Just because something is well advertised, doesn't mean it's a good product.  Often it means the the merits of the product just can’t sell themselves.

Nature stone was - and to some extent still is - a popular option for hard flooring in garages and other working spaces, as well as sometimes even in homes. Its big selling point is how it improves the look of a typical concrete floor.  Unfortunately, it usually proves to be more expensive than the buyer realizes, as well as difficult to keep up.

So let's look at why people are abandoning nature stone flooring in favor of better alternatives, such as polyaspartic coatings.

What Is a Nature Stone?

Epoxy stone flooring refers to a variety of different flooring brands based on the same idea: a flooring made from small rocks and pebbles, bound together by epoxy. Since small rocks are plentiful, and epoxy is ubiquitous, this theoretically makes for an affordable and durable flooring material.

Unfortunately, the reality typically turns out to be much different.

What's Wrong with Nature Stone and other epoxy stone flooring systems?

There are a few different issues.

First, those advertised specials typically leave out a lot of other costs which make nature stone less affordable than it seems – sometimes even neglecting to mention installation costs. Once the floor is prepared and the nature stone flooring is installed, prices are typically no lower than many other better flooring options and many times much higher in price.

The other big problem is durability. It's hard to maintain quality control on epoxy stone flooring since it uses a wide variety of rocks and stones - whatever the installer can get cheap. Each mineral type will react differently to the epoxy, as well as exposure to the elements and UV, leading epoxy stone flooring to break down more quickly than other types of floors made with polyaspartic coating.  Because UV breaks down the epoxy used to bind the stones together, most epoxy stone flooring need to be resealed every couple of years or else the stones don’t stay glued together.  The resealing of the epoxy stone flooring adds additional cost that many people don’t realize when they purchase it.

The biggest problem with epoxy stone flooring is the fact that the finished floor is POROUS, meaning all the filth that melts off your car goes inside the flooring and gets permanently lodge between the stones.  This provide a perfect environment for bad odors and mold growth.

The long-term costs (and effort) associated with nature stone just aren't worth it.  So it's little wonder people are looking into nature stone removal, and installing alternatives instead.

What's A Better Alternative to Nature Stone?

Frankly, there are multitude of options far superior than any Epoxy Stone flooring system. Even a basic layer of epoxy over concrete will provide a cleaner and more durable working surface because it is non-porous versus epoxy stone that is porous.

However, for the best in flooring for your garage or other working space, look to polyaspartic coatings. Polyaspartic coatings are installed similar to epoxy but are much stronger and more durable than epoxy. Polyaspartic floors have better UV stability, better chemical resistance, and are much harder to damage.

The long-term benefits of Polyaspartic flooring makes it worth the investment. A polyaspartic floor will last much longer, and stand up to more abuse.

Forever Floor

The Forever Floor from Garage Finisher is polyaspartic flooring perfected. Our five-layer installation process creates a floor that is impervious and should easily last as long as your garage. Contact us to learn more!