Dustless Coating Removal in Phoenix, Arizona
Here’s a video to help you understand how coating removal is done and why it’s so important. After you watch the coating removal video, call 480-659-3199 or E-mail. We’ll be glad to answer your questions or set up an on-site visit to discuss how our coating removal process can benefit you. Here is a video we filmed in August of 2018 of micro-topping removal.
Get Your Free Estimate Today
Important Installation Guidelines and Maintaining Flooring Manufacturer Warranties
You may wonder why to bother with coating removal. There are many reasons for this, but some of the most important reasons are maintaining flooring manufacturer’s warranties. There is not one flooring or adhesive manufacturer I am aware of, that will warranty their product if installed over any type of coating. Sealers, curing agents, waxes, polishes, epoxies, paint, or any other type of foreign matter are considered to be a bond breaker for any warranty purposes. Failure of installations is routine, and it is just a matter of time before they do.
In fact, manufacturers will look for any reason to deny a claim. Since most installers don’t bother with the surface preparation of the subfloor, manufacturers get out of claims nearly 100% of the time! The simple fact is, if installing any flooring product that is designed to adhere to the concrete subfloor, you are throwing your money away if you don’t follow the installation guidelines. You cannot cut these corners no matter how much you try to justify it.
It really is less expensive to follow the instructions, than to experience a total flooring failure. Once it fails, there is no repairing it! You must tear out and remove the flooring at considerable expense, prepare the concrete, re-purchase your flooring, and pay to have it installed once again. Another reason for coating removal is it allows for cementitious underlayments such as Mapei Ultra plan 1 Plus to adhere with the strongest most reliable bond possible. In my company, we will not use any leveling compounds without first removing the top layer of the concrete subfloor.
Leveled Compounds Installed Over Polished or Sealed Concrete
We often see failures of other companies’ installations, because their leveling compounds were installed over polished or sealed concrete. If you live in the Phoenix Metro area, and your home was built in the 1960s or earlier, your concrete will be of the polished type. Additionally, these polished floors are often coated with layers of wax and shiny sealers that will not allow any type of adhesive to bond.
If your concrete is brown, red, or green, then you have this type of concrete. You should never install tile, vinyl, solid wood, micro toppings, or engineered wood directly over this type of concrete unless you have completely removed the top layer first by grinding. Do not use acids, or any other type of chemicals to attempt this, since the residue contaminates the concrete, and these are completely ineffective at removing the top layer of concrete. The only way to ensure proper coating removal and bonding are by grinding. There is no other method available, which has no “side effects.”