How to Get Garage Floors as Clean as Your Kitchen Floors

It’s unlikely that you’ll be preparing and eating a meal in your garage. Or arguing with your mother that the “five second rule” applies if a tasty treat falls to the garage floor. It’s also unlikely that you’ll be spending as much time in the garage as you will in the kitchen, your house’s most visited room. But you do spend a fair amount of time in the garage all the same, and if you’re not careful, you will be bringing it into other parts of the house with you. Why? Unfinished and poorly finished garage floors don’t just retain grease marks and other unsightly stains. This type of floor not only makes it easier to track spilled residue, it’s a safety hazard. Slipping and falling are far more likely on unsurfaced or poorly surfaced floors, and spills are far harder to clean up.

And as we approach winter, now is the time to be thinking of cleaning and epoxy flooring Wayne, PA. Pretty soon your garage will be storing lawn furniture, tools and other yard implements in addition to vehicles. Early autumn in a good time to address your garage flooring, and you’ll be glad that you did. Not only does a finished garage floor make for a cleaner, safer home much like a finished basement, it can increase the property value of it. But as you contemplate garage floor coverings Philadelphia PA, is this a project that you yourself should be undertaking?

When “epoxy” is mentioned as an option when garage floor coverings Wayne, PA are being considered, it should be noted that isn’t referring to epoxy paint. Instead, epoxy garage floors refer to the hard, shiny surfaces most associate with the interior of a car dealership. You say “the showroom treatment” seems a little much for your garage? But consider this. These epoxy surfaces last for years without touchup maintenance, and are easily cleaned, saving time and money after installation. A properly installed epoxy floor can also correct or keep garage floor defects like cracking from worsening.

But this type of garage floor coatings Wayne, PA isn’t installed with a product from a hardware store. It’s true that you can find “epoxy” paints on the shelves of “Hardware Mart”, but that name is somewhat misleading. True epoxy is actually a epoxide resin that is mixed with a polyamine hardener, curing and strengthening it. The cured epoxy is then applied to floors in the form of a coating. But before the coating can be put down, the floor itself must be prepared. And not just prepared, but prepared properly, or else the epoxy coating will not adhere. Prep work begins with cleaning, but not of the bucket-and-sponge variety. Instead, professional cleaners will grind, shot blast, or acid-etch the floor to expose bare concrete. Repairs are made to the floor at this time as well. Contractors often then apply a coat of primer, followed by multiple coats of epoxy, usually including a base, final, and top coat.

The cost of having a garage floor professionally coated varies depending on floor size and condition, but the average price of a coated (three coats) floor in a two car garage is generally around $1,600. Homeowners who have this done can expect to be without the use of their garage for about a week as the epoxy coats dry. But the finished product is well worth that time and money, as it has been transformed into a safer, cleaner garage with a floor you can literally eat off of.