Will Your Concrete Garage Floor Take An Epoxy Coating?

To answer that question, you will have to do some investigating. As opposed to any other type of garage floor, Epoxy does take some preparing. Even after being prepared, though, some concrete just can't handle an epoxy coating, for various reasons. If your concrete can take a coating, however, there's still the matter of cleaning and etching it, which is quite tedious and very labor intensive. For those of us that aren't in the best of shape, laying an epoxy garage floor may not be an option. There are other, simpler types of garage floors that aren't nearly as time sensitive, such as garage floor tiles that you can stop and come back to whenever you like. There's also smaller garage floor mats that can be moved around the garage to wherever you need them. That may be all you need. But, if your body or bank account can handle either installing or having someone install an epoxy garage floor coating, it sure would look a lot nicer, wouldn't it?

Colorful Epoxy Garage Floor Coatings

Epoxy coatings usually come in gray. It's a very shiny, very attractive gray, but it's still very gray. Now just because it's gray doesn't mean you're not going to notice a marked improvement over your cement garage floor, because you certainly will. However, lots of people would rather add some sort of color, and it is possible. Unfortunately, many times your local hardware store won't have anything but gray epoxy coatings. In fact, it's not uncommon for these hardware stores to tell you there's no such thing as colored epoxy, that it's all gray, which is simply not true. Sometimes it does take some looking, but epoxy garage floor coating kits are in good supply on the web, and usually a lot cheaper than the hardware store. Odds are pretty good that, compared to other things, you'd have no reason to return a garage floor kit, and the ability to return things is my biggest worry when it comes to buying on the net.

Shiny Old Epoxy Garage Floors

Just because your garage floor is old doesn't mean it can't be nice and shiny. Epoxy coating lasts for years, sometimes decades, and can be cleaned off and made to look new just like concrete, only without the staining since it doesn't absorb chemicals like concrete does. It lasts so long because it bonds with the concrete at the microscopic level, as opposed other types of garage floors that either sit on top or stick to the first thing they come in contact with, be it dirt, dust, or whatever. Cleaning is generally just a matter of power washing, if that, since most chemicals will simply sit on top of the epoxy garage floor. Be careful that you don't poison the ground around your garage with chemicals though, since you're probably used to absorbing them with kitty litter or something and throwing them in the trash. Just because it doesn't do any damage to the floor of your garage doesn't mean it won't hurt the earth.

Tough Epoxy Garage Flooring

Epoxy is a very long lasting coating that is applied directly to the concrete. It's more durable than any other type of covering. Normal paint absorbs grease and oils, causing it to break down and dissolve. Epoxy resists grease and oil. This is because most normal paints are oil based, while epoxy is resin based. When two oil based substances collide, they generally destroy each other by trying to break down into their original components and mix. This effect makes normal car byproducts rather destructive when it comes to painted floors. Anything petroleum based will have this effect. This includes gasoline, power steering fluid, brake fluid, motor oil, parts cleaner, grease, and many, many other things. It's really surprising just how petroleum based our lives are. Epoxy based paints don't have this issue, though, as they're resin based instead of petroleum.

A New Epoxy Garage Floor That Shines

Pulling onto your own garage floor is like driving onto a auto showroom floor if you lay down a shiny, durable epoxy garage floor. All of the magic of seeing your own car in the reflection on the floor...whether you own an old '76 Buick that's seen better days or a brand new car that tries to outshine the floor. To many, an epoxy garage floor coating is seen as the ultimate in garage flooring, and for good reason. Although extremely time consuming and somewhat difficult to install, epoxy garage floors last a very long time, often as long as the concrete itself. Sometimes a refreshing of the garage floor paint is in order, but generally the initial install is the most work that will need to be done. As opposed to other garage floor coverings, epoxy cannot move or crumple under car tires, and will stay put if you decide to spray it off.