Click to open expanded view
Resin Calculator
Select a system and enter your project size.
What's actually going on inside your slab.
Concrete looks solid. It isn't. Every slab is full of tiny connected pores, and ground moisture underneath it is constantly wicking up through those pores and evaporating off the top surface. You can't see it happening on bare concrete because the vapor just leaves.
Put a coating down and that changes. The vapor still arrives at the surface, but now there's an epoxy film in the way. Pressure builds underneath. Eventually it wins, and you get bubbles, blisters, or a sheet of coating that peels off in one piece with white powder on the back.
Contractors call it a coating failure. It's really a slab problem that the coating just happened to reveal.
Where a moisture barrier fits
There are two kinds of moisture barrier for concrete, and they solve the problem at different points in time.
The first is plastic sheeting, rolled out on the gravel before the concrete is poured. Cheap and effective, but only available to you on the day of the pour. Once the slab exists, that option is gone forever.
The second is a topical barrier: a two-part epoxy applied directly to the cured slab that seals the pores and stops vapor at the surface. That's what MVB Fast Cure 2:1 is. It's the only kind that helps on a slab that's already poured, which describes almost every commercial floor you'll ever be asked to coat.
The number that matters, in plain English.
Barrier performance is measured in "perms". Think of it as a leak rate. Lower is better, and the industry line for a Class I vapor retarder sits at 0.10 perms.
MVB Fast Cure 2:1 is formulated on an improved moisture vapor suppression chemistry that independent third-party testing that delivers perm ratings below 0.10 on properly prepared concrete. That's the chemistry underneath our product.
Here's the part most suppliers don't test for:
Why pigment is the hidden variable
Adding color to a moisture barrier can wreck its barrier performance. Pigment particles disrupt how the film forms and can open pathways for vapor that weren't there in the clear version. It's a known problem in the industry, and it's the reason most moisture barriers ship clear.
So we had it checked. An independent certified third-party lab cast films of our pigmented grey formula alongside films of the neat clear reference system and ran water vapor transmission testing on both over seven days.
Recommended for You
60 Years Experience
Company Mission
McKinnon Materials is dedicated to providing the highest quality decorative concrete products available along with a corresponding level of technical service to ensure premium performance. We offer innovative decorative concrete solutions founded on experience.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
!