For a surface to be created, the cohesive bonds between the molecules in a substrate must be disrupted. This results in a surface energy or tension between these molecules. What is happening, is that the molecules on the surface are attracted to like molecules, and want to bond with like molecules on all sides (like the molecules under the surface).
This can be a major factor how much material it will take to cover a surface. If a substrate has a high surface energy, it has a strong desire to bond to something. A coating will be pulled down to the surface and “wet out”, causing it to thin. This also helps draw a coating in and increase the number of “contact points” with the surface, which will improve adhesion. If a substrate has a low surface energy, the coating will be less attracted to the surface. As a result the coating will have more of a tendency to bead up (It may not be as extreme as oil & water but it does happen). This will make the coating go on thicker and as a result, not go as far.
When most people look into a coating for their concrete surface. They are mainly looking to increase the aesthetics of an area. What many home owners or business owners don’t even consider is increased life the are giving with a protective coating.
Water, oil, and so many other products found in your garage slowly deteriorate your garage floor and cause if to fail. Granitex repels these products so they don’t soak into your floor. Not only does this prevent chemicals from contacting and destroying your cement, but the non-porous surface makes cleanup of spills a breeze. This has made Granitex an amazing success in automotive shops looking for a better way to keep their work areas clean as well as save on building repair.
The garage of most homes is an inhospitable place where your car sleeps at night in the company of your Christmas decorations and other rarely or never used items. Of course you do see garages where there is no room for the car at all, where the space is occupied by so much stuff that garage is turned into a dead area of your home which is wasted. This may be due to the fact that a dingy garage is never going to be an inviting place to spend your time.
Where to start
When a part of your home looks good, your more likely to keep it clean and organized not to mention actually utilizing it. When you first step into your garage, look down. If you’re like many homeowners you see a dirty, stained, maybe even cracked floor. Granitex not only protects your garage floor, but keeps it looking great so you will actually want to be there. You garage can be a functional part of your home where you can park, service, and show off your mechanical wonders, such as ATVs, PWCs, and automobiles. Depending on the layout of your home, many garages also make excellent pantries.
Don’t wast one of your home’s great assets. turn your homes darker side into a valuable & attractive space that you and your family can use & enjoy. There are endless color choices, and chip combinations that can match any theme. Contact a dealer in your area to see how Vortex & Granitex can transform the look of your garage.
Home improvement has always been one of the biggest facets of the “do it yourself” world, among other things such as car repair, electronics and even healthcare. This has allowed people to find ways to use their own ingenuity to produce results rather than paying a professional. People do home repair or improvement in order to save money or even as a hobby. This trend has led to the great success of home improvement superstores such as Lowe’s or The Home Depot. Many projects are great to keep busy on the weekends and involve little risk. Other projects can be a little more tricky, sometimes requiring reading a “how to” book or watching a video.
Some home improvements such as long term floor coating can be more difficult or dangerous than others. The higher quality products require mixing materials which will then harden to form a protective coating over the surface, these substances can be very unforgiving if used improperly. Vortex offers a hands on training to every new dealer so that every chemical is handled properly to ensure the safety of the workers and the homeowner as well as insuring the quality of the end result. Specific surface preparation techniques are demonstrated to ensure that the Granitex will perform at it’s best (Granitex can easily last over 10 years when applied correctly). Nothing takes the satisfaction out of a home improvement project like watching it deteriorate, sometimes in less than a year. Not to mention all of that money you thought you were saving by doing it yourself, lost to recoating your floor every couple years.
Vortex is proud to announce an expansion of their new facility in Wisconsin. If you have been watching what the economy has been doing to other liner companies, you know that they have been falling by the way side. All they can do is trucks, they simply aren’t versatile enough to do much more than that.
Vortex has expanded to a larger State of the Art facility in Wisconsin to meet the increase in demands for products needed by our Dealers. Vortex is the only 100% portable system on the market today. No ifs ands or buts about it.
Along with our Granitex system, Vortex can give you the greatest diversity of application in your coatings business. Whether it’s a truck, floor, roof, deck, restaurant floor, trailer, or anything else, only Vortex & Granitex can take care of every coating need.
Think about it:
100% portable
98% material transfer efficiency
5 times stronger than the competition
100’s of colors
up to 50% less material costs
Start your own business, or add to your existing business. Vortex & Granitex are great way to be your own boss.
PLUS… call now to see how you can generate a greater return on your investment with free material
The water in most basements is actually traveling through the concrete by passing thought the pores that make up 12% to 18% of your concrete’s volume. After concrete is poured, in order for it to dry, the water on the inside must work it’s way out. As it does this, it leaves behind a network of invisible capillaries that wind throughout the cement. Even after all of the original water from the concrete is gone, these pores remain in place and continue to move water through the process of diffusion.
Initially, most water that is passing through the pores is in the form of water vapor. Water vapor passes though pores much more readily than liquid water because it is not held back by cohesion (the attraction of a molecule to the same type of molecule). Liquid water tends to stick to itself and stay in globs. Over time, the concrete becomes more saturated with water molecules from the vapor continuously passing through the pores. The water saturating the concrete will begin to pull water from the outside via capillary action.
Just like rain water eroding a hill or a small river digging out the grand canyon, the water starts to make all of the pores in the concrete bigger. Since molecules will want to travel to areas of lower concentration by diffusion, installing a dehumidifier in a basement increases the rate that water passing though the pores and thus increasing the rate that the water will increase the size of the pores by dissolving and displacing lime and other minerals. Now you not only have more water than before, but you also have a bigger path for radon gas to enter your home.
What can be done to keep this from happening? The key is filling the pores to prevent water from traveling through the concrete. Super Sealer™ as mentioned in an earlier article, can penetrate the concrete’s surface, expands to fill capillaries, and hardens to prevent water passage. The best way to fix a problem is to stop it at the source. Save yourself the headaches over expensive drainage systems or radon mitigation systems by do getting to the root of the problem.
Some tires stain paints, coatings and floor tiles made from petroleum based products including: Epoxies, PVC, Urethanes, Acrylics, and others. The stain is caused by a material called 6PPD which is in some natural and synthetic rubber products to resist degradation by ozone and UV light. As well as a parent compound in vulcanization accelerators and in antioxidants for rubber industry. 6PPD helps improve a product’s chemical, heat, and electrical resistance by preventing oxidation of a product by becoming oxidized itself.
6PPD in tires will stain all tiles made from Flexible PVC regardless of the color or manufacturer. Since 6PPD is designed for use in so many rubbers, plastics and other polymers, once it has stained a surface made from one of these compatible compounds, it is going to become a permanent part of your floor. Short of removing or covering the coating or tile, there is not much you can do.
The best thing you can do for your floor if it’s going to be in contact with tires, is find something that won’t stain. Granitex III Glaze has been developed to resist staining from tires to keep garage floors looking like new.
How do I know that a Granitex coating will not chip, flake, or peel like other floor coatings? We showed you in an earlier article how our patented Super Sealer will be absorbed by the pores in the concrete to create a mechanical bond to the cement that won’t peel up like products that try to use a surface bond to adhere to concrete.
We applied a Granitex coating to a non-stick surface to test the Flexibility of Granitex without any surface to bond to. As you can see in the pictures below, Granitex coatings are incredibly flexible and won’t chip or flake like brittle epoxies or paints.
As you can see, the material can be flexed and shaped into many forms without showing any signs of cracking or weakening. Granitex is strong yet flexible.
Why do 99% of floor coatings fail? You sand, strip, clean, bead blast, soda blast, diamond grind and even use muriatic acid. The floor sill flakes, chips, sticks to your tires, stains, etc. Whether you use epoxy paint, polymer coating, or even acrylic coatings, they all begin to fail in as little as three to six months, some times even sooner. When everything fails, what can you do?
Well, Vortex™ & Granitex™ coatings have great news. Everything depends on your prep work. Even when you clean, sand, strip, and etch the floor, there is still something missing. Super Sealer™ is an exclusive patented product only from the Vortex™ company & only for Vortex™ dealers.
Here is how Super Sealer™ works. Once the floor or other surface has been properly cleaned, you mix together the Super Sealer™ two part mix then roll it on with a standard ⅜” nap roller. This will soak into the concrete and penetrate deep into the capillary network within the concrete. As the Super Sealer™ starts to cure by its thermal conducting process, it will expand into the pores of the concrete, giving it a strong chemical & mechanical bond. After twenty-four hours of cure time, the Super Sealer™ can be coated with either of our patented Vortex™ or Granitex™ coatings which become chemically bonded to the Super Sealer™.
Looking for a concrete floor coating for your garage floor? The first thing that comes to many people’s minds when they are looking for a garage floor covering is some type of an epoxy floor. At first, epoxy floor paint seems like a very economical solution for a floor coating, but if you come back a couple years later (sometimes even a year later). You will see that your garage floor finish is now cracking, flaking and/or pealing. To keep your floor looking good, you will have to recoat the floor several times.
Granitex is an incredible long term solution for garage floor coating that will outlast paints & epoxies. Over the life of this product, it will cost you much less in material and labor to have an incredible looking floor. Granitex is great for commercial flooring situations such as showroom floors, studios or car washes, as well as an industrial coating where chemical resistance is key. Imagine running a maintenance bay or machine shop and not worrying about another concrete stain with Granitex’s incredible stain resistance.
