Garage Floor Coatings Can Enhance Property

Today, many property owners routinely seek the application of garage floor coatings to enhance their property. While a homeowner may prefer to hire someone to complete the unpleasant application process, the benefits of an attractive, newly coated garage floor delight most people.

Why Apply a Coating?

Residential property owners usually apply paint in order to beautify a room’s appearance. While coating a garage floor can accomplish this goal also, generally the motivation behind applying a new finish in the garage extends beyond simple appearance enhancements. Coatings serve several additional functions.

First, consider that garage floors must generally support far heavier weights on a daily basis than most other types of surfaces in a home. Many families also store heavy items in a garage, such as tools, spare auto parts and, sometimes, athletic equipment. Floors in garages need to stand up to massive pressures on a regular basis sometimes. Second, remember that vehicles, the typical asset stored in garages, travel frequently across unclean roads. Tires splash through mud puddles, get dirty from accumulated exhaust and sometimes pick up small pebbles or other items of debris. All of that material potentially gets tracked across a garage floor. Third, even under the best of circumstances, most households concentrate the majority of cleaning efforts on the interior floors of a residence; the owners may spend hours vacuuming and cleaning carpets in the living room and other entertainment areas, while devoting only cursory attention to cleaning a carpet-free sections of a garage or workshop.

These factors mean that garage floors generally must bear up well under heavy use, dirty conditions and minimal daily attention. To assist these structures, owners frequently consider the application of a protective coating essential.

Types of Protective Coatings

Tough, protective coatings come in many forms. Two of the most widely used substances are epoxy or polyurethane based solutions.

These chemicals can lend additional protective coverage to the surface of a floor, safeguarding it from small scratches and nicks, while also providing a better seal against damaging materials, such melting snow covering a vehicle roof in the winter. The protective coating seeps across small roughened areas of the surface of the floor at a microscopic level, helping to close and protect them.

Although coatings sometimes also modify the appearance of the floor, by enhancing attractiveness and adding a glossy shine, their aesthetic benefit typically remains the least important concern. Garage floor coatings offer that extra layer of protection against inclement environments that help keep garages functional under tough conditions.

For this reason, most manufacturers recommend the use of a primer, plus multiple coatings of the basic sealant. Applying this type of chemical product effectively generally requires excellent ventilation, plus a specific range of temperatures. For this reason, homeowners often decide to out source the process of applying protective coatings to experienced professionals. A well applied, protective coating can enhance a garage floor’s durability and utility for years.