Garage Floor Paint
on 17 Aug 2009 | Tagged as: Garage Floor
One option you may want to consider with your garage is garage floor paint. With garage floor paint, you can put a nice, shiny coat on your garage floor which will make it easier to clean as well as more attractive. This is a good option if you have a garage floor that’s already been coated with something that has either worn off or is undesirable. Most garage floor paints can be used on top of other epoxy paints or sealants, as long as they are clean and free of any contaminants. Since garage floor paint is typically pretty thick, there’s no need to match colors or anything like that.
Including preparation, many garage floor epoxy coating kits can take as little as three hours to apply. This is comparable to other garage floor solutions, like tile or mats, yet is quite a bit more permanent as garage floor paints are epoxy based. Also, this estimate is for a normal garage. If your garage is quite large, then expect the process to take longer, of course.
Before laying your garage floor paint, the concrete must be prepared for the epoxy solution as per the paint manufacturers direction. This applies even if your garage floor is brand new and has never had so much as a bicycle parked on it. The cement still has to be prepared if the garage floor paint is going to adhere to it as it should and provide you with a long life and beautiful finish.
If the concrete is brand new, as in has just been laid down and still has that darker color that indicates it’s not completely dry, even if you can’t carve your initials in it, then you’ll have to wait a bit before you can begin preparing the garage floor for painting. Most paint manufacturers recommend waiting at least thirty days, but be sure to check with the instructions before starting, as different kits will have different instructions. If you’re not sure when the cement for your garage floor was laid, you may want to get with the contractor and find out. Either that, or you could always wait thirty days from move in to apply the garage floor paint. Since the garage floor will have to be prepped, regardless of condition, there’s no harm in using the garage until the thirty days has passed. That being said, it probably wouldn’t be wise to pile half your belongings in the garage, as that would surely deter you from applying the garage floor paint when the time comes.
Choosing to use an epoxy garage floor coating will be a decision that you will be glad you made later on down the road. Not only will it look nicer, but your garage floor will also last far longer, with maintenance becoming a non-issue for many years to come.
