“I would say some of the biggest problems we had were finding just a huge assortment of over the counter products that promise to finish, revitalize the tile, seal, everything as you know, it said on the box. But, with it being an exterior application, we just ran into a lot of issues with things not adhering to the tile good enough. The sheen not holding up.

So when it came time to look for a product, I kind of reached out and spread my search out across Florida. I came across Covertec that had a product called GlazeGuard^®.

And you know, after talking to Charles, the owner up there, he sounded very educated and excited to work with us on this product, and we gave it a shot.

We had three tile patios that were actually in bad shape and needed to be sealed. And also one of the biggest problems was leaking into the living space underneath the tile patio.

So with that being said, we were trying to eliminate possibly spending close to $10,000 to re-do the deck. That was obviously the end all solution to this. But, what we found is with Covertec and the GlazeGuard® product, that we could seal it, revitalize the entire patio.

So not only did it look like a brand new tile once we cleaned everything and finished, it has sealed and completely kept the living space dry, which was again, the biggest problem. So this was a double double win for you guys on this one.

First and foremost, the [GlazeGuard®] product we worked with was extremely user-friendly. It was very forgiving, especially in the climate that we were using it.I’ve ended up installing this product because it was in direct sunlight, more in the evening. So the tile still had been in the sun during the day. It was covered but it was warm.

Typically with a finishing product, whether it’s a hardwood re-finish or an oil based finish, temperature is something that makes it very difficult to work with… and will give you marks where your roller left a a heavy end, brush strokes, things like that.

With the three part mix to this product, which was very simple… you know, one part of each, the leveling compound, I think gave us just an absolute flawless finish after everything was settled and cured. Because like I said, it was pretty warm when we were putting it on the tile. So that was my first, kind of nervous feeling about it. And after we put on that first coat, stepped away and came back, it was flawless.

For homeowners, or anyone that wants to DIY this, if you have a paint-brush, a good roller, and just the ability to get the tile very clean – which there’s many products out there that can get you to that point – it’s an easy product to work with.

So I would say anyone can accomplish what a professional tile reseal job would look like.”

“Hi, I’m Zach.

I’m a swimming pool and paving, waterproofing membrane contractor in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I have installed hundreds of thousands of square feet of brick pavers, stamp concrete and other types of decorative coatings on concrete, whether it be parking garages, driveways or suspended deck applications for condominiums. All of which, have inherent problems with keeping the resiliency of the concrete, and the shine enhancement of the brick pavers long lasting.

Usually in the industry, there are two types of sealers, either acrylic-based or water-based. I’ve used them both. The acrylic is better than the water-based in terms of longevity that you can expect out of it. But even with the better one – the acrylic paint products – you can’t expect much more than maybe a year – year and a half – before you get some form of ultraviolet degregation to where it minimizes the appearance of the pavers.

So in contacting Charles Idowu at CoverTec, I told him I had these problems, and he introduced me to a product called GlazeGuard®. Which of course, I was leery about because everybody that has the so-called “perfect solution for everything”, [which] normally turn out to be not that great.

Anyway, I tried this product on my own driveway first, and I have a stamp concrete driveway. And quite frankly, I was thoroughly amazed.

I did this product about three years ago. Actually, more like five years ago, and I’m going to re-do it now. It doesn’t even look that bad now, but it’s held up about five times longer than anything I’ve ever seen. And I mean shiny looking, resistant to gasoline and oil spills. You can clean up with a Kleenex. It’s a spectacular product.

You know… proof’s in the pudding. I wanted to use it on my own house before I went crazy and started selling it to other people, with me [having] the liability. And the end-result is that product is the best sealer I’ve ever seen anywhere. And I’ve been in this business for 45 years.

I had an issue where a commercial pool had a water-wall installed in Miami. And the stone that was used [probably] shouldn’t have been used in the environment that it was engineered to work, as water was running over the water wall. It was more like a shale-type product – a red shale. And the shale would chip and start to emulsify due to the constant running of water, which ended up in the pool.

Whatever type of glazing was used on the stone to try to prevent this degradation and erosion from occurring failed within a month. So rather than the customer looking to have the entire wall replaced, which was an extremely huge wall (probably 20 feet high, 75 feet alone… probably a half a million dollar type installation.)

I called Charles Idowu, owner of CoverTec, and told him the problem. He recommended a product called GlazeGuard®. And it was because of the condition of the shale stone being so raggedy, you couldn’t apply it with a brush because of the indentations on the stone, you couldn’t get deep enough. So he recommended we spray it. He used an airless sprayer, and applied it throughout the entire square footage of the wall.

We applied two coats of it, only because I wasn’t sure if even one would work, let alone two. So, I did it with two coats. It exemplified the aesthetics of the wall tremendously by enhancing the red shale.

But more importantly, when the water was running over, now it remains intact. No erosion of the shale. No more chips. No more powder-ish condition in the pool, and it has been that way for three years. And last time I, as I said earlier, it lasted a month.

So I don’t know what he does on what magic “foo-foo” juice he uses in this material. But, it is spectacular stuff. I can vouch for that for sure.

I wanted to tell you a little bit of a testimonial on a product that we used from CoverTec owned by Charles Idowu.

We had a condition at the Biltmore hotel. It’s a very famous hotel down in Miami. I am a pool contractor, deck coating and waterproofing type guy.

I’ve been in business for about 45 years, and the manager at the Biltmore, I had known from previous appointments I’ve had with him at his previous locations throughout the time I’ve had here in Florida, which I said is quite substantial.

He had a condition in his bathrooms at the Biltmore where they had installed what was called Jerusalem stone on the bathroom floors. And as you know, in every hotel, you’re supposed to put the shower curtain on the inside of the tub, and the other one on the outside of the tub. And no one worries about that because it’s not their property and they could care less.

Well, obviously the water went all over the bathroom floors, and ended up on the bathroom or living room area of the floor underneath, wherever the water hit from the showers.

Through many attempts, [they tried] different type coatings throughout the years.Mundo Perez, who was the manager at the time, called me and said “hey, you know, [we’ve] got a huge problem here. What can we do?”

Again, with problems like this, I usually refer to Charles Idowu, owner of CoverTec, and I told him the problem. He actually went to the facility with me. We did a little test area of a spot that we knew was definitively leaking before they spent money to do 300 hotel rooms, and it worked well.

We still had some leaking, but I said “you know, we can’t justify the test if we don’t do at least one [whole] bathroom.” We did a little four by four square, obviously ran water off the test area, and the other is ever leak.

So we did the whole floor, and this is probably about five or six years ago. And it (GlazeGuard® Gloss) eliminated the problem completely.

So, Charles came up from Florida. We had set up a training day with Ken Horton. And we contacted a lot of people in the industry in the area, and just offered them these classes for a nominal price.

Just come on down. Let’s learn about these awesome products that we’ve got available. [Ones ] we could add to our ensemble, and just get the training on what the products are about and how to use them.

I was always intimidated with putting floor surfaces down. I thought they were going to be really difficult to do, and really easy to mess up. And when I out, it was just the opposite of that.

Getting the training and the hands on experience is the biggest thing for me. I could read stuff and I can watch videos all I want. But when I got the hands on training, actually applying the surfaces on my own, that’s the golden ticket there. And so that let me know, “hey, I can handle this on my own”. And I’m looking forward to adding these types of coatings to my business.

They were concerned, obviously [about] the aesthetics of the Jerusalem stone, which is extremely expensive stuff, and that it was not going to be hindered in any way.

It (GlazeGuard® Gloss) went on relatively white, but turns clear so it didn’t affect the color of the Jerusalem stone, and it worked tremendously.

Now, since the time this has been done, Mr. Perez has moved on to another facility, but I did see him recently within the last year at his new location. I asked him about the Biltmore. He said “you know, he’s in contact with them a lot, and that stuff’s still working.”

So this is 6 years of continual wetness – flooding practically. If you don’t know about Biltmore, it looks almost like the Sistine Chapel. In some rooms that are the ceilings and some of these places. And it (water) was damaging that as it was going through several layers of to get to that (the ceiling). Obviously that would be catastrophic to them. So, this (GlazeGuard® Gloss) worked.

And again, I don’t know what the heck he (Charles Idowu) puts in his materials, but it’s something that he’s not going to tell me about, and it works tremendously.

Regarding CoverTec, and I think more so now I want to talk about Charles himself. Many times, especially with a big coatings manufacturer, the personal touch isn’t there.

Charles is hands on, and he physically will get in the dirt, and get his gloves on, work boots and pants, and get wet and get dirty. He’s extremely good. His followup is tremendous.

But the point that he can actually go to the sites with you if it’s a serious enough issue is worth his weight in gold. He’s a true professional.”

“I go into facilities where they have old worn out floors that may be 20 or 30 years old.

They’re considering replacing them, which is a fairly big project for them. It would be a major renovation.  So I propose to come in and restore their floors to make them look new again, versus replacement.

I can come in and change the color of the ceramic tile or a porcelain tile completely or I can renew it [and] re-grout. I have a pigmented sealers that I can apply into the ground to change the color of the grout, and I use Covertec Products for the final finish. It’s the icing on the cake.

I can re-do the floor, cleaning as good as I can, and I can seal permanently with a GlazeGuard® Gloss, GlazeGuard® Satin or GlazeGuard® Matte. And it really adds that new look to the floor.

I researched a lot of different products. A lot of different urethanes. A lot of different micro coatings, [etc.] You name it. I’ve tried it out in different areas. And none of the products that I researched performed nearly as well, not anywhere close to GlazeGuard®.

GlazeGuard® does what it says. And the way that it bonds to the ceramic… it bonds to porcelain… it bonds to almost any type of surface that you want to put it on.  Just make sure that you prep desk surface correctly. It will bond, and it performs just like Charles [Idowu] says it does.

There’s quite a few benefits after I apply GlazeGuard® [to] the floor. The number one that hits most people is the wow factor.

So they go onto the floor. Say it’s a restroom or a kitchen, commercial kitchen or commercial restroom.

They go in there the following morning, when I was restoring the floor the previous night, and overnight I have a new-looking floor.

When they walk into the room, the first [thing] is aesthetically it looks new again. It looks new. It pops. And it gives them the wow factor.  So, that’s the number one goal. That’s the goal for the first impression that they get.

But aside from that, they also have a lot of a sanitary benefits.

I’m in a commercial flooring, um, mostly restrooms. So we all know the liquids, and the spills, and everything associated with a restroom floor, especially in a commercial environment.

The coating – GlazeGuard® – protects the grout so that all those spills, splashes and liquids don’t make their way into the grout.

Bare grout will readily absorb any liquid that hits it, if it’s not properly sealed. Most places will go with an impregnating type stealer, which is fine and good. But the ultimate seal is a topical sealant that you can apply, and that will stay there for years and years and years. And GlazeGuard® does that.

So, not only is it the wow factor as far as looks go, it (GlazeGuard®) makes the floor non-porous, so it doesn’t absorb any liquids any longer.

In a lot of cases the slip-resistance is better than it was before.  [This is] because you’re removing all the old contaminants, and the floor is now squeaky clean with the, with the coating. And the slip coefficient is better after the fact.

Not only that, the smells associated with a commercial kitchen or commercial restroom are no longer an issue. [That’s] because all of those surfaces absorb contaminants throughout the years, [and] is now a prepped and sealed off, and any spills can be easily wiped up.

There probably is – over the long term – reduction in the long term maintenance costs. Typically in a commercial environment, floors are maintained quarterly. They do a heavy machine scrub a quarterly, whether it’s the janitorial company or an outside contractor. They may be able to lower that to once or twice a year, versus four times a year.

I do know that the daily upkeep that the janitorial company would do – while they still need to do those steps – the results they’re achieving are much better because of the coating. (GlazeGuard®) It’s so much easier to clean than the existing floor.

[With regard to] the ceramic and grout, they can work all they want with a string mop, and they don’t get the best of results. But if the coating is in place, any soiling that happens on the coating mops away [easily].

I do granite, any kind of natural stone, marble, terrazzo, LVT, VCT, sheet vinyl… pretty much any kind of hard surface that you walk on. Charles [Idowu] has helped me out with a number of those since the time I’ve known him.

I had a client that had an interior space, large commercial space, and he has a polished concrete floor polished to a smooth gloss finish. And he was having issues over the years after he got it polished. It was just looking dull and kind of worn out. It wasn’t holding up too well. So instead of going through the expense of re-polishing the floor, we were able to prep the floor, clean it basically, thoroughly and apply [the product].

The one that that comes to mind is actually GlazeGuard® exterior. We applied GlazeGuard® to some exterior paver stones. And we were able to darken up the stone a little bit because that’s exterior, and it had a little bit of a washed out look.

The GlazeGuard® was able to give the colors a little bit more vibrancy, brightened them up and [made them] look nice. [It also gave it] water repellency and just a nice fresh look to it.

CoverTec has such a pretty large variety of coatings.  Do a little bit of research. Contact them. Ask for their recommendation for your particular situation. Think about what you’re trying to achieve by putting the coating on the surface. Then follow their recommendation. That means not just of what product to use, but also the prep process.

Just like painting a wall, painting a car, or anything – you’re going to put a coating on, and 90% of success is in the prep. 10% is in the application of the product. And then of course, you want the product to be able to perform the way that you expect it to, and CoverTec products do perform that way.”