Routine care
- Dust mop or soft broom weekly. Grit is what dulls a floor — it acts as an abrasive under tyres and feet.
- Damp mop monthly with warm water and a little pH-neutral cleaner.
- Wipe spills reasonably promptly. The coating is chemical resistant, not chemical proof.
- Mats under jack stands and bike stands. Point loads on hard plastic or steel are the most common source of dents.
What to avoid
| Avoid | Why |
|---|---|
| Citrus or pine-based cleaners | Break down the topcoat over time and leave residue |
| Bleach and ammonia | Can dull the gloss, particularly if left to sit |
| Soft rubber mats left in place | Plasticizers migrate and can stain the coating permanently |
| Steel wool or abrasive pads | Scratches the topcoat |
| Dragging steel toolboxes | Gouges. Lift or use castors |
| Parking before full cure | Permanent tyre marking, not warranty covered |
The rubber mat problem catches people out. A soft rubber mat left on a coated floor for months can leave a yellow-brown stain that penetrates the topcoat and does not clean off. If you want a mat, use one rated as non-staining for coated floors, and lift it occasionally.
Brine — the Reno maintenance job
This is the big one here. Every winter trip over the passes or up to Mt Rose brings magnesium chloride brine home in your wheel wells, and it melts onto the slab and sits there. Rinse the floor a few times across the season — ten minutes with a hose or a squeegee. Salt sitting on any coating is hard on it, and it is brutal on the bare concrete at the threshold where the coating ends.
Our warranty
Written, given to you on completion, covering delamination and adhesion failure under normal residential use. What it covers and excludes in plain terms:
Covered
- Peeling or delamination from our prep or application
- Hot tire pickup on a correctly cured floor
- Topcoat failure not caused by abuse
- Workmanship defects
Not covered
- Impact damage from dropped objects
- Damage from parking before the stated cure time
- Staining from rubber mats or spilled chemicals left to sit
- New substrate movement or structural cracking
- Moisture failure where testing was declined
That last exclusion is why we push moisture testing so hard. If the slab is never measured, nobody can establish afterwards whether it was suitable — and you carry that.
A realistic maintenance schedule
| Frequency | Task |
|---|---|
| Weekly | Dust mop or soft broom. This is the one that matters most |
| Monthly | Damp mop with warm water and pH-neutral cleaner |
| Quarterly | Check threshold and perimeter for chips; check door seal condition |
| Annually | Inspect for any lifting or dulling; lift and reposition mats |
| Year 10–15 | Topcoat refresh while the colour coat is still intact |
Grit is the enemy and sweeping is the whole defence. Sand and dust ground under a tyre act as abrasive, and in this area there is always fine grit blowing in. A floor swept weekly will outlast an identical floor swept twice a year by a wide margin.
Dealing with specific spills
| Spill | What to do | Urgency |
|---|---|---|
| Motor oil, coolant | Absorb, then degreaser rated for resin floors, rinse | Within a day |
| Brake fluid | Wipe immediately, then wash | Immediately — aggressive |
| Battery acid | Neutralise with baking soda, rinse thoroughly | Immediately |
| Paint | Wipe wet. If cured, gentle plastic scraper only | While wet |
| Road salt slurry | Rinse with water | Within a few days |
| Pet accidents | Wipe and wash; the coating is sealed | Routine |
Why rubber mats stain
Worth explaining because people do not believe it until it happens. Soft rubber and vinyl contain plasticizers — additives that keep the material flexible. Over time those migrate out of the mat, and where the mat sits against a resin floor they migrate into the topcoat.
The result is a yellow-brown stain in the exact shape of the mat, and because it has migrated into the coating rather than sitting on it, cleaning does not remove it. The fix is sanding and recoating that area.
If you want a mat, buy one specifically rated non-staining for coated floors, and lift it every few months. The same applies to jack stands with rubber pads and to cheap floor tiles.
What to do if you spot a problem
- Photograph it early. A dated photo of a small issue is useful evidence if it grows.
- Do not attempt a repair yourself. A patch done with the wrong product makes the proper repair harder and can void warranty coverage.
- Call us. Small problems caught early are usually a quick fix.
- Note what changed. New vehicle, new mat, new cleaning product, irrigation alteration. Cause is often recent.
Warranty in practice
Warranties in this trade are only as good as the documentation behind them. Ours is written, handed over on completion, and it records the specific system installed, the preparation method, and the moisture test result. That last item is what makes it enforceable — a warranty that excludes substrate moisture while never establishing what the substrate moisture was is not really a warranty at all.
Keep your copy. If you sell the house, hand it to the buyer; it transfers, and it is a reasonable selling point.
Common questions
What's the best cleaner for a coated floor?
Warm water with a small amount of pH-neutral floor cleaner. That's genuinely it for routine work.
For oil or grease, a degreaser rated safe for resinous floors, rinsed off rather than left. Avoid anything citrus or pine based — they're marketed as gentle but they attack the topcoat.
Can I pressure wash it?
Yes, at moderate pressure with a wide fan tip held well back. It's a good way to clean a garage floor quickly.
What to avoid is a narrow tip held close, especially at edges and any repair line. Concentrated pressure can lift a coating at a termination point even when the field is perfectly sound.
What if something goes wrong after you've finished?
Call us. Warranty work is handled directly and we'd rather look at something small early than a bigger problem later.
Even where an issue falls outside the warranty — impact damage, a mat stain — we'll tell you what it would take to fix and quote it honestly rather than pretending it can't be repaired.
Ready for a floor that survives a Sierra winter?
Free on-site measure, honest assessment of your slab, and a written quote you can hold us to.