Expert Contributor by Tom Rafferty Rafferty Painting & General Contracting
Garage Floor Coatings A popular new trend is happening now with homeowners: doing decorative coatings and epoxy floor coatings on their garage floors. These coatings add value to your home and allow you to have a clean beautiful surface on your garage floor that is not only decorative but prevents oil spills and provides slip resistance and many other benefits. There are many options out there for epoxy floor coatings, so you must choose wisely! Some coatings are not meant for heavy vehicular traffic. You’ll be disappointed when you put your vehicle on the wrong coating and the weight causes some of the coating to pop off. Because there are SO many different options for epoxy coatings for a garage floor, here are some questions you need to ask prior to putting ANY coating on ANY garage floor: 1. Is there a vapor barrier down? (If not, moisture from under the floor will most likely make your coating fail.) 2. Are there years of oil trapped in the concrete surface? 3. Are there water issues underneath the surface? Most of the above situations can be remedied but they need to be remedied with the right coatings in place. So, when you’re getting estimates for a garage floor coating job, getting answers to those three questions above will be very helpful to ensure success for the life of your garage floor coating.
Here are some other questions you should ask a contractor when considering a project like this: 1. Will a vapor barrier be put down? If not, what primer will be used to hold back any water? (If no vapor barrier will be used, a 100% solids coating should be used or your coating will fail.) 2. Will a 2-part epoxy be used? (2-part epoxies are the best and should be used.) 3. How many coats will be applied? (At least three coats should be used.) Always make sure there is an anti-slip aggregate in the final coat. These floor surfaces can be very slippery when wet, and people could slip and injure themselves. A car can even sometimes slide on these surfaces! What’s known in the industry as “a flake system” is highly recommended because it has proven to be so durable. It’s also now the most popular because it comes in many different colors and options. Doing a little bit of “homework” before you get estimates and proceed with a garage floor coating project will be time well spent if you want results that will be attractive, safe and durable for many years to come. NS
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