Mile High Coatings Podcast

Choosing The Right Coating For Every Space

• David Nanninga • Episode 16

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0:00 | 9:22

 How Do I Know Which Type Of Coating Is Best For My Space?

Floors carry the story of a space—every spill, hot tire, and snowy boot. We walk through how to choose coatings that actually solve the real problems your concrete faces, from garage abuse and basement comfort to patio weathering and sunroom scuffs, without wasting money on the wrong system. Along the way, we share a clear framework: start with how the space is used, measure safety needs like slip resistance, then balance durability with the look you want.

We dig into why epoxy and polyaspartic systems dominate garages, especially when paired with a full flake broadcast for traction, impact resistance, and a finish that hides dust. For basements, we compare coating benefits against tile, LVP, and carpet, and explain how sheen, texture, and maintenance shape the experience. When we step outside to patios and sunrooms, UV exposure, freeze–thaw cycles, and weather-driven wear change the equation, and we explain how to prioritize traction and long-term color stability without sacrificing design.

Surface condition is the make-or-break factor. We cover what to do about cracking, heaving, spalling, scaling from road salts, and stubborn oil stains. You’ll hear how professional prep removes old sealers and coatings, why oil-blocking primers matter, and when a slab is simply too far gone to coat. Most importantly, we spotlight moisture: how vapor transmission causes delamination and how to counter it with testing, mitigation, and the right primer or penetrating sealer. Our Fort Collins case study shows the process in action—careful investigation, joint repair, full mechanical prep, moisture control, and a polyaspartic system that now performs without recurring issues.

If you want a floor that looks great and lasts, this guide gives you the map: assess use, confirm safety needs, evaluate the substrate, test for moisture, and choose a system that fits the environment. Subscribe for more practical coatings insights, share this with a friend planning a makeover, and leave a review to tell us which space you’re upgrading next.

To learn more about Mile High Coatings visit:
https://www.MileHighCoatings.com
Mile High Coatings
970-314-1023

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Mile High Coatings Podcast, where we elevate your spaces to a new peak in quality. Hosted by David Naniga, president of Mile High Coatings, this podcast explores how expert residential painting, concrete coatings, and epoxy flooring can transform garages, basements, patios, and commercial spaces across Colorado's front range. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and dive into the world of high-quality coatings.

SPEAKER_01:

From garages to patios, we're breaking down how to match the right coating to the right surface and why it matters. Welcome back, everyone. Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer back in the studio with David Neninga, president of Mile High Coatings. David, thank you again for joining us. It's always fun to talk to you.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_01:

So, David, let's get right into it. How do I know which type of coating is best for my space?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, there's certainly going to be a lot of things to consider. First and foremost, when people are probably thinking about coatings, they're likely thinking about protection and durability. But, you know, if they're thinking about maybe like a basement space, uh, they might be a little bit more focused on aesthetic uh value. You know, durability is obviously going to be important for probably most applications. I mean, you know, especially if you're considering uh different alternatives, you know, in a basement, it could be tile or it could be LVP or LVT, certainly carpet is a popular choice for uh for an application of a basement. When it comes to a garage floor, um, the options tend to be a little more limited. I shouldn't say the options are limited, but people tend to sort of just automatically narrow down, you know, the consideration for a coating for a garage floor. And that's really a function of you know, slip resistance, durability, easy to clean, um, and then protection of the concrete. Those are probably the biggest things to consider uh if we're talking about a garage floor. Those sort of uh qualities, if you will, just sort of automatically narrow down into an epoxy or polyaspartic coating, you know, with a flake broadcast, um polyaspartic top coat, and that's gonna give you kind of the best of all those worlds in terms of slip resistance, uh aesthetic pleasing to the eye, uh protection, durability, and all that. You know, another space to consider certainly would be a sunroom or a patio. Those you know, you know, you're gonna you're gonna maybe think about the coating or the application a little bit differently. Um, maybe in a sunroom you're not so concerned about it being slippery. It's not maybe always gonna be wet. Um on a patio, you know, it could be obviously gonna be exposed to the weather potentially, unless it's a covered patio. So so then you're gonna wan wanna think about maybe slip resistance, durability, but then certainly aesthetic too, because if it's outdoors, you know, it it it's it's fairly a uh more of a living space or a space that people tend to hang out, relax. And so they they you know that that they might put more emphasis on on aesthetic. So there's definitely um a lot of things to consider depending on the space and and also know that that we have a lot of different options depending on the space. So and then you know, didn't even get into talking about commercial or industrial types of spaces, those, you know, those those will give you a whole other sort of range of options.

SPEAKER_01:

So and when it comes to residential spaces too, what about like the actual condition of the surface, if it wasn't, you know, maintained well? And what about when it comes to foot traffic, those things for consideration? Does that limit what you can do with the coatings?

SPEAKER_02:

Occasionally, uh, if you know, we see a lot of driveways uh and maybe some exterior walkways, and and actually garage floors occasionally too that are really beat up from just years of uh I wouldn't say neglect, but just the elements, you know, it could be due to settling, you get a lot of cracking, heaving, and and and that will exacerbate some problems related to spalling, um, could be scaling uh from uh road salts, magnesium chloride that'll eat away at the concrete over time. And and so those are are definitely case by case. There's there's some times where the c the concrete is just too far gone and we just can't get to a good substrate to coat it. More often than not, certainly, the overall substrate is is likely going to be good enough for us to to be able to treat with with various options. And so um, you know, that that's whether or not a sealer has been applied before or even a coating. I mean, we remove existing or old coatings quite often. And so it's just kind of part of it. Um, you know, on a garage floor, it could be oily or greasy. And so we have we have ways to to treat that. Uh, you know, we can between um specific primers that we can use, uh, and obviously degreasing, and then just our other uh preparation methods. We can usually deal with greasier, oily floors without much of a problem.

SPEAKER_01:

And lastly, can you walk us through a real life example where the coating really made a difference, whether it was a commercial space or a residential space where you're probably glad your company intervened in a way to help with the surface and the coating?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So one that maybe comes to mind is uh is is here in here in Fort Collins, we did a, I should say we redid a floor that that had been done maybe five or six years ago, and get into the garage and it had a little bit of heaving. Um the overall coating looked okay, but there was a couple areas where uh where it had where moisture had really started to um to to cause some issues and cause the the coating to delaminate, the the concrete was sort of falling apart. And so, you know, we we kind of did a measured approach at first to make sure that what we do was gonna work. You know, we don't want to just jump into something necessarily just to get the job. You know, we want to make sure that what we do is it's gonna last and and we're not gonna have a recurring uh problem. And so I suspected it was probably moisture related. And so so we did a couple of um initial uh tests and some samples, and then it seemed like it was gonna be okay. So we we proceeded and we did we did the whole grass floor. So we we tore out the joint filler, refilled, refilled in the control joints, um, prepped the floor, removed the coating, and then um, and and then just re-recoated the whole floor uh with a similar looking application with flates and and it was a polyasquartic system ultimately that we did. But before that, we we had decided to put some uh it was a penetrating sealer that we used to help help block um moisture penetration, moisture vapor transmission through the concrete. So so it was it's a bit of an extra step. And I think it's been worthwhile because we've not had any issues with before and um it is it's performing as expected. And so sometimes in that case, it was probably good that we that they had it coded before and and and were having issues so that we at least we knew that there was gonna be a potential issue. We knew we didn't want to just go in and just remove the coating and just redo it because their likelihood of failure was fairly high.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there's a lot to think about. I'm glad that you're breaking it down for us because I I know after talking to you, I have more of an appreciation for just looking at the surface, you know, of all the floor space here and uh even when I go to the office. So it keeps it interesting. That's for sure. Thank you, David. That was helpful to me and your listeners. So we'll see you next time for more insights from Mile High Coatings.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in to the Mile High Coatings Podcast. Ready to give your space a fresh, durable finish? Visit MileHighCodings.com for a free price quote or call 970-314-1023. At Mile High Coatings, we're not just painting walls, we're setting a new peak in quality. Until next time, keep your standards high and your coatings higher.