A new coating cannot be applied over a failing old coating — the old material must come off completely. Contractors in our network remove peeling, bubbling, or delaminated garage floor coatings for homeowners and businesses throughout Smyrna and Rutherford County before installing the new system.

Smyrna's modern identity traces to a single 1980 decision: Nissan chose a former Sewart Air Force Base site here for its first US assembly plant, and the runways and hangars from that decommissioned Cold War-era base still shape the town's street grid around the Rutherford County Airport today, a genuinely different origin story than the agricultural-town-turned-suburb pattern common elsewhere in the county. Stones River's West Fork cuts through the southern part of town, and the Sam Ridley Parkway corridor built to serve the plant's supplier network has driven a wave of industrial and warehouse construction whose impervious surface adds runoff that older residential drainage in Smyrna's original town core, dating to well before the plant arrived, was never sized for. The Sam Davis Home, a preserved 1810s farmstead on the town's southern edge, marks how much of Smyrna's ground was working farmland within living memory before the plant's arrival triggered residential build-out — a lot of that former farmland was leveled and drained for row-crop use decades before subdivision grading standards existed, and garages built on those old field boundaries sometimes still settle along the original furrow lines. Interstate 24's frontage, the main corridor connecting the plant to its supplier network, cut directly through several of the town's older creek drainages when it was built, and the culverts and grading from that construction still shape how water moves through nearby residential streets today.

Why Old Coatings Must Come Off

Applying a new coating over a failing old coating transfers the adhesion problem — the new coating bonds to the old coating, which is not bonded to the concrete. The result is that both layers fail, usually sooner than the original coating did. Proper removal and preparation is the only way to ensure the new coating achieves the mechanical bond with the concrete that makes it last.

How Old Coatings Are Removed

Diamond grinding removes failing coating material and profiles the concrete surface simultaneously. This is faster than chemical stripping and produces a better surface profile for re-coating. Once the old material is removed and the concrete is profiled, the floor is ready for new coating installation. Your contractor will assess the concrete condition after removal and flag any cracks or spalls that need repair before the new system goes down.

Have Questions?

Not sure what coating is right for your floor? Describe what you're looking for and a local pro will walk you through the options and give you a clear price.

Call (615) 882-1954

This content is reviewed by the Tennessee Garage Floor Coating editorial team and informed by licensed-contractor sourcing, manufacturer documentation, and established industry standards for Garage Floor Coating. Read our editorial standards.