Do you ever look at your garage and notice how much of a beating your concrete floor has taken over the years? Besides the ugly discolorations that motor oil and road debris have left, you can also see cracks and a few chips, too.
Before you head to the big-box home improvement store and dedicate a long weekend to applying a DIY garage floor epoxy kit, think about what makes a professional garage floor coating last.
A before and after shot of a Camp Hill area garage floor coating.
Superior Product
First, the floor coatings used by a professional are much more than garage floor paint and colored acrylic flakes that make up the epoxy paint kits. While DIY garage epoxy kits make the after pictures look beautiful, the product itself is far more inferior in strength to professional products. DIY kit materials are nothing more than fortified latex or enamel paints. They lack durability and are inclined to chip and peel away. This will quickly leave you disappointed and frustrated.
When you hire a professional, you'll get true industrial-strength epoxy and polyaspartic floor coatings. The materials we use on your garage floor are the same as those used in fire stations and trucking facilities. If it can hold up to those heavy trucks, it can certainly endure the wear-and-tear of your vehicles.
Prepping the Space
The lengths a professional will go to in prepping your concrete floors before applying any floor coating is something that you simply can't achieve with a DIY epoxy paint kit. We use diamond grinders to strip off the top layer of concrete. This is a critical step because it makes the concrete porous and adds a deep scratch pattern, ensuring the floor coating adheres to the concrete and is not simply laying over the top of it.
Scratch-Resistant Clear Coating
Perhaps the biggest difference between a professional garage floor coating and the DIY epoxy paint kits is in the clear sealant we apply after the epoxy has dried. This special urethane or polyaspartic coating provides tremendous protection against scratches, chips, and stains. Gasoline, oil, road salt, and anti-freeze won't leave a mark. Simply mop it up.
If you want a coating that is durable, you won't find it with a DIY epoxy paint kit. A professional garage floor coating has all three elements to be long lasting: superior product, proper surface preparation, and a scratch-resistant clear coating. It is going to last.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on Apr 24, 2013 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
