From Peeling Garage Floors To Pro Fixes: Why Preparation And Materials Matter

What Are Some Experiences Your Team Has Had With Fixing Clients' Unsuccessful DIY Projects?

A beautiful floor should outlast the first season, not peel the moment your car rolls in. We share two revealing stories from the field—a garage epoxy torn up by hot tires and a basement stain and topcoat that sidelined a family’s living space—to unpack why DIY floor coatings fail and what it takes to make them last. From surface prep to chemistry to timing, this is a practical roadmap for anyone eyeing a garage, basement, or patio upgrade.

We break down hot tire pickup in plain terms and explain why big-box epoxy kits often can’t stand up to daily heat and pressure. You’ll hear how underpowered rental grinders and light acid etching leave concrete too slick for strong adhesion, and how industrial diamond grinding creates the consistent profile coatings need. Then we move indoors, exploring the narrow application windows of stains, dyes, epoxy basecoats, and fast-curing polyaspartics. Small misses—like humidity, mix timing, or dust control—compound fast, while crews who do this daily have the tools and instincts to avoid them.

Along the way, we point to the hidden costs of do-overs: grinding off failed material, rescheduling life around cure times, and paying twice for one floor. You’ll come away with a clear checklist for success: verify contaminants and moisture, use mechanical prep to hit the right surface profile, select systems matched to heat, traffic, and UV, and plan around weather and debris when working outdoors. Whether you’re considering DIY or hiring a pro team, these real-world lessons will help you choose the path that delivers a durable, great-looking finish the first time.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

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 0:35

Sometimes the hardest part of a project is not the work, it's undoing what went wrong before you arrived. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer in the studio with David Nanaga, president of Mile High Coatings. David, it's great to be back with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Hi guys, good to see you, Julie.

Common DIY Garage Floor Failures

SPEAKER_01 0:53

So you too, David. So we're interested in this for sure. What are some experiences your team has had with fixing clients' unsuccessful DIY projects?

Hot Tire Pickup Explained

Hardware Manager’s Epoxy Misstep

Grinding Off And Starting Over

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Well, uh there's there are a couple that come to mind off the top of my head. And one one example actually that we see, you know, it's it hasn't hasn't just been a one-time thing, but we see I I don't want to say often, but um is a DIY garage floor coating. And those so I I I guess I look at those from a different from a couple different perspectives. Um, meaning sometimes, you know, it could be you know, either either a floor coating, you know, like an epoxy floor coating that uh system that they might have bought from a from a retailer, uh just off the shelf um kit type of thing. And it could have been something that a month ago or or or maybe a year ago or two years ago. But almost universally what happens is they just they they peel off in big big sections. I think usually people probably are not calling us to fix their floor when you know when it when it peels in in small sections. Um, but when it starts to really, you know, the those the tires from their vehicles basically bond, you know, to the coating. It it's the the term is called hot tire pickup. And so basically, you know, someone rolls in, you know, with hot tires, you know, they've been driving around, tires heat up, and and essentially, you know, that it bonds to the coating and then then you know it basically pulls the coating off the floor when they when they go to back out. And so uh that would tell me that that the adhesion to the concrete of the coating is clearly not adequate. And so that usually results or it's because of you know poor prep work, essentially. So one story in particular comes to mind, uh, and it was a customer that was the manager, general manager of a hardware store. So his own store uh sold this, you know, the this coding product. So he he bought it, you know, he read the directions, very meticulously. I remember this conversation with him because he said he followed the directions to a T. He he uh he he rinsed off the you know the floor, um, etched it, you know, as as you know, per their guidelines and everything, and and supposedly just just did it, you know, as perfectly per the directions um as he could. And installed the coating, seemed to go fairly well. He waited two weeks before he drove on it. And he parked on it, and within one to two weeks, he had hot tire pickup. That one was one of the one of the first major ones I thought, wow, you know, even if someone, you know, who is an experienced DI wirer um had this experience and it was a product that his own store sells and and and had a essentially a coating failure, you know. I mean, this certainly happens, has to happen quite often. And so that said, we came in and we we we can diamond grind the the the coating off. Luckily, you know we're not committed to that to that coating that's already down there. We can remove it, it's no big deal. Um, it takes a little bit longer, a little bit more effort to do it, because you know, you're not just ascribing the concrete, you gotta grind through the coating and remove it. It's it's kind of like if you're gonna sand wood, you know, and and it's painted, well, you gotta sand if it's if the wood painted, you gotta sand the paint off. So so clearly if you're trying to sand just plain wood, that's a heck of a lot easier than seeing uh painted wood um to get that off. The other one uh that I recall, um, and man, this was a tough one because I had provided an estimate um to this guy. He had a family of six with six kids. And if I remember correctly, nearly all of their bedrooms were in their basement. And so he he ripped up their carpet, at least in the main living area. I don't recall, I think probably in a couple of bedrooms as well, but you know, he wanted stained concrete, and so you know, I I did the estimate for him and you know described all you know the process and materials and everything. And and of course, naturally, um, you know, like anyone would, he wanted to try to save money. Okay, that's fine. So, you know, didn't didn't hear back from him. Um, apparently he he um he bought the the stained, the dye, and he then he brought bought the polyaslovic um from a local supplier, which kind of sucks for him because in my opinion, I don't think the local suppli the supplier probably shouldn't have sold it to an end user, to it to a consumer, a homeowner who didn't have any experience applying it because it's not it's it's not like painting. Um it's similar, but it but it there's there's some big differences uh when it comes to the application. So he he you know prepped and he did the did the stain, applied the coating, and it was blessed as hard as one of the worst projects ever, uh DIY projects I don't know. Um so you know I just felt so bad for him because I mean the the the materials are not cheap. Um and so so we basically had to go in, you know, he hired us to to go in and basically grind off, you know, it should have cost more if I stuck to my original bid. Uh I felt bad. It should have cost more because we had to grind off and do a lot more. It caused more work because we had to remove it. And so we, you know, got it done um and got it done and and probably like a third of the time, maybe even less than um than than than how long it took him, you know, his family can out of commission, not able to use their their for like several weeks. So, anyways, we got it done and and I just remember it looked I mean obviously ten times better, it looked better. It was just uh night and day. And so those are probably the the two, sorry, I I know that those are long stories, but those that come to mind from an EIY perspective. And and then there's just so many more uh similar types of sorts. So, you know, it's it always looks easier than it is, and that could be with anything. I mean, I you know, I I I get a wild hair sometimes, and I can I can you know do this project or that project. And then when it comes down to it, and I really start to um maybe I do get estimates, it's like, okay, this is definitely something that is best professionals, and and I'm pretty much always glad that you know I end up going that route. I mean um I'm certainly not an expert in in uh in a lot of areas of you know construction.

Basement Stain And Coating Disaster

SPEAKER_01 8:38

So thanks so much for sharing those two stories, David. I guess uh you know, I could end with this question. When you do come in with your team to fix something that went wrong with the DIY project, do you find that a lot of issues stem from um inefficient prep work? Is that the root of a lot of the the causes of the problems?

SPEAKER_02 9:01

You know, probably. I think for sure when it comes to the garage floor coatings, because usually even the rental grade grinders, uh diamond grinders that that are that you can rent um to prep the floor just take they take forever and and they usually are not that that good. They're not you know professional quality quality uh you know equipment, essentially, and so or professional great equipment. And and so there's that, and then you know, depending on on what it is, I mean, sometimes people you just get over uh you know, get over their head. They just, you know, the you know, when you have crews doing this every single day, day in and day out. I mean, they they obviously you're gonna have your little, you know, uh tricks of the trade. And right. And so just little things that make things go efficient, you know, they've seen the problems, they've diagnosed the problems, they fixed the problems, and so so you know, they're able to essentially prevent all the stuff. So, you know, there's just so many unknowns and variables that and things that can go wrong. I mean, it could be something, I mean, so sometimes there's things that even are out of our control, but we we understand, yeah, okay, good example might be a gust of wind. If we're doing an outdoor patio or project and you know, it uh you know, it's gonna be a windy day or um even time of year, if there's leaves falling, you know, it may not be a great idea to to to install you know a particular patio coating because if if you got leaves falling in the combination of wind, you know, you get dust, debris, wind, whatever, blowing on a wet coating, well that that's recipe for disaster. So that might be something that maybe someone doesn't think that think through because they've never done it before. So, anyways, there's there's just so many examples uh that I could think of uh for things like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Well, thank you so much for you know walking us through these experiences and sharing some advice too. We always appreciate your time and insight.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Absolutely. It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

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.