Garage Makeovers: Floor Coatings Only vs. Garage Everything

I am a big believer that no small business can be the "Be all, end all" in home improvement. As a matter of fact, while many former PremierGarage franchises moved to being more inclusive of additional home improvement services and products, STRONGHOLD FLOORS transitioned to being a concrete floor coatings company only. Read on to see how this concentration positively impacted our business.

Garage Coatings Only vs. Garage Everything

To put it simply, it's difficult to concentrate your efforts when doing two totally different things. Garage floor coatings and garage cabinetry/organizer systems only have one thing in common: they're both in the garage. When we were a total garage makeover company, the training and staff required to do each area well is very different.

Why did STRONGHOLD FLOORS choose to concentrate on concrete floor finishes, you may ask?

1. As PremierGarage (our former company before we became independent), we always completed more epoxy floor coatings projects each year compared to the garage cabinetry and organization.
2. Dealing with the cabinetry wood product seemed to always give our team headaches, while we improved and mastered the coatings application techniques.
3. There was a lot of competition in the storage and organization space from big-box retail stores and specialty organization companies, such as California Closets and Tailored Living (both well respected national franchises).

A before and after of a decorative chip, epoxy floor coatings project in Frederick, Maryland. Lehigh blend decorative chips were used on medium gray epoxy.

Turns out that making the decision to change to STRONGHOLD FLOORS, a solely epoxy floor coatings company, was a great decision for us, our customers, and our partnerships - which soon followed.

For many years, our Maryland and Pennsylvania PremierGarage locations worked with other organization companies on projects, but there was always something holding each party back, as we were technically competitors. Once we eliminated the storage/organizational side of our company, we were able to create strategic partnerships with those very same companies mentioned above.

What this means for homeowners is that they get companies that specialize in just garage floor coatings and just garage organization, meaning the quality of the products they receive will be much higher than hiring one company to do both. Not only will the quality be far superior, but if the companies often work together, the process of transforming your garage will be simple and enjoyable.

Our floor coatings solutions even extend beyond the garage! Our coatings and organizational offers from our partners are applicable to basements, great rooms, porches/patios, and other special spaces.

Adams decorative chips on medium gray epoxy in a garage located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Let's step through a project that is typical of our gold standard approach for total garage makeovers.

Recent Garage Flooring & Organization Project

I recently worked with one of our partners on a garage project in the Phoenixville, Pennsylvania area. The garage floor was in very rough shape. The walls and the floor weren't being used in an effective style for organization and had never been improved beyond initial construction.

The designer from California Closets created an effective overall plan that included a 1/4'' decorative chip floor coating along with cabinets and organizers.

First, the homeowners installed drywall for the walls and ceiling and painted it. If you plan on getting your garage floor coated and want to paint your walls, make sure you read this article to learn when you should paint your walls.

Our part of the garage makeover process was next. Over a two day period, our team took the following steps:

1. Mechanically prepared the concrete floor with an HTC 500 diamond grinder. The entire surface was finished to a CSP 3 finish (see Concrete Surface Profiles Explained). Because the garage's concrete floor was very soft, special diamond tooling was used that would not wear too quickly.
2. All cracks and surface imperfections in the garage floor were patched with the appropriate epoxy surface repair materials.
3. Our 100% solids epoxy base coating was applied slightly thicker than normal, as the soft, porous concrete would absorb more than most concrete floors. Once this pigmented epoxy coating was applied, the 1/4'' decorative chips (Lehigh blend) were applied until refusal (where no more chips could bond to the epoxy coating).
4. The following morning, the entire surface was scraped and vacuumed to remove all excess chips.
5. The team then applied very high solids, polyaspartic urethane over the entire floor to protect the decorative chips and underlying epoxy coating. A white aluminum oxide was back-rolled into the top coat to increase wear-ability and slip resistance. To learn more about the layers of our system, read When 3 is Greater Than 5.

Lehigh blend of decorative chips.

Two days after we completed our process, the installers from California Closets installed cabinets (Lago® Adriatic Mist finish) and countertops/accents (Lago® Venetian Wenge finish).

The final results, shown below, speak for themselves. Looking at the BEFORE (above) and AFTER (below) pictures shows how quickly a garage can be transformed into a visually stunning, organized, and extremely effective room that enhances everyday living.

Create Your Ultimate Garage

Need help improving your garage floor? Want to complete a complete garage makeover? Request a free quote today online by filling out the form and one of our experienced territory managers will get into contact with you shortly.