Imagine seeing the reflection of your own car in your garage floor. This is what it would be like if you had an epoxy garage floor. If you'd like to drive onto your own personal showroom floor, whether you own a '82 econobox or a brand new Beamer, a shiny epoxy garage floor could be the answer you're looking for. Many professionals consider an epoxy garage floor coating to be the creme de la creme, and for good reason. Lasting often as long as the concrete itself, epoxy garage floors will be around for years, if not decades. There is a trade-off, though. Isn't there always? Epoxy does take a lot of time to put down, and it's far from the simplest garage floor solution. The good news is that, although it may have to be refreshed every once in a while, the initial install is most of the work. Epoxy cannot crumple under car tires or move about when sprayed off, which is a big pro over a lot of other garage floor coverings.
Epoxy Garage Flooring: Like A Rock. A Painted Rock.
Epoxy is an extremely tough, very long-lasting coating that is painted on concrete. It's different than normal paint, though, in that it will resist oils, grease, and lots of other things that would dissolve and ruin ordinary paints. This is why it's suitable for garage floors, as regular paint would obviously not be able to handle such things as motor oils since most regular paints are oil based. When two oil based substances come in contact with each other, they'll try to coalesce which, in the case of motor oil and paint, would destroy both. Grease would have the same effect as it is also oil based, as would any break fluid, power steering fluid, parts cleaner...the list goes on and on. It's amazing just how petroleum based our lives and products actually are. That's the beauty of epoxy based paints, however. Their resin base keeps them from being susceptible to the damages of oil and oil based substances.
Old Shiny Epoxy Garage Floors
Old garage floors like to shine, too! Just because the garage floor has some age on it doesn't mean it can't be pretty. I know, pretty and garage floor typically don't go together, but they do when there's an epoxy coating involved. Epoxy is able to last so long because it grips the concrete on a microscopic level and actually seeps down into the cracks, as opposed to other garage floor solutions that just kind of float on the top layer, be it dust, dirt, or concrete. Cleaning an epoxy coated garage floor is simple - generally just power wash it. This is because it doesn't absorb all those chemicals, and therefore doesn't stain. Most chemicals will simply float on top of the epoxy coating, making it just a matter of wiping them up or pushing them out. Be careful though that you don't accidentally poison the earth around your garage. You're probably used to picking up chemicals with some sort of absorbent and throwing them in the garbage. Just because the chemicals no longer hurt your garage floor doesn't mean they won't hurt the environment, especially groundwater.
Epoxy Garage Floor Coatings In Pretty Colors
When you think of epoxy coatings, if you have any picture in your head at all, it's probably of a shiny gray floor. It's an awesome color of gray, really it is, but it's still gray. Not that you won't see a huge improvement over the gray of your concrete garage floor, because you will, but some people would much prefer to have some sort of color there instead. For those people, there are various colors of epoxy kits. The only problem is, they're often nearly impossible to find locally. Some hardware stores have been known to tell customers point blank that there is no such thing as colored epoxy kits, which is a blatant lie. Lots of people end up turning to the net to buy their garage floor coating kits, and many times this solution is cheaper than the hardware store anyway. Although buying things online can sometimes be a problem when you need to return something, I don't think that problem would really exist for a garage floor kit.
Will Your Concrete Garage Floor Take An Epoxy Coating?
As opposed to pretty much every other type of garage floor, epoxy does require quite a lot of preparation. In the end, some concrete just won't be able to take a solid epoxy coating. Even if the concrete is determined to be in good enough shape for coating, it has to be cleaned and etched which is usually very labor intensive and tedious. There really is no part of laying an epoxy garage floor that is for the faint of heart...or maybe I should say faint of back. Those of us who aren't in the best shape physically may want to opt for something less time sensitive, like garage floor tiles that you can finish whenever you feel like and not have to worry about them setting in the correct order, or garage floor mats that can be moved around to where they're needed. However, if bank account is up to paying someone to do the job, or if your body is up to doing it yourself, an epoxy garage floor coating is definitely the way to go.
Epoxy Garage Flooring: Like A Rock. A Painted Rock.
Epoxy is an extremely tough, very long-lasting coating that is painted on concrete. It's different than normal paint, though, in that it will resist oils, grease, and lots of other things that would dissolve and ruin ordinary paints. This is why it's suitable for garage floors, as regular paint would obviously not be able to handle such things as motor oils since most regular paints are oil based. When two oil based substances come in contact with each other, they'll try to coalesce which, in the case of motor oil and paint, would destroy both. Grease would have the same effect as it is also oil based, as would any break fluid, power steering fluid, parts cleaner...the list goes on and on. It's amazing just how petroleum based our lives and products actually are. That's the beauty of epoxy based paints, however. Their resin base keeps them from being susceptible to the damages of oil and oil based substances.
Old Shiny Epoxy Garage Floors
Old garage floors like to shine, too! Just because the garage floor has some age on it doesn't mean it can't be pretty. I know, pretty and garage floor typically don't go together, but they do when there's an epoxy coating involved. Epoxy is able to last so long because it grips the concrete on a microscopic level and actually seeps down into the cracks, as opposed to other garage floor solutions that just kind of float on the top layer, be it dust, dirt, or concrete. Cleaning an epoxy coated garage floor is simple - generally just power wash it. This is because it doesn't absorb all those chemicals, and therefore doesn't stain. Most chemicals will simply float on top of the epoxy coating, making it just a matter of wiping them up or pushing them out. Be careful though that you don't accidentally poison the earth around your garage. You're probably used to picking up chemicals with some sort of absorbent and throwing them in the garbage. Just because the chemicals no longer hurt your garage floor doesn't mean they won't hurt the environment, especially groundwater.
Epoxy Garage Floor Coatings In Pretty Colors
When you think of epoxy coatings, if you have any picture in your head at all, it's probably of a shiny gray floor. It's an awesome color of gray, really it is, but it's still gray. Not that you won't see a huge improvement over the gray of your concrete garage floor, because you will, but some people would much prefer to have some sort of color there instead. For those people, there are various colors of epoxy kits. The only problem is, they're often nearly impossible to find locally. Some hardware stores have been known to tell customers point blank that there is no such thing as colored epoxy kits, which is a blatant lie. Lots of people end up turning to the net to buy their garage floor coating kits, and many times this solution is cheaper than the hardware store anyway. Although buying things online can sometimes be a problem when you need to return something, I don't think that problem would really exist for a garage floor kit.
Will Your Concrete Garage Floor Take An Epoxy Coating?
As opposed to pretty much every other type of garage floor, epoxy does require quite a lot of preparation. In the end, some concrete just won't be able to take a solid epoxy coating. Even if the concrete is determined to be in good enough shape for coating, it has to be cleaned and etched which is usually very labor intensive and tedious. There really is no part of laying an epoxy garage floor that is for the faint of heart...or maybe I should say faint of back. Those of us who aren't in the best shape physically may want to opt for something less time sensitive, like garage floor tiles that you can finish whenever you feel like and not have to worry about them setting in the correct order, or garage floor mats that can be moved around to where they're needed. However, if bank account is up to paying someone to do the job, or if your body is up to doing it yourself, an epoxy garage floor coating is definitely the way to go.
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