“Home Improvements….Which Is the Best One?…the Garage!” ~ John Loughlin

WPRO’s John Loughlin explains why he considers the addition of a DiStefano Brothers’ concrete floor coating in his garage the best home improvement.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;18;14

You know, I look around my home and I think about the things that I’ve invested in for improvements to my home. And I wonder which is which is the best one out of all the things that we put hardwood floors in. I ripped out an old zero clearance fireplace and built an enclosure with with granite that came from kitchen and countertop.

00;00;18;14 – 00;00;35;06

Now know it came from the quality tile down in the place family. I bought a piece of granite to be able to add in that. That’s nice and it’s good and we enjoy it. But out of all of them, it’s the garage. Why would you say that, John? Because, you know, I was one of these. I was that guy.

00;00;35;07 – 00;00;55;13

I was the guy who went out and bought the muriatic acid, which you can buy in a hardware store. Why they sell this stuff? I don’t know. And did this thing called etching the garage floor. Right. And it’s not like making an etching of ducks flying over a pond. You put on rubber boots and you spread this acid on your garage floor and you move it around with a broom, and then you get a garden hose and hose it out.

00;00;55;16 – 00;01;14;15

And that supposedly preps the concrete in the garage floor to be able to accept paint. And then I would go to the big box store, the either nose or Home Depot, and I would buy the two part epoxy and I put the two part epoxy down with the little flakes. And I will tell you, the floor looked spectacular.

00;01;14;18 – 00;01;31;01

And then the first thing you notice is after about a week is that wherever the cars were parked in the garage and I’m one these people does put my car in the garage. Big Blue sits there to keep it out of the weather because it can’t be getting wet at its age. So I noticed when the cars came out, it would pick up the paint in the shape of the tire tracks.

00;01;31;01 – 00;01;47;04

And I learned later that’s because when you’re driving, your tire heats up, right? And things heat up, they expand. And when you park in the garage, it cools over time. And as it cools, it contracts and it literally pulls the epoxy off the garage floor, then you start noticing other things. And before you know it, you’re about six months into it and your garage floor looks awful.

00;01;47;07 – 00;02;00;06

You did all that work, all and now you don’t know what to do. Do I somehow try and get the old coating off? Do I put another coating on it? Do I get it? Do I have to do the acid thing again? And it’s just round and round we go. And I could never be satisfied with how the garage floor came out.

00;02;00;08 – 00;02;16;13

Then I had, as we call it, an epiphany. I was visiting a friend in Florida. Actually he was he was transporting his car from Florida to Rhode Island, and he asked me, a guy from church, he said, Can you help me drive the car from Florida? Is that sure? If you’re buying the drinks in the airfare, I’m in.

00;02;16;15 – 00;02;36;17

And I noticed his garage floor was absolutely spectacular. So I went, How old is this garage? He said, it’s been like this since I bought the house. And I learned that it’s a coating called poly urea. Poly aspartic, which is not epoxy. It’s completely different. So I looked around for a company here in Rhode Island that knew this technology, and I found DiStefano brothers, concrete coatings.

00;02;36;17 – 00;02;55;16

These guys are spectacular. So they came out to do a free estimate and I showed them like the remnants of the last time he did the garage floor. By now, by the time they came, it was just like in places that nobody walked in. You could tell that I did it. Everything else was just garbage. Big Blue, which leaks Oil had stained the floor and soaked into the concrete.

00;02;55;19 – 00;03;11;04

And they looked at and they said, Yep, we can fix this. And so in one day they came out with this thing that looked like a Zamboni. It had giant vacuum cleaner on it, and it draws a lot of power. And so they don’t even use your power. They bring your own generator to generate their own power so they’re not running off your house power.

00;03;11;06 – 00;03;34;05

And they came out and they ran the Zamboni over the garage floor. And I later learned it’s like a diamond blade. And it literally takes off the first like 16th of an inch of concrete to get all of that coating that you’re trying to get out with the muriatic acid off. Then they apply the Polish Espada coating down and they sprinkle flakes on it, and then they put the pile of urea on top of that and they let the whole thing dry.

00;03;34;05 – 00;03;49;04

And I will tell you, the floor, it was like four years ago they did my floor, my garage floor looks as good today as it did when they left. The only thing it’s on me is cleaning it. And the best way to clean it, I found, is with a leaf blower. I take the leaf blower. It takes care of all the dust and leaves it blowing the garage.

00;03;49;06 – 00;04;10;02

And then I use a wet mop with just Mr. Clean not to plug any particular brand in the floor. Looks like it was done yesterday and I derive so much utility from that garage floor. It really is spectacular. And you can do the same thing if you call DiStefano brothers. Their phone number is 256-1196. That’s 256-1196. Have them come out.

00;04;10;03 – 00;04;36;29

Take a look at it. They’re in Wakefield. But they drove, as we say, in Rhode Island all the way to Tiverton to do my garage floor. And it really looks spectacular when you call them, ask them, is there any place I can see what some of these floors look like? One of these polish really smart floors look like and if you’re a veteran and you use the VA hospital, if you use the parking garage in the VA hospital, the floors in the elevator, lobbies in the parking garage are the same thing you’re going to get in your garage.

00;04;37;02 – 00;04;55;20

And it looks that good. So you can tell right away that this is a transformational concept. And I really feel like that added a tremendous amount of value to that floor. You walk into that garage floor and it really looks great, you know, especially if I’ve got company coming over, I’ll take the time to leaf blower it and get the I got a hot mop.

00;04;55;23 – 00;05;12;23

I take my hot mop and just mop it down with hot water and Mr. Clean and let it dry and it smells nice to get that nice minty fresh to it. But give DiStefano brothers a call it 2561196. They can do the same thing for patios and they also offer solutions for storage in the garage. I’m not a shelf guy.

00;05;12;23 – 00;05;33;00

I don’t like Shelf shelves always look messy no matter what you do. I put up cabinets, but they’ve got specially designed cabinets, they’ve got solutions to hanging tools, all that stuff. Everything you need can be obtained right at DiStefano Brothers again, Right. This phone number down to 256-1196 or visit DBconcretecoatings.com 

About John

John Loughlin is a radio host, political analyst, and former state representative. He is the host of The John Loughlin Show on WPRO Radio in Providence, Rhode Island, which airs Saturdays from 11am to 2pm. He is also a frequent contributor to WJAR-TV (NBC) as a political analyst.

Loughlin is a former three-term Republican state representative who served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 2006 to 2010. He also served as a combat helicopter pilot in the Army Reserve and was mobilized for tours in Bosnia and Iraq. He retired from the reserves as a lieutenant colonel.

Loughlin is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island and the New England School of Communications. He is married with two daughters.

In addition to his work in radio and television, Loughlin is also a business owner and consultant. He is the owner of Loughlin Productions, a television, radio, and film production company. He is also a consultant to businesses and organizations on a variety of topics, including public relations, marketing, and crisis communications.

Loughlin is a well-known and respected figure in Rhode Island politics and media. He is known for his sharp wit, his deep knowledge of Rhode Island issues, and his ability to engage his audience in thought-provoking discussions.