Sticker Pull Repair – Dallas, TX

This floor was damaged from a sticker decal that pulled off the stain and sealer from the floor.This popular concert venue hosts big name bands and their floors receive large amounts of foot traffic every year. They utilize the easy to maintain and durability characteristics of decorative concrete floors. We came in and blended colors of the floor with some acrylics, buffed, and waxed the entire floor. We were able to successfully blend in the colors to hide the damaged acid stained floor and rejuvenate its finish. The management staff was so impressed with the work that we will be starting a complete remodel of their floors in 2012! We cant wait! Should be a fun project!

Acid Stain Repair Before and After
Acid Stain Repair Before and After

Technical terms for what causes tape pull with acrylic sealers –

All tapes have plastizers in them. The plasticizers migrate in order to bond to various types of surfaces. Blue tape has a lower degree of plastizers than standard masking tape or duct tape; but, when it comes to applying them directly over an acid stained and sealed surface (including those that are waxed), it still has the potential to cause “tape pull up” (even more so if the sealer was a low resin solid solvent or water based acrylic). Acid stain manufacturers market their formulations based on the ability to react with the concrete (as it does); however, many allude to their formulations deeply penetrating into the substrate that is not in fact the case; therefore, it becomes a chain reaction when tape is applied (wax bonds to the sealer, sealer is bonding to the concrete, with the acid stain probably not penetrating more than 1-2 mils (if even that, depending on the porosity and finish of the concrete itself) …the plasticizers in the tape fuse to the wax/sealer acid stain “or” sealer/acid stain (which is even more prone to tape pull up), resulting in the perfect image of where the tape was placed when it is pulled up (the longer the tape is left on the surface, especially if over 20-30 minutes, the more damage will be likely to occur).

 

Suggest you also refer to ASTM D3359-08 Standard Test Method for Measuring Adhesion by Tape Test … standard test used in the sealers, coatings, paints, etc industry to determine the degree of adhesion when tape has been applied to them under lab conditions over a specific period of time. Important note: certain formulations of sealers/coatings have a hiigher degree of adhesion and bond strength (such as 100% solids/high build epoxies, high solid aliphatic urethanes, and polyaspartic aliphatic polyureas). It must be kept in mind that the ASTM tests are performed over idential testing panels … not taking into account the rate of adhesion and bond strength as associated with concrete that may have varying degrees of profiles, porosity, possible contaminates from foreign matter (be it visible or invisable), may not have been properly prepared, actual integrity of the concrete itself may have been compromised in som way, or other site specific variables that will have a bearing on the “tape pull off (plasticierr) issue” as well.