Check out these BEFORE and AFTER pictures to see the quality they for which they are are known and respected. Most floors are installed in just 1 day. Each is backed by a LIFETIME TRANSFERABLE WARRANTY. An Lifetime Epoxy Garage Floor is one of the wisest investments a homeowner can make. Make your home more valuable and beautiful.

​For more details and info, CLICK HERE.

By Nick Dixon - Owner Lifetime Epoxy Floors

As the owner of one of Alabama's largest and most respected residential epoxy flooring companies. Many people ask me if we are part of a national chain or franchise. I proudly respond, no, we are not. Many people perceive that being a part of a franchise makes you better, more professional and more accountable. I am here to tell you that perception can be true sometimes, but its absolutely incorrect a larger percentage of the time.

The national chains make their money several ways including selling dealerships, franchise cost and fees, and restrictive product purchases dealers are required to make exclusively with the main office. The parent companies often have a herd or survival of the fittest mentality toward new dealers. They may train you, educate you to some degree, and speak of advertising support that is rarely as strong as they say. They know and realize that their average dealer may not stay in business but 1 to 2 years.

I speak here from experience. We started as part of a national dealership group. I decided after two years, that there are certain disadvantages of being in such an arrangement. Here are the reasons we are independently owned, family owned, marketed, operated and managed. 

1. Warranty Validity - National chains, regardless of what they say, do not back the local dealer when a warranty issue occurs. They will always say that the local dealer did not incorrectly did the install. The "red-tape" and delays were not something we want to deal with. The warranty you receive when you buy a floor is only valid or of value as long as the installer is in business. Again, I remind you that the national average for a new epoxy flooring dealer to stay in business is 11 months.

2. Restrictive Buying Arrangement - This is my biggest dislike of national chains and franchises.  You can only buy chemicals from the home office or warehouse. The contract and agreement you sign as a new dealer, has a clause that if you buy from another source, you lose your dealership. I have found that being independent gives us a huge advantage in this area. There are many companies that make a variety of floor coatings that are applied in different settings. It is a fact, that some companies make a better flake garage floor, some make a better stain product, another makes a better outdoor coatings and another has the best product for industrial flooring applications. Being independent as we are, we have 4 major chemical suppliers that we buy specific products from. This allows us to better serve our wide array of customers.

Lifetime Epoxy Floors, a 10 year old company, is located in Boa, Alabama.. They have earned and maintained an A+ BBB Rating. They offer the absolute best warranty in the residential garage floor industry, "A Lifetime Warranty that is Transferable When You Sell Your Home". For a free estimate, call 1-800-214-4311 or Visit our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/EpoxyFlooringCompany or our website at http://www.LifetimeEpoxyFloors.com. 

We frequently hear customers talk about how they tried doing their own garage floor with a DIY Box Kit, but it has failed and not lasted. Many DIY projects go wrong because the installer is not aware of the issues with epoxy flooring.
 
Many homeowners say, they followed the instructions carefully, but still, they got terrible results.
 
Here I will briefly show you 4 possible situations that cause a DIY epoxy floor to peel, even if the instructions are followed completely.
 
1. POOR SURFACE PREPARATION
To produce a top quality long lasting garage floor, one we consider a permanent lifetime floor, a surface must be prepped perfectly. We seek to create two types of bonds between the new coating and the concrete surface, mechanical and chemical.
 
This means it should be clean, dry, dust-free, and the surface must be grinded or shot-blasted before applying the primer. Grinding re-surface the concrete profile to some extent, and our DIY kit preparation acid does a poor job to make physical bonds feasible.
 
Most epoxy “paint” kits will instruct the DIY user to just clean the floor or etch it with muriatic acid. Cleaning by itself will make zero difference. No matter what type of degreaser you employ, it will have no impact on the concrete profile.
Acid etching, while a valid preparation method, will only work if the concrete’s pores are open enough to allow the acid to react and remove the thin cement paste on the very top. The preparation made by acid etching is just skin deep. As a result, acid etching will not be enough for areas of the concrete which are sealed, oil stained, painted or contaminated.
 
Even if you do follow the instructions, there is still a good chance that your concrete profile remains mostly the same. And that is one of the reasons your DIY project may peel off within a year or two, even if you follow the instructions CAREFULLY.
 
2. HUMIDITY
Epoxy doesn’t bond well with water. Presence of moisture and humidity can cause serious problems.
Moisture will change the course of chemical reaction that is going on in molecular level, and will not result in your desired durable garage epoxy floors. But moisture may causes a more serious issue. When too much moisture is trying to migrate upward through a concrete slab, it will put pressure on the coatings. Once high enough, that pressure will force either the coatings of the concrete or the coatings will pull apart the near-wear-surface of the concrete.
This is to the extent that Epoxy manufacturers will not guarantee epoxy coating when surface exceeds a certain humidity level. So, make sure that the surface is completely dry. If not sure, feel free to use a fan heater to dry it out completely and then check it after a while if there is any sign of moisture.
 
The other form of water that can cause a problem for flooring is humidity.
Excessive humidity during the coating installation can affect the inter-coat adhesion that is the strength of the bond between layers of polymer coatings.
In general, polyurethane, polyurea and polyaspartic are more humidity sensitive than most epoxies and acrylics.
 
3. WEAK AND/OR INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTRATE
 
Chances are that you are doing an epoxy flooring for garage with an aged concrete.
The concrete slab is worn out and you have decided to apply a new shiny epoxy coating to rejuvenate your garage floor.
 
This presents a different kind of problem to all other previous ones.
The Epoxy resin will be much stronger than the substrate. So instead of epoxy detaching from the cement, the cement will be torn apart.
The picture below shows the catastrophic effect of applying epoxy resin on a weak substrate very clearly.
 
 
4. INSUFFICIENT WICKING / WET-OUT
Any type of coating should “wet-out” the substrate. Epoxies are no exceptions.
Properly prepared concrete should be completely wet by the epoxy resin – meaning the resin soaks into all the open pores and surface imperfections that are created by the prep process.
 
This is where professional coatings shine and DIY epoxy paints fail.
A good coating will have an adhesive strength that exceeds the concrete surface pull-strength.
Most kits fail here, as they are often just an epoxy fortified latex paint or have too many fillers. This modification makes the epoxy easier to roll out and cheaper, but greatly decrease its bond strength.
 
5. CONCLUSION
 
Garage floor coatings can make a garage look gorgeous, that for sure. But the purchase of a garage floor is like everything else, you get what you pay for. Box Floor Kits are cheap for a reason. Kit floors are popular because they are a cheap alternative. However, Box Kits seldom provide a customer with long-term performance. They are little more than paint. They go down at room temp. The instructions allow you to use chemical etching.
 
Professionally installed coatings are advanced chemical formulas with 3 parts, mixed at a chemical mixing station, onsite. Professional installation company’s do things with a laborious intensive floor prep process to insure quality, beauty and durability. Visit http://www.LifetimeEpoxyFloors.com for more info. Visit our face book page, https://www.facebook.com/EpoxyFlooringCompany to see thousands of pictures of our work. Our crews are well trained, highly skilled and highly experienced.

North Alabama Industrial & Commercial Flooring Problems: Hazard Assessment
​
What can go wrong with your industrial and commercial flooring and how does it have a negative impact on your employee workplace.

Here are some of the industrial flooring problems that can impact your employees, your customers, your product and your bottom line?  

Problem: Cracks, peels and tears in flooring

There are several reasons why you may be seeing cracks, peels and tears in your flooring:
The concrete that was used may have been inferior or improperly mixed. It may not have the tensile strength to handle the amount of vibrational or repetitive heavy-duty traffic.

If you already have epoxy flooring, it may have been improperly applied. In addition to being unsightly, cracks, peels and tears in industrial and commercial flooring can cause accidents, tripping and falling, or damage to your tools and equipment. They can cause problems when using rolling carts or other equipment that must be moved around your facility as part of the daily work routine. Leaving these cracks and fissures in your flooring unrepaired will result in further damage over time.

Problem: Chemical or biological contamination to floors

Improperly installed, damaged or out of date flooring can cause a number of health hazard problems in in industrial or commercial facilities.  Flooring that is porous absorbs, leaks, moisture or other substances – can result in toxic and potentially hazardous working conditions.

Seamless epoxy flooring eliminates risks of dangerous bacterial growth or chemical buildup in tile seams or cracked grout. Seamless and resistant flooring is easier to keep clean and bacteria-or chemical-free.

Problem: Workplace injuries from slips and falls due to slippery floors
​
If your flooring is getting old and worn, it is going to become less skid-and slip-resistant over time. This can lead to an increase of workplace slips, falls and other injuries, for which you, as the business owner, are responsible. Our slip resistant epoxy flooring systems are designed to be safe, durable, easy to maintain, and attractive.

By Lifetime Epoxy Floors Expert Guest Author: Mark Bruddy 

Floors in a home are the first thing a visitor notices. Often times the garage is the first floor to greet your visitors and it can make a lasting impression. A beautiful clean floor signifies a well kept home owned by a homeowner that values organization, appearance and respect. A drab, ugly, and stained floor is an unsightly eyesore that beacons the visitor attention and distracts from the overall beauty of the remainder your your home. Lifetime Epoxy installs more garage floors than any other company in North Alabama. They can make your garage floor look marvelous! They are also the only company known to back every floor with a Transferable Lifetime Warranty.

Importance of Garage Floor Coating...

A garage is considered a wasteland by many homeowners and they usually do not like to spend much on its maintenance. But one forgets that this corner of the house or office might be hampering the overall aesthetic appeal of the building. You can make your garage presentable and attractive just by installing floor coatings. This will not only protect your garage floor but will also give it a maintained look gelling well with other parts of the house. Usually, garage floors are made up of concrete and Concrete Floor Coating is perfect to give the magical look to your garage floor.

Epoxy Floor coating for your Garage...

Epoxy floor coating is one perfect Concrete Floor Cleaner for your garage. Epoxy is one amongst a few coatings that works for almost all surface type, may it be concrete, steel or any other. Once the coating is done, you hardly have any maintenance cost till next 10-15 years. The floor can be persevered by cleaning with mild, liquid detergents; then mopping. Grease, oils, and most chemicals will not stain or soak up into the epoxy floor.

What to look for?

Concrete Floor Coating can protect your garage floor from weathering, cracking and additional moisture. It will not only add to the life of your garage but also give it a cleaner and sophisticated look. All you need to do is understand your expectation and the floor better before choosing a floor coating. Most people just throw things in their shopping cart go home and coat the floor, but it's always better to understand your requirement at least in case of coatings, picking randomly, might not solve your purpose. You can also take assistance of the specialty coating dealer who can suggest you what will work best for your garage floors.

Seek Professional Help!

Concrete floor coating is not that easy task that you can do it yourself; it can be costly and prone to errors. It is recommended to seek help of a professional applicator for the same. A professional can guide you better about the type and amount of coating to be done that to with perfection.

Garage coating is the one prime way to give your garage a brighter and cleaner look.
Today, a lot of brands offering garage coatings are there in the market. You could buy it online or purchase at your nearby hardware store. Pick the correct coating that is able to dry fast and offers self-priming, low smell.



Looking Epoxy coating online for your garage? Get a range of floor coatings at reasonable prices at Xtreme Polishing Systems. Xtreme Polishing Systems is your source for all industrial, retail, and commercial flooring solutions serving the industry from past 15 years.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mark_Bruddy/433152
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7042514

By Lifetime Epoxy Expert Guest Author:  Edward Winslow 

Polyureas and Polyaspartics were originally developed for coating steel to prevent corrosion. The outstanding qualities of such as a fast cure and durability led to experimenting for use on concrete industrial flooring.

What Are Polyaspartic and Polyurea Coatings?

Simply they are an advanced version of concrete floor paint. They are a two component product that are mixed together prior to application and are rolled on the surface. They come in clear but are usually pigmented with gray or tan but any color can be created. Vinyl colored chips can be broadcast into the surface while wet. Either a full broadcast can be applied which looks like a terrazzo finish or chips can be lightly sprinkled to give a little more character.

Benefits of Polyureas Over Epoxy Coatings

1. Rapid Cure - Polyureas can dry in an hour so multiple coats can be applied in a day. For businesses that cannot allow for downtime this solves a big problem. An example is a company that can only allow for downtime over a weekend. With the right surface prep equipment the concrete can be ground smooth over a Friday night, cracks and spalling fixed the next morning with two coats applied on a Saturday, two on Sunday and in service for Monday morning.

2. Adhesion To Concrete - Polyureas have the unique ability to "wet" into concrete. This means they absorb into the concrete after the surface is ground smooth with industrial floor grinding equipment, diamond blades and a dustless vacuum system. The benefit is that the polyureas cure as part of the concrete rather than sticking to the surface like an epoxy. This substantially alleviates risk of delamination. Highly skilled professionals will test the density of the concrete and adjust the"wetting" for a particular surface.

3. Cold Weather Application - It has been reported that polyureas can be applied at below zero temperatures. Though few would attempt in extreme cold a coating can be applied on a cold concrete floor. This means projects can completed year round.

How Polyaspartic and Poyurea Coatings are Applied

1. Grinding The Concrete Surface - This requires specialized equipment, diamond blades and a dustless vacuum system. The applicator will adjust the speed of the diamonds which circulate over the surface grinding the top layer of the concrete. This creates a lot of dust which is contained in specialized high power vacuum systems. The grinding process removes the highs and lows in the surface creating a flat floor.

2. Crack Repair - Because polyureas can be thinned, they can fill a crack all the way to the bottom about 4 inches. Most crack fillers only fill what you can see and really just serve as a bridge in the crack penetrating 1/4" to one inch. The most effective crack repair will flow to the bottom, cure below the surface and "wet" into the wall of the crack with flexibility. Polyureas do it all. They block moisture vapor pressure that can delaminate a coating.

3. Application of Polyurea Industrial Flooring - Once the surface is ground smooth and flat the coatings are rolled on the surface. Since the floor was ground smooth the coatings are applied at an even depth throughout the floor.

4. Rapid Cure and Fast Return To Service - In new construction or remodels a fast coating application is a money saver. Most coatings take a week to apply and cure. With the proper surface preparation equipment and manpower a 10,000 square foot floor can be applied in 3 days and used on the fourth. It is even possible to complete larger floors with enough equipment.

Slip Resistance, Recoat, Durability and Ease of Maintenance

An advanced professional will use a specific size non slip aggregate in each coating layer. Aggregate size is critical to function. Too large and it will sink to the bottom of the bucket during mixing. Too small and it will be lost in the mix and become ineffective. Building the right size into each layer ensures slip resistance above the legal standards for the life of the floor.

Floors will wear from use. Excessive wear will require a recoat and not all coatings can be recoated. Most will require complete removal with excessive wear. Polyureas on the contrary can be lightly sanded and resurfaced to look and perform like new. Again a feature that outperforms other systems.

Polyasparics and polyureas are extremely durable like epoxies while being easier to maintain. Epoxies and polyureas will get scratched. The difference is that a scratch in epoxies gets frayed, trapping dirt and bacteria. Polyureas get a straight scratch which means routine cleaning removes dirt and bacteria while prolonging life of the floor.

For more information about using garage floor polyureas and epoxy coatings visit website www.portlandgaragefloor.com​Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Edward_Winslow/169240Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3556563

Are you doing research related to garage floor coating? Are you trying to decide whether you should have your floor professionally coated and should buy a BOX KIT and make it a Weekend DIY Project?
Before you head to the big-box home improvement store and dedicate a long weekend to applying a DIY garage floor epoxy kit, think about what makes a professional garage floor coating last.

Superior Chemicals

First, the floor coatings used by a professional are so much more than garage floor paint and colored acrylic flakes that make up the epoxy paint kits. While DIY garage epoxy kits make the after pictures look beautiful, the product itself is inferior in strength to professional products.

DIY kit materials are no more than fortified latex or enamel paints, and they lack durability and are inclined to chip and peel away. This will quickly leave you disappointed and frustrated.

When you hire a professional, you'll get true industrial-strength epoxy and polyaspartic floor coatings. The materials we use on your garage floor are the same as those used in fire stations and trucking facilities. If it can hold up to those heavy trucks, it can certainly endure the wear-and-tear of your vehicles.

Proper Floor Prep
​
The lengths a professional will go to in prepping your concrete floors before applying any floor coating is something that you simply can't achieve with a DIY epoxy paint kit. We use diamond grinders to strip off the top layer of concrete they can rip off any previously applied coatings or sealants. This is a critical step because it makes the concrete porous and adds a deep scratch pattern, ensuring the floor coating adheres to the concrete and not simply laying over the top of it.

​You are a homeowner that has a concrete floor surface that you are looking to cover. You are planning on hiring a contractor to remodel your home or an interior designer to spice things up, chances are you’re looking at different flooring options. You’ve checked out tile, laminate, carpeting and other options, but you’re just not convinced. Then you hear about a new type of flooring called epoxy. What is epoxy floor coating and why should you be interested?



​What Is Epoxy Flooring?

Epoxy is new floor covering that uses a combination of special resins and hardening agents to create a durable floor that also looks attractive. Epoxy starts out as a liquid and then hardens into a solid, giving you a thick, strong and beautiful floor. There are no seams, lines or cracks — just a smooth floor throughout the room.

​What Does Epoxy Flooring Look Like?

You’ve probably already seen an epoxy floor without realizing it. Many automotive showrooms use epoxy because of its brilliant shine and vibrant colors. Of course, you can decide whether you want a super-glossy finish or a matte surface, but that beautiful shine is one of the reasons epoxy is so popular.

You can choose from practically any color you want, including deep blues, greens, reds, purples and other colors that are practically impossible to find anywhere else. Even better, epoxy floor professionals can mix these colors like expert artists, creating flowing patterns that look identical to the veins of a stone floor. Your bathroom, kitchen, dining room or living room can look like five-star hotel with marble floors, but without the cost or installation difficulties of marble.

Where Can You Use Epoxy Floors?
​
Many homeowners have pros install epoxy floor coating in the garage or the basement. This makes the space look brighter and stay cleaner. Depending on your design vision, you can also choose epoxy for other rooms, including master bedrooms, open-concept living rooms or even exterior spaces. It adds a contemporary touch to homes and gives apartment lofts the perfect industrial chic feel.