Your garage floor takes a beating up here in Duluth, MN. Between the freezing lake winds, the heavy snowpacks, and the amount of road salt tracked in on your tires every single winter, that Floor Refinishing system has to work overtime. If our team put down a good polyurea or epoxy system, it is built to handle the abuse, but the Floor Refinishing surface still needs a little basic upkeep to last for 15 to 20 years or more.
Here is what Alpha Concrete Coatings tells homeowners down in Hermantown and up on the hillside: regular Floor Refinishing maintenance is not complicated. Most of the time, you just need a soft-bristle push broom and a garden hose. Dust, grit, and sand act like sandpaper under your tires, grinding away at the top gloss over time. Sweeping out the garage every couple of weeks makes a massive difference. When things get grimier, grab a mild dish soap or a neutral floor cleaner and a soft deck brush. Skip the harsh acid wash or heavy-duty solvent unless you are trying to strip the floor down to bare concrete, which you definitely do not want to do.
Winter brings its own unique set of headaches. That white crusty slush dripping off your truck is a mix of salt, sand, and chemical de-icers. Leaving that sitting on your Floor Refinishing surface for months is a bad idea. When we get a rare 40-degree January thaw, take advantage of it. Spray the floor out and squeegee the excess water out the driveway. If you let standing pools of salt water freeze and refreeze against the coating day after day, it will eventually test the limits of even the toughest sealants.
Warning Signs to Watch For
Even with great care, things can happen. Duluth clay-heavy soil and wild freeze-thaw cycles love to shift concrete slabs. Keep an eye out for changes in your Floor Refinishing surface.
- Small chips near the garage door where the plow or shovels hit hard
- White, powdery spots popping up through the coating, which usually means moisture is trying to push up from the slab
- Areas where the top clear coat is looking dull or cloudy from constant chemical exposure
- Lifting or bubbling near joints or cracks
If you spot a little surface scratch, do not panic. Minor scuffs in the topcoat are normal wear and tear. But if you see bubbling or actual peeling, that is a different story. Moisture vapor is usually the culprit behind peeling floors in our region. Once water gets trapped under the bond line and freezes, it pushes the coating right off the concrete.
When to Call a Professional
Some things you can handle with a bottle of cleaner and a Saturday morning, but other times you need to bring in backup. Alpha Concrete Coatings gets calls every spring from homeowners who tried a cheap DIY patch kit that did not bond to the damp spring concrete. If a section of your floor has delaminated, patching it with hardware store epoxy usually just makes a bigger mess.
Call a pro when the damage goes past the surface layer down to the bare concrete, or if you notice a crack that is actively widening as the ground shifts. Alpha Concrete Coatings can grind out the damaged area, address any underlying moisture issues, and re-apply a professional-grade Floor Refinishing system that actually sticks. Taking care of small issues early keeps a minor cosmetic fix from turning into a full floor replacement.