Peeling: the coating never bonded
- Smooth concrete. A troweled garage slab is nearly as smooth as glass. Acid washing, which most kits rely on, barely changes that. Grinding the slab by machine opens the surface so the coating can soak in and grip.
- Moisture from below. Water vapor moves up through concrete. If there is enough of it, it pushes the coating off from underneath. The fix is to test the slab first and treat it if it is wet.
- Oil and old sealers. Coating over a contaminated spot is like painting over grease. It has to be ground out.
- Coating over a failing coating. New material only holds as well as what is under it.
Peeling where the tires sit
This one has a name: hot tire pickup. Tires come in hot from the road, soften a thin coating, and pull it up as they cool and shrink. It shows up as four patches exactly where you park. Georgia summers make it worse. The cure is a thicker floor and a topcoat made to take heat.
Bubbles and pinholes
Concrete is full of tiny air pockets. When the slab warms up during the day, that air expands and escapes through the wet coating, leaving bubbles or pinholes. Moisture does the same thing. Crews avoid it by sealing the slab with a base coat first and by not coating a slab while it is heating up.
Turning yellow
Many epoxies amber in sunlight. You see it first in a strip by the garage door. It is cosmetic, but it does not go away. A clear topcoat that is UV-stable prevents it, which is why we finish every floor with one.
Three questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Do you grind the whole floor by machine, or wash it? If the answer is acid or a pressure washer, keep looking.
- Do you test for moisture before coating? And what happens if it fails the test?
- What is the topcoat, and is it UV-stable? Then ask for the price in writing before anyone comes out.
Common questions
Can you put new epoxy over peeling epoxy?
No. The new coating will only hold as well as the old one underneath, which is already letting go. The failed coating has to be ground off first.
Why did my epoxy floor bubble?
Air or moisture escaping from the concrete while the coating was still wet. It is most common when a slab is coated as it warms up, or when there was no base coat to seal it first.
How do I stop hot tire pickup?
You cannot fix it with a cleaner or a sealer. It comes from a coating that is too thin or too soft for hot tires. The lasting fix is a properly built floor with a heat-resistant topcoat.
Do polyaspartic floors have problems too?
Yes, the same ones when preparation is skipped: peeling on unground concrete and bubbles from moisture. The coating type matters less than what was done to the concrete first.
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Prices on this page come from the same table the calculator uses. Last reviewed 2026-09-20. Photos are real floors finished by Epoxy Living and its installation crew.