We get called out to fix failed garage floors constantly. Big sheets lifting near the door, coating stuck to the tires instead of the slab, bubbles and fisheyes across the middle of the floor. In nearly every case the product wasn't the problem — the prep was.
Concrete is porous, but a troweled slab is also sealed at the surface by the finishing process, and often by a curing compound sprayed on the day it was poured. Coating over that means the resin bonds to a thin, weak layer instead of to the concrete. It looks fine for a few months, then a hot tire pulls it right off.
Real preparation means mechanical profiling. We run diamond grinders with HEPA dust extraction across the entire slab to remove sealers, old coatings, glue, and the weak surface layer, opening the concrete to a defined surface profile. You can feel the difference with your hand — properly prepped concrete has tooth to it.
Acid etching, the shortcut sold with hardware-store kits, does not achieve this. It roughens the very top of the surface unevenly, leaves residue that has to be neutralized and rinsed, and pushes water into a slab you're about to coat. It's the single most common reason DIY garage kits fail within a year or two.
Cracks and spalls come next. We chase cracks out with a saw, vacuum them to sound concrete, fill them to full depth with structural polyurea or epoxy mortar, then grind the repair flush. Skip that step and every crack telegraphs through the new floor within a season.
The last piece is moisture. A slab pushing vapor from below will lift a coating no matter how well it's ground. That's why we test basement and on-grade slabs before quoting, and use a vapor-tolerant primer when the readings call for it.
If your current floor is peeling, we can grind it off and start over correctly. Call Resin4U Epoxy Flooring at (208) 808-4168 for a free assessment anywhere in the Treasure Valley.