What Is The Benefit Of An Epoxy Garage Floor
Applying a coat of epoxy on your garage floor has a variety of benefits, including its creation of an impact-, stain-, and crack-resistant surface. In addition to their durable qualities, epoxy floors are also moisture-resistant to prevent mold buildup and come in a variety of colors to match your garages design.
Are Garage Floor Coatings Slippery
Most floor coatings are not slippery when they are dry. However, epoxy and other coatings can become slippery when wet. Typically, the more gloss a coating has, the more slippery it can be when wet.
A heavy application of color flakes can add texture to a coating and make it slightly less slippery, but it is not a substitute for an anti-slip surface. If wet grip or non-slip is a concern, then an anti-slip media should be mixed into the final coat.
Best Garage Floor Coating Of 2022
Garage floor coatings add a durable and protective layer to your existing garage slab. Keep reading for our recommendations on the best garage floor coatings. The products included in this article are available at various home improvement stores, local home centers, and online retailers like Amazon.
From colorful paint to protective epoxy, garage floor coatings can help spruce up your garage floor and protect it from scratches and spills. Since picking the right coating may be difficult, the This Old House Reviews team researched the best garage floor coatings on Amazon to help you make an informed purchase. Here are our top recommendations.
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Using A Primer On Your Concrete Garage Floor
The primer should be applied before the epoxy floor coating. It has the additional benefit of making a stronger bond with the primary epoxy floor coating.
Older garage floors are often contaminated in some way. If this is the case, we suggest you clean and mechanically prepare the floor before an oil tolerant primer like FAS 100 Primer is applied. This will reduce the risk of debonding of the epoxy coatings.
Some garage floors may be suffering from damp. If the concrete slab does not have a damp proof membrane then we suggest the floor is mechanically prepared as above before the Epoxy DPM is applied as a primer. You can then apply further coats of the epoxy floor coating.
If the floor is clean with no contamination or damp then there is no need for a specific primer. The standard epoxy floor coating can be used as the priming coat as these thinner products will penetrate the concrete, followed by the Epoxy floor coating HB to achieve a durable, high gloss finish.
Luxury Garage Floor Epoxy
Unlike single-layer big-box retail systems, a luxury epoxy garage floor system is comprised of multiple layers of durable concrete coatings to protect your floor and provide an attractive, high-performance surface. These different layers are picked for their individual properties, providing an optimal system for performance and longevity.
Our system typically includes a 100% solids epoxy base coat, epoxy flakes broadcast to rejection, and polyurethane or polyaspartic topcoat.
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Epoxy Flooring Durbanville Versatality Of Epoxy Coatings
Apart from the obvious essential applications in factories and warehousing, in the food and beverage industry, exhibition areas, sports centres and many more, recent innovations have created a demand for the more aesthetic, coloured and custom-designed floors required by entertainment areas, showrooms, boutiques and other retail applications that can all be met by this sector.
Heavy duty epoxy screeds are often used in factories where floors are subject to high impact, wear, abrasion and chemical attack. These floors have very good mechanical strength, and epoxy and polymer screeds on concrete floors provide a seamless floor with heavy duty wear characteristics and the ability to perform in areas with forklift and heavy truck traffic. The self-levelling varieties are commonly used in kitchens, dining rooms, storage areas and in car workshops, because they protect the concrete from wear, chemical corrosion and chemical deterioration, combined with ease of cleaning and low maintenance. With no cracks or angled corners, these floor coverings provide the ultimate in hygienic flooring
Armorgarage Flooring Epoxy Features Make It The Hands Down Best Choice For Your Floor
Not Water Based, High Solids or A Hybrid Cycloaliphatic. These Types Of Garage Floor Epoxies Are Not Equal To Our 100% Aliphatic Epoxies And should only Be Considered As Primers.
Only Kits With Calibrated Squeegee That Ensures You Apply The Epoxy At The Proper Thickness Automatically! Flat Squeegees That Come With Other Kits Will Not Spread The Epoxy Properly.
Our Ultra High Wear Polyurethane Topcoat Is Standard And Has A Superior Durability Rating Of 20mg and Our Military Topcoat Provides You With A 4mg Abrasion Loss Rating For The Best Resistance Against Wear That Can’t Be Equaled! Our Competition Doesn’t Even Come Close To This Level Of Durability! It’s Why Our Garage Epoxy Floors Last And Look New The Longest! Beware Of Clear Epoxies Used As Topcoats, Epoxies Are Not Topcoats.
You Get Everything You Need In Our Complete DIY Garage Floor Epoxy Kits.
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Epoxy Is Not Uv Stable
Epoxy coatings are not UV stable, so they will amber with exposure to sunlight. To solve this problem, we install epoxy flake to full rejection and apply a polyurethane or polyaspartic topcoat. Both of these topcoat materials are UV stable and therefore will allow for an attractive, long-lasting garage floor coating.
How To Apply Epoxy Floor Coating
Before applying any garage coating, you need to make sure your concrete floor is compatible. Too much moisture coming up from the concrete will break the bond between the floor and the coating. To test the moisture levels, tape down a plastic bag and check on it after a day. If theres any moisture when you peel up the plastic, youll need to address the issue by installing a moisture barrier before application.
Applying epoxy coating in your garage is a manual process that requires an extended paint roller. First, you paint around the edges of the space with a bristle brush, and then you fill in the rest with the roller. Epoxy vapors can be powerful, so always wear protective breathing gear such as a respirator with an acid filter.
While this manual application can take some time, you dont have to worry about the coating drying in the bucket before you even get to apply it. Thats because epoxy is designed to have a long pot life, otherwise known as the amount of time it can spend open in a bucket before it dries up and starts to cure. Thats good news for you because it can take about an hour to properly coat a standard two-car garage.
Then you need to factor in some wait time when it comes to drying. The first coating will take around 16 hours before its ready for the second layer, but the most accurate information will always come from the manufacturer.
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Best Concrete Sealer: Siloxa
This industrial-grade floor coating from Siloxa-Tek protects concrete surfaces from water and moisture damage. The clear product comes in a one-gallon bottle that can be sprayed, rolled, or brushed onto surfaces like driveways, basements, patios, and garages. Additionally, the concrete sealer doesnt require pre-mixing and covers up to 250 square feet per gallon.
Best Concrete Sealer
Garage Floor Paint What You Should Know
You might wonder why youd want to paint a cement or concrete floor, since theyre already so sturdy. However, the truth is that floors made from cements or concrete can actually deteriorate pretty quickly when theyre abused by heavy traffic or in regular contact with chemicals, water and oil. There are plenty of high quality garage floor paints out there that can help you have a longer lasting, better performing floor, with just a little extra effort.
Probably the most popular paints for garage floors today are epoxy based. Whether a colorful paint or just a clear sealer, these are the first choice of people who paint cement and concrete floors professionally. Garage floor paints lasts a long time, and have excellent adhesion to just about any surface, too. They resist solvents and chemicals, as well as being water resistant. Unfortunately, traditional epoxy based garage floor paints come in two parts, which have to be mixed shortly before use, and they have a short shelf life that can make them hard to work with.
Fortunately, we have newer epoxy paints available for garage floors. These garage floor paints retain the great properties of traditional epoxy paints for cements without keeping the ones we dont want. Theyre still hard, good at sticking to garage floors, and resist chemicals and water, as well, as being flexible, color fast, UV resistant and capable of dealing with heat at levels up to about four hundred degrees F.
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Epoxy Flooring Durbanville Decorative Nature Of Epoxy Flooring
When most people think of epoxy coatings, the first thing that comes to their minds is a garage or shop floor. With many new products and decorative finishes, epoxy flooring is now a well-known option for bathrooms, kitchens, living spaces, finished basements and much more. Epoxy Coatings are available in an array of colors and patterns to fit your specific style.
Garage Floor Coating Benefits
- Showroom Finish: A garage that looks so good youâll feel guilty for parking on it.
- Corrosion Protection: Protects against road salts, oil, UV rays, chemical, and moisture corrosion.
- Superior Washability: All youâll need to keep your floor looking new is water and a rubber squeegee.
- Won’t Crack or Peel: We stand behind our workmanship, and provide a warranty to ensure peace of mind.
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What Is Garage Floor Epoxy
Epoxy flooring is a thermosetting resin that is applied as a coating to concrete. It is created when you mix one-part colored or clear epoxide resin with one part polyamine hardener. Hence, a 2-part coating.
When the two parts are mixed, the hardener acts as a catalyst. This creates a chemical reaction upon contact and begins the exothermic curing process. This curing process forms polymer structures that are closely cross-linked, giving epoxy its superior strength and durability.
The end result is a thick and highly durable coating that bonds tenaciously to a properly prepared concrete surface.
Along with the colored epoxy coating, you also have the option of applying and a high-performance clear coat. The clear coat protects the color flakes and color coat.
This combination of coatings is known as a garage floor coating system. Commercial quality systems can last for ten to twenty years on a garage floor.
In addition, if you dont want the traditional epoxy look, there is the option of a metallic epoxy coating.
These finishes are extremely glossy and known for their wild-looking flowing rivers of metallic color. You can even create 3-D moon-like craters if you desire.
Though metallic epoxy can look absolutely stunning for a garage, its not for everyone. The darker colors and extreme gloss will show every spec of debris, dust, dusty footprints, and dirty tire tracks. Its worse when the sun shines on it.
How Long Does An Epoxy Garage Floor Last
There are plenty of variables that will impact how long your epoxy garage floor will last, such as traffic, the weight of your vehicles and quality of finish. Generally, an epoxy floor should last a minimum of three years and often around five years before it starts to show some signs of deterioration.
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Benefits Of A Garage Floor Epoxy Coating
So, what makes an epoxy coating one of the best finishes for your garage floor? Besides looking nice, the hard and thick coating that you get from epoxy creates a decorative surface that is very durable and easy to keep clean.
Its resistant to impacts, chipping, chemicals, stains, and surface abrasion. You dont have to panic about damaging or staining the surface if you spill oil on it or a bicycle falls over.
Flooring by Closet Organizing Systems
The thicker coatings also do a great job of covering over minor imperfections such as small spider cracks and flaws in the concrete.
In addition, epoxy is a concrete sealer. This means that it will seal out moisture at the surface as well. This is a great benefit for people who live in snowy climates that deal with road salts and deicing fluids that can damage concrete.
Furthermore, epoxy floor coatings are easy to clean. A mild cleaning solution and water are all that are required. Dirt and debris can be collected with a dust mop or soft broom when the floor is dry.
Epoxy coatings receive high reviews from home mechanics and hobbyists as well. Since it is both chemical and stain resistant, oil, brake fluids, anti-freeze, gasoline, and other caustic car chemicals can easily be wiped up without worry even if it sits for a while. And because epoxy is a topical sealer, it is also anti-dusting.
How well do garage floor coatings stand up to heavy rolling tool boxes, floor jacks, and jack stands? Quite well actually!
Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team
This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations.
We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.
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How Are You Going To Prepare The Floor For Permanent Adhesion Of The Final Epoxy Floor Coating
There are several different ways you can prepare your surface for a coating to be laid on it, but one way that is never an option is no surface preparation at all! Not every form of surface preparation is appropriate in all situations. Sometimes even the highest quality option is too aggressive for your situation, and often the gentlest and cheapest is not aggressive enough to ensure your finished product does not delaminate.
Of course, if you want polished concrete, this is the most vital question of all! Some options for floor preparation include the following, from lightest to most industrial:
- Concrete Sanding
Epoxy Flooring Durbanville Durability
Epoxy floor coatings are quick to install, durable and easy to clean. Your new epoxy floor coating will create an easy to clean, seamless surface. Concrete floors coated in epoxy last longer and resist considerable wear. The epoxy finish is extremely hard and resistant to friction. It also provides optimum protection against particle abrasion, corrosive fluids, turbulence, heat, cold, and impact forces.
Chemically resistant Epoxy coatings can survive continued exposure to potent chemicals, which is perfect for warehouses or plants that may be exposed to such materials. Epoxy is resistant to diluted acids, alkalis, petroleum products, and condensation. Since it is both chemical and stain resistant, oil, brake fluids, anti-freeze, gasoline, and other caustic car chemicals can easily be wiped up without worry, even if it sits for a while. Rolling tool boxes, jacks, and jack stands will not damage the floor either.
One of the reasons that many of those who own factories, warehouses and industrial plants get their floors covered with epoxy floor coating is that it makes their concrete floor chemical resistant. If you run a business where chemicals are involved, investing in epoxy floor coating is really a wise decision.
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Are There Drawbacks To An Epoxy Coating
As tough as this type of garage floor covering can be, its not resistant to everything.
Welding is hard on epoxy and other floor coatings. It can create burn marks from the hot slag that falls on it. In fact, metal fabricating in general can be tough on floor coatings. This is due to the tendency for heavy and sharp objects to get dragged across the surface.
If you are interested in a more utilitarian type of coating that makes cleanup easier, yet resists hot slag and grinding sparks better, then we suggest looking into this coating that we reviewed.
Epoxy and other coatings are not a good choice for garage floors that have moisture issues from below the slab. The rate of moisture vapor transmission from underneath the slab can cause coatings to delaminate if it is too high.
In addition, there is always the concern about hot tire pick up for epoxy. This is a problem that is more closely associated with the home improvement store DIY epoxy paint kits. These are usually water-based coatings that are approximately 50% solids and 3 mils or less thick.
Hot tires can cause these coatings to soften. As the tires begin to cool, they contract ever so slightly, and the tire tread grabs and pulls at the surface of the thinner coating.
This process will actually cause the epoxy to delaminate as the tire pulls it up off the floor.
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