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| They keys to getting good adhesion with paint, glue or caulk are always the same; the surface should be clean, dry and sound. The trick to getting great adhesion is an aggressive surface profile. This last item is critical when installing thick coatings that will be subjected to thermal shock, such as steam cleaning or vehicular parking areas. A hot tire coming to rest on a thick coating can cause the coating to rapidly expand and pull off a smooth concrete surface. This is called “hot tire pick up.” Outlined below are the three common types of concrete surface preparation. |
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ACID ETCHING
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Muratic (hydrochloric) acid will literally dissolve cement upon contact. But the acid will not touch curing compounds, paint, oil stains or most other types of contaminants. Great care must be used in working with strong acids, and weaker acids prove far less effective. The acid will eat away a tiny bit of the surface and leave the concrete looking pretty clean and slightly textured. But the chemical reaction leaves behind transparent salts and acidic residue that will interfere with the adhesion of a coating system. These require further chemical treatment and a high pressure, high temperature rinse. The process leaves the floor very wet. While some epoxies are moisture tolerant, they will always adhere better to a drier surface that they can penetrate. Properly done, acid etching can be an acceptable preparation technique for a thin film, breathable system such as PerFlight™ MVP. |
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DIAMOND GRINDING
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Grinding is an effective means to remove adhesives, rubber coatings, drywall mud and curing compounds off the surface of a smooth concrete floor. Large dual head grinders can even plane down trowel marks and high spots but none of these machines will reach down into spalled areas and prepare the weakest, dirtiest parts of the floor. Sanding concrete with screens or discs does very little good. Even with very coarse diamond blades, a grinder can only leave a modest surface profile, and is best reserved for thin film coatings such as PerFlight™ 100. |
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SHOT BLASTING
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Universally accepted as the best surface preparation for concrete floors, the procedure does require expensive equipment and skilled operators. This method reaches high and low spots, removes curing compounds and most coatings and strips away the weak, salt damaged surface of cement if present. The aggressive surface profile created by shot blasting may not be suitable for very thin coatings (less than 10 mils DFT) but is the preferred method for high build systems such as PerFlight™ HBR or PerFleck™ that may be subjected to thermal shock. |
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