When RockSolid introduced their new line of Polycuramine garage floor and interior coatings, we were left scratching our heads at first. After all, what in the heck is Polycuramine? We admit we had never heard of it before. Moreover, what happened to the old RockSolid Polyurea garage floor coating and why the change? Furthermore, why is Rust-Oleum’s name on RockSolid’s product?
So after being asked by more than one reader of All Garage Floors, we decided it was time to see what the Polycuramine fuss was about, why Rust-Oleum is involved, and determine if the RockSolid Polycuramine garage floor coating is better than the older Polyurea coating that it has replaced.
What is Polycuramine?
For the best definition of what Polycuramine is, we need a brief history of RockSolid Floors in order to help explain how Polycuramine ended up in their product and how Rust-Oleum became involved.
RockSolid Floors was established in 2007 as an affiliate of Citadel Floor Finishing Systems. Citadel is a well-established, 43 year old industrial floor finishing manufacturer that specializes in polyaspartic and polyurea technologies. Realizing that there was a DIY demand, RockSolid Floors was born in order to provide a friendlier DIY version of the Citadel product that would be easier to apply.
RockSolid is probably best known for providing the A and B compounds in ready-to-mix sealed burst pouches that do not require a mixing bucket for most applications.
In January of 2014, Rust-Oleum acquired Citadel and thus inherited the RockSolid line of floor coating products. As a result, all RockSolid products now come with Rust-Oleum branding. In fact, all customer service inquiries for RockSolid go directly to Rust-Oleum as well.
Polycuramine is a newly trademarked product that was developed last year by Citadel and found its way into the RockSolid lineup. It’s a proprietary blend that is alleged to combine the best benefits of Polyurea, Polyurethane, and Epoxy. This is a quote from a RockSolid sales page:
RockSolid Polycuramine™ is the best of Polyurea, Urethane, and Epoxy chemistries. It combines these three chemistries and their key attributes into ONE indestructible, self-leveling, flexible, fast curing, high gloss coating system.
RockSolid claims that their Polycuramine garage floor coating is 20 times stronger than epoxy paint and has a 96% solids content. It is impervious to all chemicals and comes with a high gloss finish. It can be installed in one day, walked on in 8 – 10 hours, and driven on within 24 hours.
You can view their information page here.
It also has the added advantage of an installation temperature range of 40°F – 90°F, it has a low VOC content with minimal odor, and comes with a limited lifetime warranty as well.
Each Polycuramine Garage Floor Coat kit consists of one burst pouch of colored Polycuramine to cover up to 250 ft², decorative color chip for a light coverage, the required foam roller, concrete etch solution, and of course instructions. There are three colors to choose from as well – Tan, Mocha, and Grey.
Installation of the new Polycuramine Garage Coat kit
One note to make. Proper preparation of the concrete is still the most important part of a garage floor coating application – even new concrete. No matter how good the coating is, it will not adhere to a poorly prepped or dirty garage floor.
Our Views of the new RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Coating
We feel that this new lineup for RockSolid couldn’t have come at a better time. While the Polyurea garage coat system that it replaced was a fairly good product, many of the reviews for it by the average DIY installer were less than great.
There are many benefits to a polyurea garage floor coating, but the pitfalls for a DIY coating is in the installation. The biggest complaints received about the older RockSolid polyurea coating was delamination and finish issues. Many if not most of the problems to these issues was not due to a poor product, but the result of the limited application time available for the product. If it wasn’t installed in 20 to 30 minutes it started to thicken up and problems ensued.
Because polyurea cures fairly quickly, it doesn’t have enough time to seep into the pores of dense concrete that is prepped only by etching and not by grinding. This can lead to delamination issues of the coating. Secondly, if you don’t get the product down fast enough the finish will not be very glossy or can even loose its smooth texture among other issues.
After putting a call in to the Rust-Oleum tech line, they claimed that the new RockSolid Polycuramine formula has better wetting characteristics (similar to epoxy) that allows the coating to penetrate into the concrete better. This is a big help for concrete that is etched instead of prepped by grinding.
You also have up to 45 minutes to apply the Polycuramine which should be more than enough time to get down 250 ft² of product. This should alleviate many of the finish issues that resulted from the short installation window of before.
We do have to question some of RockSolid’s marketing techniques however. They claim that their new Polycuramine formulation is 20 times stronger than epoxy paint. Really? Their older polyurea product claimed it was only 4 times stronger. After digging a bit deeper, we realized that what they are comparing it to is paint – 1 part epoxy paint that is. That is like comparing apples to oranges.
Try as we might, we could not find a 2-part epoxy floor coating with only a 33% solids content as RockSolid compares it to. The only product we could find with that low a content is 1-part epoxy paint. We feel that they are being a bit too deceiving in this regard and should be comparing it to a true 2-part epoxy.
They also claim that the new Polycuramine blend combines the best of Polyurea, Polyurethane, and Epoxy. That isn’t necessarily true either. History has shown time and again for sealers and coatings that by combining the best of everything you will not get the best attributes of each ingredient.
Polyurethane for example is known for being very resistant to chemicals, abrasion, and for being U.V. stable. While Polycuramine has good chemical resistance, it is not U.V. stable and can yellow if exposed to direct sunlight for lengths of time. It’s also not as resistant to abrasion as a good polyurethane. Its abrasion resistance is about equal to a quality 100% solids epoxy. That’s still good, but not as good as most polyurethanes and polyureas.
Another concern is that this product goes down extremely thin. It has a dry film thickness of only 3 mils. That’s about half as thick as a typical polyurea coating. We attribute that to the special polyamide foam roller that they require you to use. As and example, 100% solids epoxy is about 10 mils for a DIY kit. Our guess is they need the thinner coating to get the coverage rate they require in order to keep the price point competitive.
As a result of the thin mil coating, we recommend a second coat of clear Polycuramine to provide for an overall thicker coating that will provide a more durable finish and deeper glossy look.
Try as we might, we could not find a technical data sheet for the Polycuramine garage coat either. We don’t know if that is by design or if it’s the result of a still fairly new garage coat product. We have always had concerns about companies that don’t list the TDS for their own products. Rust-Oleum did not have the information immediately available either and had to get back to us with the specifications on the dry film thickness.
Update: RockSolid now provides a TDS sheet for their product. However, it still does not provide enough information to compare it to other quality coatings.
Would we recommend RockSolid Polycuramine?
With all that said, initial responses from consumers has been very positive. Reports are that the new RockSolid Polycuramine garage coating formula is easier to apply DIY than the previous polyurea formula. Few Issues about the finish have been raised so far that we are aware of. Plus, the added benefit of being able to install it in a wider range of temperature extremes is something you cannot do with other garage floor coatings.
One nice advantage to the Polycuramine garage coat that we have failed to mention is that it has up to a 7 day recoat window. This means that you can wait up to 7 days to apply another coat to the floor without having to prep it first other than making sure it is clean.
This can be a great advantage to the average DIY installer who may only have a limited time to work on their floor. Most coating products have a recoat window of 24 hours or less.
Though the new RockSolid Polycuramine Garage Coat is only 3 mils thick, we feel this formulation is far superior to that of comparable DIY coatings such as Rust-Oleum’s 2-part EpoxyShield product, Quikrete Epoxy garage floor coatings, or Valspar Epoxy Coatings as an example.
Yes, the RockSolid Polycuramine is more expensive than these traditional DIY garage coat kits. However, the warranty is much better and it fills a void for the consumer who wants a quality DIY product that is easy to apply, but may be intimidated by the cost and application of the thicker and more expensive multi-coat garage floor coatings.
RockSolid also has an easy to apply metallic garage floor coating which is now gaining some attention. It goes down twice as thick and has a very professional appearance.
Where to purchase RockSolid Polycuramine products
We’ve had to update this section on multiple occasions since we first posted this article in early 2014. For a while the RockSolid lineup was only available from Menards. Fortunately however, Rust-Oleum has since expanded the distribution of the RockSolid product to Home Depot as well as some automotive parts stores such as Summit Racing.
If you don’t have one of these stores near you, Rust-Oleum is now offering RockSolid Garage Floor Coatings at Amazon.
Pricing will vary but to give you an idea, expect a single 1-car garage floor kit that covers up to 250 ft² to retail for approximately $125. We’ve seen it priced as low as $99 from different outlets when on sale. They also have made available a 2.5 car garage kit as well that will cover up to 500 ft².
It didn’t take too long, but Rust-Oleum is now marketing the Polycuramine formula under the Rust-Oleum Restore brand of products as well. As an example, you can find it at Lowes under the name Rust-Oleum Restore garage floor coating kit. You may be able to find it at other outlets under the Restore branding as well.
Final thoughts
It’s too soon to know if RockSolid Polycuramine is the wave of the future in garage floor coating. It does seem however to have much better attributes than the traditional DIY epoxy garage floor kits that you can buy from your local home improvement centers and auto stores. Reviews so far have been positive and you can bet we will be keeping a close eye on the developments of this new product.
Update
It’s been two years now since we first wrote about RockSolid’s new Polycuramine garage floor coating. To date, we have heard very few issues relating to the actual performance of the coating. This is good news so far and a good indicator that it should last longer than the traditional DIY garage floor coating kits.
However, we have had a few questions and comments regarding a particular cosmetic issue with some single coat applications. These people have been reporting patchy areas and sections of the coating that appear less glossy and/or slightly different in color.
The source of this issue seems to be too thin of a coating in those areas. As with all coatings, if too thin of a coat is applied to bare concrete in a single coat application, the finish of the coating will lose gloss and the color tone can change.
We have found a couple of reasons why this is occurring. The first has to do with stretching out the coverage rate of the coating. As we reported earlier, RockSolid states up to 250 ft² coverage for a single car application (one burst pouch). We have found that when people have tried to stretch this coverage rate, it ends up being applied too thin and the resulting issue is loss of gloss and color tone problems.
The second reason is somewhat related. Rough or porous floors will absorb more of the coating. Even if applying the Polycuramine to no more than 250 ft², the floor absorbs more of the coating and you end up with the same results. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You are assured a very good bond when the floor absorbs the coating.
This is why we believe that RockSolid recommends not performing a regular acid etch on the concrete and instead recommends using their milder Eco Etch formula. Grinding the concrete or performing an acid etch provides for a more porous profile that absorbs more of the coating.
Unless you have a fairly smooth concrete surface to begin with, we recommend covering no more than 200 ft² of garage floor for each burst pouch used. This should help provide for a slightly thicker application that when cured, will be thick enough to provide for a consistent color and glossy finish.
Remember, when a manufacturer states that a coating or sealer will cover up to a said amount, that number is based on an ideal surface condition for that coverage rate.
The other alternative is to just apply a second coat over the first. This not only assures a consistent and glossy color, it will also provide for a more durable coating. The second coat and any other subsequent coats (clear for example) will always have a higher coverage rate since none of the coating is being absorbed by the floor.
This information should help most people with avoiding this reported issue when factoring in the amount of product you will need to purchase.
Just used and needless to say did not cover will apply a second layer prior to 7 says. Is a top coat needed or recomended if so what type and how longer should I wait after applying the Rock Solid
Hi Susan. A clear top coat is recommended to protect the color flakes and color coat, but it’s not a requirement. We recommend that you stay with RockSolid. No other clear top coat is known to chemically cure with RockSolid. You would need to let the color coat cure for a few days and then rough up the surface with 120 grit sandpaper first if you were to use a different brand.
Hi,
I have a 3 car Garage and planning to do Epoxy coat. The regular 2and half garage epoxy kits available at local hardware stores come in 2 colors – Grey and Tan. But I also see another product called Rustoleum Professional FLoor Coating Kit in Tile Red Color. What is this product and how to use it.
Hello Premchand. The standard Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield kits are a water-based, low solids, thin mil (3 – 3.5) epoxy coating. The Rust-Oleum Professional EpoxyShield is a solvent-based, slightly higher solids, slightly thicker mil (4 – 4.5) epoxy coating. It’s the better of the two choices. We are not the biggest fan of kits like these or RockSolid if you are looking for a high quality, long wearing coating that you want to last years without issues. We have an article here that discusses these type of kits. There are much better products available that you can’t get at home improvement centers that are a much better value for your money in the long run. These are an example. However, they are more expensive initially and we know that sometimes the budget is an important consideration.
Can the rock solid clear coat be sanded and buffed to remove minor imperfections? Is there a process and materials list to do this? I am thinking about how clear coat on a car is wet sanded Ed and buffed to remove small
Irregularities and the restore it to full sheen using the buffer and compound
Hi John. No, you cannot do that. Resinous clear coats are not like paint or similar to polishing a car. They will turn white and hazy if any type of heavy buffing, polishing, or light sanding is applied. If you want to renew a clear coat, you would degloss by sanding with 120 grit sandpaper or use a floor maintainer with a green scrub pad. Do a chemical wipe with denatured alcohol on a microfiber mop pad and then apply a new coat of clear to make the floor look like new again.
Ok thank you for the information. I have a follow up question. Can the method you describe above be used for sectional or spot repair of the clear or are you required to clear the entire surface?
Yes, you can do that for spot repair, John. However, something to keep in mind is that coatings do not blend like paint on a wall does. You will be able to see overlap marks for any areas where a new coating is applied over the old. You may want to mix a small batch and test it to see if you can live with the difference. If not and you have a few different spots that need attention, you may want to recoat the entire floor.
Hi , I have just finished a 3 layer coating on my shed floor and I must admit it isn’t the easiest product too apply? For example applying the top coat clear is almost impossible to see where you have been whilst rolling out and isn’t as self leveling as described. I have applied 2 coats of clear and still requires another coat or 2? So far I have used 9 satchels of clear and I am now considering looking into using maybe a polyurethane self leveling high gloss clear too finish the job off?
Hello Jeff. Unfortunately you never really stated what your exact issue is. Why the multiple coats? Are you missing spots? All coatings are self-leveling to some degree. Self-leveling, however, does not mean that you can roll it on without precision and it just all kind of melds together for a smooth finish. Also, you said it is a shed floor. Is this wood you are applying it too? If so, how was the surface prepared?
Hi , answering your question above the clear coat was extremely hard to apply over the initial first top clear coat and there for there were a couple of spots missed and it was still heavily orange peel effect even after a heavy 2nd coat was applied and it was on a concrete slab that was properly prepped with a pressure cleaned floor using Rock Solid floor etching that is provided and then 2 coats of porous primer prior too the base coat and flakes
OK, that helps, Jeff. I believe your primary problem is that you are applying the coating too thick. Polycuramine is not like 100% solids epoxy that can be applied from heavy to thin. It consists of a formula that includes polyurethane (which does not go down thick). If applied too thick, you will definitely get the orange peel effect, possible roller marks, less gloss due to a cloudy look, and possible bubbles from outgassing of the small amount of solvents in it. If you want to fix the problem, you will need to sand an upper layer of the clear coat off and then reapply following RockSolid’s recommended coverage rates. They are fairly accurate for additional coats, just not the first coat on bare concrete. Have a second set of eyes if necessary to make sure you are not missing spots.
Hello, First of all thank you for a vast amount of information for DIY folks like me. I’ve bought a Rust-Oleum rocksolid kit for my 2 years old garage floor. I’ve cleaned, etched and washed with pressure washer. I had a guy who is doing my patio who mentioned that I should use a base to deactivate the acid (Ammonia). I read on here the use of TSP to clean of white dust. this is the only place I’ve read about deactivating. Is this step necessary? Also the kit specifically mentions not to use muriatic acid and I read the inefficiency of citric acid in etching. It’s really confusing what would be the right thing to use. I just want to make certain before applying the Polycuramine product . So to summarize, Do i need to used base (ammonia) to deacitvate the acid? would it help to apply a bonding primer prior coating with polycuramine for even coating and better binding?
Hello Krupen. You are asking some good questions. First off, only muriatic and phosphoric acid etching solutions for concrete need to be neutralized. It’s a critical step in the process. If not done, the acid can continue reacting from within the concrete. In addition, the coating will most likely delaminate as a result. The type of etching solutions that come in the Rust-Oleum kits (RockSolid included) is a citric acid etch. These etching solutions are used for a couple of reasons. The first and primary reason is because they are environmentally safe and it severely limits any legal action that may result from improper use. The second reason is that these type of coatings are typically thin in nature and do a good job of penetrating the concrete surface compared to thicker commercial quality coatings. We never recommend a citric acid etch for high solids and commercial quality coatings. Citric acid etch solutions are known for not performing well on very dense or extremely smooth troweled concrete surfaces. This is when people experience delamination issues with the DIY epoxy kits from home improvement stores. That is why a water drop test should always be performed after the concrete has dried in order to determine if the coating will get proper penetration. If a drop of water in various areas immediately turns the concrete a darker color and is absorbed in less than a minute, then you are good to go. If it beads or just sits there without much absorption, then more etching or a stronger etch is required.
RockSolid does not recommend acid etching as you have mentioned. There are a few reasons for this as well. Polycuramine does a very good job of penetrating concrete surfaces and rarely has complaints about delamination. It’s also expensive compared to other DIY kits. In order to keep kit costs down, we strongly believe that Rust-Oleum provided overly generous coverage rates in their data sheets that allows them to limit the volume of coating in order to keep costs in check. In addition, acid etching provides a more porous and rough profile. As a result, when RockSolid is used on an acid etched surface, the combination of the good absorption and overly generous coverage rates results in a very thin single coat which creates a patchy looking surface of poor color tone and loss of gloss. It essentially acts as a primer coat (AKA ugly coat). A second coat is required to correct for this.
RockSolid is a good performing coating for a single coat DIY kit on it’s own when it experiences the recommended dry film thickness. However, the biggest complaint about RockSolid is their very poor coverage rates which results in the fore mentioned conditions of gloss and color tone loss (recommended dry film thickness is not achieved). Acid etching only makes this issue worse. Bonding primers are latex concrete paint which is not compatible with resinous coatings and they do not adhere as well either. Resinous coatings require a resinous product (epoxy) that is typically thin for good penetration. The cost of such primers is as much (sometimes more) than the type of kit you are applying. That is why a second coat is recommend if you experience cosmetic issues. The Rust-Oleum Garage Floor Primer is a product that is formulated to only work within the Rust-Oleum line on sealed or previously coated surfaces. It is not recommended for bare concrete. In short, you are fine and can apply the RockSolid with the surface prep you done. If the coating has a poor look, then apply a second coat for the intended rich looking and glossy finish it should have.
Hello, I have a two year old RockSolid Polycuramine floor in my garage. I did the install myself with two coats of color plus one coat of clear over the chips. The floor is beautiful, but never was as shiny as many of the pictures I see, it dulled as it cured. The durability and coverage has been very good and we have no issues except the gloss is a bit less than what it should be.
Is it possible to apply a wax over the top of the floor to increase shine? The garage doesn’t have cars going in and out as the one that is parked in the middle only moves two or three times a year.
Hello Michael. The RockSolid color coat and clear coat are the same product. Tint is added to produce the color. The color coats do appear more glossy due to the reflectivity with the color tint added. It is possible to wax coatings, however, the wax actually tones down the gloss to produce almost a matte finish. It’s one of purposes for waxing a coating. It’s not something that you want to do for a garage floor though. Solvents can make a mess of the wax and creates some work to strip off and reapply.