Can somebody tell me about POLYREA floor finishing...by Monkey Bars

Great info on this product (and others) over in www.garagejournal.com/forum/ Just tab down to the flooring section.

 

This the the business I'm in. Custom closets and custom garages. The information listed is pretty decent, but the pics make the floor look like ****. its not a uniform finish. Some areas are more glossy than others. It should be all uniform.

I'm personally not a huge fan of 1 day coatings. We do them when required, 0r requested by the customer, but we do try to use an epoxy basecoat opposed to the polyurea ( polyaspartics) The slower curing of epoxy allows a better grip to the floor. All the coatings I've ever seen that have failed were all 1 day coatings. The benefit is to the business owner who can get onto another job. Its very very very rare a homeowner needs a quick curing coating. ITs usually food service, or a factory.

The equipment the company uses will impact a floors final appearance. They're using an edco grinder, hand grinders, and non-concrete vacuums(I think, hard to tell from the pics). The edco is an entry level machine. ITs a workhorse, but isnt quick though, so if you need to get a full coating down in a single day, you might not grind the flo0r as great as required. Hand grinding is OK, but bush league and also leaves slight grinder marks. A concrete specific vac is important. OSHA regulations aside. A non clogging vac is needed to clean out the pores of the concrete for the chemical to adhere properly.

Monkeybars is a decent company. They're a franchise outfit. You can get a better product, service, and probably price from an independent.

 

Kind of right in your understanding.
1. Correct.
2. correct.
3. no need to apply a densifier if you're going to cover with epoxy.
4.might be worth applying. Hard to say. Usually when there is a moisture issue with a floor its from the down spouts dumping their water right at the base of the garage, so it goes under the slab. Poor slope of a house is a common one. The moisture meter tests are only a snapshot in time. Its not the total story. We do it on 1 out of 20 floors. It usually increases the pressure to 15lbs over 1000Sqft/ over 24 hours. So it does help But you pay for it. If you can address property drainage, you're better off.
5. correct.
6. Correct. The poly is more abrasion resistant, and and UV stable. I prefer it. Many people use a Epoxy top coat, but I dont like it personally for the mentioned reasons.

For your other questions:
1.The standard curing time of concrete is 28 days. The longer the better. Cracks from drying should appear in that time. Structural cracks from the ground settling will happen over time. Usually its drainage related here too, so fix that and you're in good shape.
2. not really. When they finish it, just dont as for a broom finish. It doesnt matter really. It all gets chewed up from the grinder. Just ask them to not put any sealer on it. - they probably wont anyways, but still ask.


Ask your installers for their MSDS, and date sheets. And ask them to see some floors they've done.

Fell free to ask away if you have any questions. I nerd out on epoxy if you cant tell.

 

No problem. Just thinking too. I believe I saw that MB uses a roller to apply their coating. Ideally you want a squeegee, and a back rolling afterwards. The roller method ( aka: dip 'n roll) puts a coating down super thin. Squeegeeing with a notched roller is easily 3-4 times thicker. Whats what you want!

Ask your installer how they do it.

God luck.