A RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Floor: What We Learned

We recently refinished our 50-year-old garage floor with Rustoleum’s RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Floor Coating kits, and now we are experts. Riiight. Like most people, a DIY garage floor is, hopefully, a one time project. However, we did learn a few things that might help you if you decide to tackle this kind of project.

If you’re in a hurry, here’s the summary. Read on for all the highlights and lowlights.

1. It’s going to take more than one weekend
2. Prep starts with evaluating your garage floor
3. You need a partner. You. Yes, I’m talking to you.
4. A one-car kit covers 150 square feet. That’s it.
5. You need some additional equipment to do the job right. Nothing fancy.
6. Use a good concrete patch.
7. Thorough degreasing is essential
8. Etching is easy
9. Stop and make sure everything is ready BEFORE you start.
10. Plan out the application process with your partner BEFORE you start.
11. Apply the polycuramine slow and steady.
12. Practice your chip sprinkling technique.
13. Do not, repeat, DO NOT, walk on the floor 8 hours later.

Why we went with RockSolid Polycuramine

We chose this product because, while the reviews were mixed, they seemed to be better overall than the other mass-market DIY garage floor products. The summary seemed to be that you could get good results if you followed the instructions carefully. In the final analysis, we agree, but you also must set your expectations appropriately. This article at AllGarageFloors provides a great review of the pro’s and con’s of Rust-Oleum RockSolid versus other mass market DIY garage floor coatings (including RustOleum’s EpoxyShield).

The RockSolid product is called “Polycuramine” and is a proprietary blend of polyurea, urethane and epoxy. Rustoleum actually bought the company that invented this and the product is similar to some professional formulas. One of their main selling points is that it is 20 times harder than epoxy — after doing some research we found out that this is a little misleading because the comparison is to epoxy paints, not epoxy floor coatings. It probably is harder than an off-the-shelf epoxy kit, but we doubt it’s better than a pro epoxy job. For one thing, it’s thinner than a pro epoxy job. You’ll get a thickness of about 3 mils (thousandths of an inch) vs. 10 or so with a good epoxy job.

Another factor in the plus column is ease-of-application: the product comes in a well-designed “burst pouch” with two separate compartments that you mix in the bag and then pour directly on your floor. It also cures quickly and you can move your stuff back on it in a day (though as you’ll see below, the promise of walking on it after 8 hours is a tad optimistic).

In the end, what do we think? We’re very happy with the garage floor and it seems to be rock solid (hehe). Is it perfect? Hell no. There are plenty of flaws if you look close, and in particular we made some serious mistakes on the first section. That said, the garage floor looks 100 times better than the old floor. I like to say that a pro job probably would look 1000 times better, but would have cost 10 times as much.

So, let’s go through this and share what we learned at each step.

1. This is not a one-weekend project

If you think you can get this done in one weekend, even with a small garage, you are going to be disappointed. Yes, the product does cure quickly, but unless your floors are already pristine you will need to spend a couple of days cleaning, patching, and drying your floors. Our floor was so dirty that we had to thoroughly clean it before we could see some of the issues that needed to be addressed.

The weather also has to cooperate. The individual steps don’t necessarily take a long time, but you have to wait a day in between steps. If you are able to move your stuff to another secure location for a couple weeks (or split your project into two or more sections like we did), then you can work on this an hour or two at a time and then lay down the coating when you’re confident it’s ready. If your project needs to be done quickly, then bite the bullet and hire a pro.

Finally, if your garage is big enough, and you don’t have too much junk, you can do this in sections without having to move stuff out of the garage. We were lucky to have a garage that’s spacious enough that we could split this into three sections, move everything off of one section at a time, and improve our technique as we went. Make sure you have a plan to relocate your stuff for awhile.

2. You must evaluate your garage floor

There are a ton of different issues you can encounter with your garage floor, from pitting and cracking, to mystery stains, moisture seepage and efflorescence. You’ll want to wash your floor at the beginning so you can see if water does anything weird. You may have invisible sealants that need to be removed, well-disguised cracks, or white powdery efflorescence that signals additional prep work is required. Survey every inch of your garage and carry around a wire brush and scraper to “pre-treat” stuff you find stuck to your floor.

3. You need a partner

When it’s time to lay down the coating you will have at most one hour of working time with the product, and putting it down carefully is critical, so you don’t want to be rushed trying to cut in edges, roll out product, and sprinkle flakes. Figure out your workflow before you start and rehearse a little bit — you don’t want to be banging into each other or, god forbid, stepping in your newly coated floor.

4. Buy enough RockSolid kits to cover your garage floor

One of the more common complaints in consumer reviews is that Rocksolid polycuramine does not come close to the coverage that Rustoleum advertises. Rustoleum says that coverage varies significantly with garage conditions, and in our experience, a one-car kit would safely cover about 150 square feet. We bought two double kits (meaning four individual bags of polycuramine) for our 450 square foot garage and we had plenty of leftover polycuramine after each stage. If you try to stretch this to save money, you’re likely to put it on too thin and overwork it.

5. You need more supplies than what comes in the kit

This will come as a surprise to no one, but you will need some other tools and supplies to do the job right. The Rustoleum 2.5-car garage kit comes with two foam rollers, etching mix, some chips (that we didn’t use), and two burst paks of the 2-part polycuramine compound. Here’s our list of 18 other things we needed.

6. Use a Good Concrete Patch

Our garage floor had some extensive cracks and pitting, along with some large divots left behind when we removed a wall that had been nailed to the floor. We used two of Rust-Oleum’s Concrete Patch kits and were pleased with the results. It’s a two-part soft putty mix that’s designed for patching underneath epoxy and polycuramine floor coatings. Mixing and application were pretty easy, with plenty of working time once you’ve mixed up a batch. The cured patch was smooth and very hard, and ultimately the patch did a great job of hiding all the defects in our floor.

There are a couple of things to be aware of with this patch:

• Depending on temperature and humidity, it may take longer than 24 hours for a patch to cure.
• Plan on two layers for larger or deeper divots.
• The stuff is messy — be careful not to cross-contaminate the part A and part B
• go slow when applying. Key is to spread the stuff slowly. I like the 6 inch knife …pull the compound over the pitted area slowly so that it fully gets into the pits.
• Have rubbing alcohol on hand to clean up your putty knife and any errant drips.
• It does not sand easily. You’ll want to sand within 24 hours. I used 100 grit, but most recs are for something from 40 to 80. Second pass used 60 grit…much better. Don’t worry about getting it perfect, just get the high spots. The coating will eliminate a lot of issues.

7. Thoroughly Degrease

There’s no magic secrets to this step — just use a good product, follow the directions, and scrub every nook and cranny of your floor. We figured our best bet was to use Rust-Oleum’s floor degreaser (diluted 1:1 with water). You’re supposed to sprinkle the diluted product evenly over your floor and let it sit for about 30 minutes. After trying a garden watering bucket to put down the first batch, we realized that the container that the degreaser comes in makes a great applicator. We just drilled some holes in the lid, poured the diluted mix back in the container, and screwed the lid back on. Depending on how much your floor slopes, you’ll need to use a squeegee or bristle broom to keep it from flowing off the section you’re cleaning. Note that if you are trying to save time, you can etch immediately after you’ve rinsed and squeegeed the degreaser off (the floor will still be wet, which you want when putting down the etching).

8. Etching is Easy

The etching solution that comes in the RockSolid kit is citric-acid based and is much milder than muriatic acid, which used to be the go-to concrete etching acid. Still, to be safe, you should wear safety gear (mask and gloves) when mixing it and putting it down, particularly if you’re sensitive to chemical smells. As with degreasing, just follow the directions for etching and you should be fine. We did allow the etching solution to sit on the floor for about 10 minutes after vigorously brushing it in with a bristle brush.

Based on some of the background reading we did, it is possible to over-etch your floors for the RockSolid product, so resist any temptation to use a stronger etching product. Lastly, when you’re done etching, be patient! We had some cool, foggy days during the project and did not feel that our floors were dry after 24 hours. If you have high humidity or damp and cool weather, then wait an extra day to be sure your floors are completely dry before you start applying the RockSolid polycuramine.

9. Prepare and be sure you’re ready to go

Once you complete all the prep steps, you’ll be raring to go. Take a deep breath and doublecheck that you’re prepared:

• Make sure the floor is dry
• Check the weather. Time your start if it’s dicey.
• Assemble your tools
• Tape your edges
• If you blocking off your entry door, make sure to unlock the front (or back) door to your house. Similarly, make sure you won’t need access to anything in the garage that you’ll be blocking off, such as tools or a laundry sink.

10. Plan the application process with your partner before you start

Basically, you and your partner need to do about six different things during the application process. Before you start, make sure you have all your tools ready, figure out who’s going to do what, and decide where and what order to roll in sections. Once you mix the burst pouch, the clock starts ticking and you don’t want to get in each other’s way. During application, you’ll need to do all of the following:

• Pouring the material one section at a time
• Cut in along walls, etc. with a brush
• Roll out the coating
• Double-check what you’ve rolled and fill in thin areas
• Sprinkle chips
• Pulling tape

Rust-Oleum recommends working in 4-foot-by-4-foot sections, but we’d recommend working in 3-foot deep sections so that sprinkling the chips evenly is easier.

11. Apply RockSolid polycuramine slow and steady

Because the “pot life” of RockSolid polycuramine is only 45 minutes to an hour, you will naturally feel rushed. Take a deep breath when you start and slow down when you roll. If you roll too aggressively then it may go on too thin, or worse, you’ll get bubbles that will leave craters in your finished floor. The polycuramine is much thicker than paint, so it flows more slowly. Your roller should smoothly push and pull the product over the floor. You will feel your roller bump over the product if your speed is too fast.

We learned this lesson the hard way on our first section of floor. We aggressively tried to work the product into the heavily pitted areas of the floor, pushing the roller back-and-forth repeatedly over the surface. This created bubbles in the uncured floor, which turned into little craters when the product cured. We improved our technique and virtually eliminated the craters on the next two sections. The craters in the first section aren’t visible from far away, so we can live with it, but we may go back and redo this section one day.

12. Practice your chip sprinkling technique

Practice makes perfect! Well, sort of. The general instructions for sprinkling chips is that you cast them by hand on a freshly rolled area, leaving the leading edge clean so the next section can be overlapped. What you’ll find is that it’s hard to sprinkle consistently and it can be difficult (if not painful) to reach the back of a four-foot deep section. Our advice: open a bag of chips and try sprinkling them on your old floor a few times so you learn how thick you want to put them on, and how far you can easily reach. Here are some more tips:

Buy chips separately — Yes, you get chips in the kit, but only enough for a thin coating. You don’t want to be stressed about running out of chips 3/4 of the way through the job. You can also pick different color combinations this way.

Make a chip sprinkling device — We used a small plastic plant pot that already had holes in the bottom.

Be aware of chip crumbs — we realized late in the game that smaller chip pieces settle to the bottom of the bag, and these went through our chip sprinkling pot faster and thicker than the regular chips. Either mix the bag up real good before you start sprinkling, or sift out the little pieces entirely.

13. Your new polycuramine floor is probably NOT ready to walk on in 8 hours

Okay, this goes back to the major theme of this article: your biggest mistake is being in a hurry. According to Rust-Oleum RockSolid cures enough in 8 hours to walk on, and in 24 hours to drive on. That’s marketing folks. We finished our last section at exactly 1 p.m. on a day, and I went and walked on it, in my socks, at 9 p.m. The first step or two, where we had started, felt okay, but each step felt tackier and then I realized my socks were sticking to the floor. I took my socks off right there and walked barefoot back. The result: I deglossed a spot at each of my steps, and left a bare footprint that’s visible in certain light angles. It’s not noticeable to the casual viewer, but I sure as hell know it’s there. Sure, if your temperature and humidity conditions are perfect, you might be able to walk on it in 8 hours, but why chance it? Just be patient, wait overnight, and check it out the next day. I’d recommend the same approach for driving on it…wait an extra day.

So that’s about everything we learned on this DIY project. We’re glad we tried it, and it’s gratifying to look at our glossy floors every day. By the way, here’s a great article on how to clean and maintain your new garage floor. Did you try coating your own garage floors? Let us know what you learned in the comments section below.