Valley bring cold mornings and mild afternoons. Epoxy needs the slab and air to stay warm long enough to cure, and cold slows it down. Polyaspartic cures across a much wider temperature range, so it widens the window for garage work in October, November and March. The slab still has to be dry and above the dew point so moisture does not condense on it, and we check that with a thermometer before we start.

The trade-off: speed

Polyaspartic sets fast, which means it has to be mixed in smaller batches and applied by an experienced crew. That is part of why HomeGuide's range for it, $5 to $12 per square foot, runs higher than epoxy's. The fast cure also makes surface prep even more important. There is no time to fix a contaminated or poorly ground spot once the coating is down, so we grind the whole floor and repair cracks before we open the first kit.

Where we use it most

• Garages where the owner needs to park again within a day or two
• Floors that get afternoon sun through an open door or windows
• Fall and early-spring jobs when temperatures are marginal for epoxy
• Topcoats over flake and solid-color epoxy floors
• Small commercial spaces that cannot close for a week