That time I bought a 'magic' spray-on curing compound

I remember about eight years back, a sales rep came to the site pushing this new spray-on curing compound. He swore it would cut our cure time in half and give a finish like glass. I was running a big garage floor job in Spokane and was behind schedule, so I bit. Spent nearly $400 on a case of the stuff. First spray, it went on blotchy and dried way too fast, leaving these awful light patches. We had to go back over half the floor with a standard membrane cure just to save it, adding a full day of labor. The finish was never even, and the client noticed. Lost the cost of the product plus a day's pay for two guys. It was a hard lesson in sticking with what you know works. Anyone else get burned by a 'miracle' product that was all hype?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew71mo ago

We had a similar thing happen with a fast set epoxy patch on a warehouse floor in Tacoma. My foreman insisted we try it to fix some cracks before a big inspection. It set up so fast we couldn't even trowel it smooth, and we had to grind the whole mess down. After that, we went back to our old standard mix and just planned for the extra dry time. Sometimes the old way is just the right way.

vera_dixon891mo ago

Oh man, that fast set stuff is no joke. My cousin tried using some on his driveway and ended up with a lumpy mess that looked worse than the crack. He said it was like racing against the sun.