Why is moisture such a big deal for garage flooring in Upstate New York?
Because your garage slab is constantly exposed to water—even if you don’t see it. Moisture in the soil beneath the slab rises upward through the pores in the concrete. This process, called moisture-vapor transmission (MVT), can damage floors from the inside out. It’s especially aggressive in Upstate New York due to high groundwater, rain, snowmelt, and freeze-thaw cycles.
What happens if my garage flooring system doesn’t stop MVT?
If moisture isn’t blocked effectively, it pushes upward and gets trapped beneath the coating. Over time, this causes:
- Bubbling or delamination
- Mineral staining (efflorescence)
- Surface damage and early coating failure
In winter, that vapor can freeze and expand inside the slab—leading to cracking in your garage flooring, even in coated floors that weren’t properly sealed.
How does GFC’s 2-day system address this problem?
Garage Floor Coating of New York installs a 2-day garage flooring system, starting with a 100%-solids, moisture-mitigating epoxy base coat that is allowed to cure overnight. This direct-to-concrete coat penetrates the concrete and forms a dense, strongly-bonded vapor barrier. While still “wet”, the customer-selected flake blend is broadcast into this base layer. On day 2, we return to apply two separate 100%-solids polyaspartic topcoats. These dual coats provide UV, chemical, stain and impact resistance…and a clean, polished finish.
This coating system blocks vapor where it starts, protecting both the coating and the concrete beneath it.
Do 1-day systems protect against moisture?
No. 1-day systems use a polyurea or polyaspartic coating for both the base (primer) coat and the single top coat. These coatings cure far too quickly (< 1 hour) to deeply penetrate and bond with the concrete slab. In addition, they go down thinly; that is, they are not “high-build” coatings. Polyurea-polyaspartics are superb top coats, but very poor as direct-to-concrete base coats. That’s why these quick installs often fail—especially in a region like Upstate New York, where moisture pressure is constant.
How do I get a system that lasts through Upstate weather?
Contact Garage Floor Coating of New York for a free quote today. We install garage flooring that’s built for real Northeast conditions—moisture protection included.