Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
02-05-2026
Watch the video to learn how you can avoid a flooring failure on your next industrial project:
Often when flooring companies conduct site visits of industrial facilities, it is after a floor has already failed. Blisters, cracks, peeling, and delamination don’t happen randomly; they are usually the result of a few preventable missteps made before or during installation.
Across industries and environments, the same root causes appear. Understanding these common flooring failures can help facility managers, design teams, and contractors avoid costly downtime, repairs, and premature replacement.
Here are the top five flooring failures Stonhard encounters, and how to prevent them.
1. Moisture in the Concrete Slab
The failure: Blistering, bubbling, and delamination of the flooring system.
One of the most common issues seen in concrete slabs is excessive moisture. This often occurs in newly-poured concrete that hasn’t fully dried internally, or in older slabs that lack an effective vapor barrier beneath them.
Many installers assume standard drying times are sufficient and skip proper moisture testing. Unfortunately, moisture trapped inside the slab creates osmotic pressure that pushes against the flooring system from below, eventually causing visible failure.
According to the industry standard ASTM F2170, excessive moisture inside a concrete slab is a well-documented cause of flooring failures such as adhesive breakdown, debonding, and coating deterioration. This standard also underscores the importance of conducting in-situ relative humidity testing before a flooring installation so installers and designers can evaluate moisture conditions accurately.[1]
Your flooring contractor should:
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Perform Relative Humidity (RH) testing before installation. This is the most reliable way to measure moisture inside the slab.
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If RH readings are high, a moisture-mitigation or osmotic-pressure–resistant system will be installed.
Relative humidity (RH) testing ensures concrete moisture levels are verified before flooring installation to prevent future bonding failures and coating delamination.
2. Poor Substrate Preparation
The failure: Adhesion loss, peeling, and premature wear.
No flooring system can perform if it cannot properly bond to the substrate beneath it. Unfortunately, concrete is often not adequately prepared prior to installation.
Common mistakes include:
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Failing to remove weak surface layers (laitance)
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Leaving dust and debris after prep
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Not addressing oil, chemical, or process contamination
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Creating an insufficient surface profile for bonding
Your flooring contractor should:
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Inspect the substrate against Surface Preparation Standards.
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Mechanically prepare the surface using shot blasting, grinding, or scarifying.
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Ensure the substrate is clean, dry, profiled, and contaminant-free.
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Properly treat cracks and remove all dust before installation begins.
Inadequate surface preparation prevents the flooring system from properly bonding to the concrete, leading to early adhesion failure.
3. The Wrong Flooring System for the Environment
The failure: Chemical damage, wear-through, thermal-shock cracking, or performance breakdown. Even a perfectly installed floor will fail if the system was not designed for the conditions it faces.
Each space has unique demands:
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Traffic levels
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Chemical exposure
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Temperature changes
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Cleaning methods
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Moisture conditions
When these factors aren’t evaluated, the floor simply isn’t equipped to handle the environment.
Your flooring contractor should:
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Match the flooring chemistry and system configuration to the operational environment.
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Consider long-term exposure, not just initial appearance.
4. Improper Joint and Crack Treatment
The failure: Reflective cracking, delamination, and system breakdown along joints.
Concrete moves. Expansion joints, control joints, and isolation joints exist for a reason -- to accommodate slab movement from temperature shifts, shrinkage, and load stress.
We often see floors installed directly over these joints without properly honoring and sealing them. As the slab moves, the flooring system cracks or separates.
Your contractor should:
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Identify all structural joints before installation.
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Use flexible sealants where movement is expected.
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Properly detail joints so the flooring system can move with the substrate instead of fighting against it.
Proper joint identification and detailing helps the flooring system move with the substrate and prevents premature cracking or failure.
5. Skipping Proper Evaluation Before Installation
The failure: A combination of all the above.
Many flooring failures stem from rushing the process. When substrate evaluation, moisture testing, contamination checks, and environmental assessments are skipped, problems are almost guaranteed to surface later.
Facility managers and design teams should ask their flooring provider:
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How will you evaluate my substrate before installation?
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What testing will be performed?
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How do you ensure the system is suited for my specific environment?
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What steps are taken to prevent long-term failures?
The answers to these questions often determine whether a floor lasts years or fails within months.
Prevention Happens Before Installation
Flooring failures are rarely caused by the material itself. They are usually the result of moisture issues, poor preparation, improper detailing, or incorrect product selection.
The single best way to prevent failure is proper substrate evaluation and preparation before choosing and installing a flooring system. Each step is equally important, and skipping any one of them can compromise long-term performance.
At Stonhard, we don’t just install floors, we manufacture them for your environment. We inspect, test, and prepare your concrete so that your Stonhard floor will last and perform for the long haul.
About Stonhard
Stonhard is the unprecedented world leader in manufacturing and installing high-performance polymer floor, wall and lining systems. Stonhard maintains 300 territory managers and 200 application teams worldwide who will work with you on design specification, project management, final walk-through and service after the sale. Stonhard’s single-source warranty covers both products and installation.
Contact us to learn more about our precision installation methods and specialized products.
About The Author
Jose Fernandez Duran
Product Engineer
Jose is a Product Engineer for Stonhard with primary responsibilities in product testing and trials while also managing Stonhard's Stoncrete and Stonres product lines. Jose graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.
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