Maintaining a Beautiful, Long Lasting, Garage Floor.

Next to the exterior of your house, your garage may be the first thing you see when you come home each day. For some families, your garage may be where all of your vehicles are kept, for others it might be used for storage. A garage can also be a major selling point.

Most people do not know this, but having a bare concrete floor in your garage can be very harmful. Bare concrete absorbs anything that is introduced to it, such as oils spills, chemicals, water, salt, etc. These things are very harmful and over time will deteriorate or stain your garage floor.

The best thing to do to your floor, is to cover your garage floor with any type of coating, geared specifically to garages. You could also hire someone to do this for you. Either route you choose, there are a few steps that have to be done, in order to enjoy this investment for years to come:

• A good profile is the number one step that can not be overlooked if you decide to coat your garage floor.  A grinder with  segmented diamonds can be rented or purchased for this to be done. To profile the concrete basically means to rough it up with the grinder, in order for the epoxy to have something to bite and stick to.
• Cracks and spalling (divots in concrete caused by the elements), should be filled in with a concrete patch product. There are many to choose from, typically this is a two part process. This will bond with the concrete once it is cured, and most are stronger than the concrete itself. Avoiding this step will cause the new coating to crack and/or show imperfections. (Don’t forget to create a good profile again after the cracks and spallings have been filled!)
• Cleanliness before applying any product is very important. Even if you were to skip the steps above, leaving the floor dusty or dirty, will cause anything applied over it to peel up right away. This can be done with a damp microfiber rag and water if the entire floor was profiled.
• The last step is to AVOID ALL quick fix coating systems sold at big box stores. They will last longer than normal if the above steps are taken but most of the time, you will see them chipping and peeling up in less than one year after applying the coating.

These are the most important things to keep in mind, if, you decide to undertake such a large project. If installing an epoxy floor  coating system on your home is not something you would like to do, or if you do not have the time, give us a call and we would love to help you with your project! Call  Armor Tough Coatings at 1-888-PAINTING or, if outside of the 248 area code call (248) 716-0089.