We have an older home with some foundation issues, and thus our cement garage floor is cracked all to hell. I'm converting it to a gameroom of sorts and wanted to get some flooring put down. My original thought was an epoxy flooring, but had an epoxy flooring company out here to give me an estimate and the guy flat out said that anyone who tells you their epoxy flooring isn't just going to crack like the concrete the next time the foundation shifts is lying to you.

So I've been looking at alternatives. My failsafe is the PVC interlocking tiles, but I'm not a huge fan of how they look. Someone in a group I frequent mentioned Polyurea being an option, and how they've had theirs for years with no significant cracking at all -- but I also know they don't necessarily live in Texas with our kind of land.

Anyone have any suggestions/advice?

I can't speak to the cracked foundation you're applying to, but we've had a polyurea floor for 3 years now. It has been 100% without issue. We installed in a new build home before we moved in so take this with a grain of salt.

If I recall one of the benefits over epoxy is that the poly will flex somewhat, where epoxy is a rigid barrier. If your cracks shift, in theory the polyurea will 'hide' it better than epoxy, which will just visually crack.

When I did my own Sherwin Williams epoxy in last home it was fine, but there's a noticeable difference in what looks like a painted floor (epoxy) versus the polyurea coating in our current home. It too was a new build so my scenario is different.

All concrete floors crack, and I could see them in my epoxy floor. It was never an issue and the cracks visually could have been a long hair on the floor - there wasn't any height difference and you couldn't fit anything in the crack without first using a jackhammer.

Both are still scary as hell when turnning in with wet tires. It sounds and feels like you're going to slide into the car next to you or the wall, but your vehicle isn't actually sliding.

Epoxy yellows from any sun exposure.

Yes and no - polyurea or polyaspartics for floors will probably have about 10% elongation, which isnt much. It should be published data on the product you are looking at.

Either epoxy or polyurea will still show cracking if you have settling and foundation issues. The coatings solution would be a flexible epoxy with a scrim as an underlayment, then build your decorative system over it. This is not realistic to do in a home or garage, it is typically done for waterproofing on elevated floors. It isnt cheap.

Depending on how bad the cracks are and if they are dynamic or not, would determine your best move. Installers can route our the existing cracks and fill them with something rigid or semi-rigid to make a smooth floor. Knowing if you have much movement, it can still crack again. You go over it with a full flake floor that has a real busy look to it and will help hide small cracks that show through. You will know they are there, but overall, the floor still looks nice.

If you want a crack-free floor, your best option is probably to look at different options then coatings since you already know you have a decent amount of movement in the foundation.

Thanks for the detailed response. Yeah it really just comes down to if I want to go with the cheaper looking PVC interlocking tiles (Swisstrax is a company I've looked at - https://www.swisstrax.com/before-and-after-garages.html) that I know will just sit on top of the cracks and won't have an issue, or if I want to have a nicer looking floor but run the risk of constant cracking. This isn't our forever home, so not sure I want to put that much money into something that isn't going to last.

When such as this is phoned into The Money Pit, they always seem to guide the caller to
Floating Engineered Floors and L.L. Flooring options for game rooms, etc.

tgivaughn said:

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When such as this is phoned into The Money Pit, they always seem to guide the caller to
Floating Engineered Floors and L.L. Flooring options for game rooms, etc.

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Wtf?

https://www.llflooring.com/c/wood-engineered-hardwood/

https://www.moneypit.com/

As someone who sold epoxy and poly floor coatings, your epoxy guy told you 100% truth. Unless you've done something to repair structurally any defects will transfer through the rigid epoxy. I'd suggest sealing with a self leveling joint sealant like SL1 by BASF (used to be a sonneborn product) the coating poly over the top. Be cautious as these coatings generally get VERY slick when wet so consider broadcasting sand in the base coat before the top coat.