Improvements on your garage could produce up to a 65% return on investment at resale. When you factor in the years of enjoyment and convenience you get from having a garage, and you can see why it’s a good investment.
Your garage has the potential to be so much more than just shelter for your car or excess storage. You can make it a functional extension of your living space, and it can be aesthetically pleasing as well.
Make simple home improvements like changes to the insulation, storage and lighting, and garage floors, and you will find yourself with the office, gym, home workshop and auto shelter of your dreams.
Great Garages for Function and Resale
The humble garage is the multi-functional space most families dream about. However, families often need to preserve their garage’s intended use (parking the family vehicle) and its upgraded life, as the home office, gym, extra guest space, or craft area.
When you create your ideal family space, one of the first challenges to tackle is the cracked and stained concrete floor. It’s an instant giveaway that your space wasn’t intended for people.
One of the toughest and most attractive finishes for garage floors is a practical epoxy coating. It instantly transforms the unattractive cement into a practical and long-lasting surface, appropriate for more than just parking cars.
Epoxy for Garage Floors
Epoxy has long been the commercial choice for long-wearing and attractive floors. Auto showrooms, gyms, supermarkets, and other applications come to mind. Epoxy is a great choice for a garage used as both a living space and as a place for cars.
Choose from a variety of colors, from understated to bold. Many choices are available, including solid colors, metallic finishes, custom blends, glitter flakes, or color chips. Each with the opportunity to reflect your personal flair. Whatever you choose, you will have a floor that is stylish and easy to care for.
Professional installation is recommended. Epoxy floors are not a painted surface. Specialized preparation and mixing are required to ensure a long-lasting finish. Although retail versions, such as box epoxy kits, are available on the market, they typically require minimum surface preparation which often leads to failure of the new coating system.
What is Floor Epoxy?
Paint for garage floors is typically a latex acrylic product. Some garage floor paints have an amount of epoxy added to the paint to make it more durable. However, it’s still a paint.
When people talk about garage floor epoxy, they mean thermoset resin coating. It’s a hard coating, thicker than paint, and extremely long wearing. It’s formed by combining epoxide resin with a polyamine catalyst/hardener.
The two parts are mixed, and a chemical reaction starts. The reaction gives off heat during the curing process. The result is long, cross-linked chains of polymers. These polymer structures are what give epoxy its strength and superior bond to prepared surfaces.
Benefits of Epoxy Floor Coatings
Unlike paint, epoxy is quite thick and resistant to chips, scratches, and abrasion. It’s resilient and “heals itself” of minor scratches and impacts. In fact, it is a good choice to cover small cracks and other imperfections in concrete. Rolling tool boxes, ladders or chair legs are no problem for a floor that is coated with epoxy.
For concrete finishes prone to efflorescence, epoxy acts as a topical sealer against vapor and dust. Some epoxy floor coatings are also radon impervious. Epoxy is moisture resistant and can take wet or snowy tires (or children’s boots).
It’s easy to clean up as well. Epoxy is resistant to harsh chemicals and oils but requires only a mild detergent and water mop up. In fact, a soft broom is all that is needed for everyday maintenance.
Floor Coating Challenges
Epoxy garage floors get plenty of praise from home workshop owners and mechanics. The tough surface can take the punishment of antifreeze spills, oil drips, brake fluid, and more caustic chemicals. As tough as it is, it isn’t completely resistant to everything.
Cigarettes and welding sparks can melt or scorch the finish. If your tires are hot enough coming into the garage, the epoxy can also melt a little. This causes the epoxy to stick to the tire and pull away from the concrete as it cools, however, this is usually caused by an inferior DIY epoxy system or poor surface preparation.
Wet seepage below the concrete can cause the epoxy layer to separate from the concrete. Epoxy with a smooth finish can also be slippery. High foot traffic floors add a grit to the epoxy to prevent slips and spills. Epoxy can lighten and brighten up spaces. It’s more light reflective than bare concrete.
Surface Preparation is Key
The most common reason for coating failure can be attributed to a lack of adequate surface preparation. This fact is especially true with regards to a floor coating system. Because floors receive such high traffic and abuse, the surface prep of the substrate is critical to a successful coating application.
Many retail “box kits” only suggest minimal surface prep, such as pressure washing and/or acid etching of the concrete surface. In truth, acid etching can create more dusting of the concrete as it weakens the top layer during its chemical etching process.
Mechanical surface prep is required to achieve the best performance and bondable surface for the new coating system. This can be achieved by abrading the surface with a diamond blade tool, grinders, and/or sanding pad. This prep process will create microscopic peaks and valleys in the concrete slab enabling the commercial quality high-performance epoxy and/or urethane system to bond adequately. Dust from this procedure will be vacuumed off and the floor will receive a solvent clean to pick up any residual particulates.
Cracks in concrete floors are very common. Prior to proceeding with the new coating system, these cracks can be chased open with a diamond v-blade and filled with a high-performance polyurea joint filler. Hairline cracks less than 1/16” will be filled with the high solids epoxy during the application process, and typically don’t require opening and filling with joint filler. An epoxy primer sealer coat may be recommended on older concrete slabs to ensure adequate adhesion of subsequent coatings.
Choosing the Right Product
Acrylic paints, stains, or one-component epoxy paints are lower cost alternatives to the hard and durable two-component epoxies. These water-based coatings tend to have 50%, or fewer, solids. Their chief advantages are cost and ease of use.
Water-based paints and solvent-based stains are a good choice for lower traffic areas, such as sidewalks, patios, and pool decks, but are not durable enough for vehicle traffic.
Paints do not offer the same level of lasting beauty a professionally installed epoxy coating offers. Commercially available epoxy coatings are high solids and thus can provide the durability required for high impact areas such as garages and workshops.
The Advantages of an Epoxy / Urethane Combo
Installing a commercial quality epoxy floor system will provide the surface with long lasting protection and durability, however, epoxies do have one flaw inherent in their chemical make-up. They are not UV tolerant, which means they should never be used outside or in areas of constant exposure to the sun. Over a period, the epoxy will begin to oxidize, leaving a white haze on the surface in exterior applications.
The solution to this issue is to combine the application of a commercial quality epoxy coating with a urethane finish coat. The application of a urethane finish coat over the epoxy will provide UV tolerance as well as additional chemical resistance of the complete coating system.
Urethanes are available in two-component systems as well as moisture-cured single component versions. In a solid color epoxy system, the application of a solid color urethane finish coat can be used to provide the UV resistance required for full sun applications. In a decorative flake or chip epoxy coating, a clear translucent application of a urethane can provide additional chemical resistance in addition to flake protection.
By combining an epoxy base coat with a urethane finish coat, you can be assured that the protection and performance of your floor will rival that of systems typically found in automotive showrooms and airplane hangars.
Dressing Up Your Décor with an Epoxy Coating
Choosing an epoxy coating for your garage floor is an easy decision. It’s tough, durable, and versatile. It looks nicer than bare concrete, is easily cleaned, and is suitable for living spaces, as well as car parking.
The most difficult decision for your garage upgrade after choosing an epoxy floor is the color! Solids, flakes, custom combos and more are possible. With proper surface preparation and application of a high-performance coating system, you can expect many years of service.
Ready to discuss how an epoxy garage floor can improve your home? Contact us today. Our experts are happy to walk you through your options and give you a free quote.