Why is Epoxy the Best Garage Floor Coating
Epoxy coatings are one the toughest and most durable finishes available to garage floors today. Not only does it turn your garage into a beautiful showroom but it is the ultimate finish to protect your garage floor. Your garage is an extension of your home, show it some love with a proven choice in garage flooring.
Epoxy has applications in both residential and commercial applications that help your floors stand out and leave friends and clients saying wow! A variety of colours and tones are available along with a myriad of colour flakes that take your design and wow factor to the next level. From matching colours of your favorite automotive brand in your garage to matching your corporate colours in your business.
Let’s learn what epoxy is and the benefits you can expect.
It is NOT Paint!
One common misconception is that epoxy coatings are paint, which is not correct. Paint dries, epoxy cures. Some paints can have a small amount of epoxy added to make it slightly more durable but paint is paint and will break down quickly on garage floors. Epoxy coatings made specifically for you garage floors are not paint but rather a resin coating created by mixing the resin and a hardener called a polyamine, which gives your epoxy floor its hardness and durability.
Mixing the two parts creates a chemical reaction that starts an exothermic curing process. The curing allows for a tight polymer bond giving epoxy its high quality durability. The result is much thicker than paint and the two part system bonds to the substrate at a much higher level.
What is the process of installing an epoxy floor?
After an initial consultation; we will help you decide on the flooring system to suite your needs, pick out colors and define the scope of work with you. This usually includes:
- overnight moisture test of the substrate
- determining the height of epoxy along the walls around the residential garage floor or your commercial floor
- floor grinding, shot blasting or etching
- repairing cracks or other damage
Depending on the system you chose, the process will either be a one or two day procedure for residential coatings and a few days for commercial or industrial epoxy applications. We begin with grinding the concrete to expose the substrate to allow the chemicals to bond with the surface. We then apply a primer coat, your choice of vinyl or acrylic flakes are broadcast and then the topcoat is applied. The topcoat gives it that beautiful depth and glossy finish. A polyaspartic or polyurea top coat ensures that your finish resists yellowing over time; it is a two part system that acts as an additional layer of protection and sealer when exposed to sun.
Once the floor is finished, regular traffic can resume anywhere from 6-12 hours depending on the product chosen.
Our crews are trained to handle all our products and have safety training to understand how to protect themselves and your property when doing work for you.
The benefits of you Epoxy Garage Floor Coating
Your garage is your man cave and houses some of your most valuable possessions. Why not give it the same attention as your homes interior?
There are many benefits to utilizing an epoxy floor system in your garage, here are a few:
1. Covering defects
Epoxy floor coatings do a great job at covering and sealing defects or damage that your garage floor may have. The system may also help to prevent further damage from these defects.
2. The look, oh the look!
Your epoxy floor will transform your space from boring to bad ass. An elegant look for your home or business converting it to a showroom for your vehicles, shop or business. There are a plethora of flakes made from various types of materials, including vinyl, acrylic, mice or quartz that add intensity and allows your floor to glimmer in the light. Or really capture the polished look with metallic epoxy coatings.
3. Cost effective
When compared to various options, epoxy floor coatings can be quite cost effective. The purchase of new tile, concrete or vinyl and the installation costs of such can be costly. A professionally installed epoxy floor system saves you time and allows you to retain the current floor without sacrificing quality, durability and an excellent finished product.
4. Resistance
Shock, heat, chemicals and water…..perfect for garages! Chemicals left behind from your projects or your car will not affect epoxy and can be cleaned up without damaging the epoxy coating.
5. Durability
With its many layers and its thickness, epoxy is the strongest and longest lasting protection for your concrete floor, with a 5 Year limited warranty. The epoxy seals and protects the underlying concrete or substrate ensuring it will last longer. No damage from rolling carts, tool boxes, jacks or jack stands.
6. Maintenance
One of the major advantages of epoxy floor systems is the ease of cleaning and the lack of maintenance required. Salt does not deteriorate epoxy and simple washes off, a simple sweep and mop has your floor returning to its gleaming finish. Oil, gasoline, anti-freeze and other caustic fluids are easy to clean off with epoxy as they will not penetrate it, so no stains!
7. Safety
With the ability to add various textures and additional materials to both the primer coat and finish coats; epoxy floors can highlight visibility and increase slip quotients on flooring by adding additional grip.
8. Car friendly
With a professionally installed polyaspartic epoxy floor you significantly reduce de-lamination from hot tire pick up. Hot tire pick up occurs when a hot tire bonds to poorer quality big box store epoxies. As tires sit and cool on these epoxies they contract and pull the epoxy off the softer (water based) coatings. A professionally installed epoxy garage floor is a thicker, multiple coat system with 100% solids up to 10mm thick, ensuring hot tire pick up does not occur.
9. Friendly to the environment
That’s right, even though its a chemical compound, it is enviro-friendly because you are replacing it far less often. Epoxy floor systems can last 15 years or more!