Garage flooring is often ignored by homeowners, but the concrete in a garage usually takes a lot more abuse than other flooring in the home. For a longer lasting, better looking garage floor, an appropriate floor covering is recommended. There are three main garage floor coverings. The first, and least expensive, is concrete paint. The more expensive but longer lasting choice is an epoxy floor covering. The third, and most expensive, option is to tile the floor.
Concrete floor paint is the easiest for a homeowner to do themselves, but has some drawbacks. It can chip and peel, especially if a car is moved in and out of the garage daily. Even without a car driving over the paint, the garage floor will need to be repainted yearly. Garages used primarily as workshops or other low impact use would be better suited to being painted. Latex or oil paint, designed for concrete or floor use, is the best paint for painting a garage floor.
Epoxy garage floor covering is more difficult to apply, but has a much longer lifespan and offers more protection to the concrete underneath. Epoxy comes in a variety of colors, and creates a beautiful, slick, showroom like finish. Epoxy is easy to clean, even if oil or paint is spilled. New, unused concrete needs to be etched before applying the epoxy. The epoxy is applied in two steps, requiring a curing time between the two, with a roller. Proper ventilation is required, and some homeowners may not have the painting skills required to make the epoxy coating look as good as possible. Epoxy coating may also not be the best choice if spills are common, because it becomes dangerously slippery when wet. Before you decide on this garage floor coating, really take into consideration what you will be doing in your garage.
Tile flooring is best choice in both durability and good looks, but costs the most and takes the longest and is the most work to install. Tile flooring requires a special kind of glue to adhere to the concrete, must be laid one piece at a time, and require grouting. It also takes extra time to clean. The tile itself resists more materials, even paint if it’s not allowed to dry, but the grout can be more difficult to get clean. Garage tile flooring also tends to be very pricey.
There are three main options for garage floor cover. The first is paint, which is inexpensive but easily damaged. The second is epoxy, which is durable but hard to apply. The third is tile, which is most expensive but offers the best protection. Each homeowner would have to pick the best option for their garage based on usage, experience with flooring, and budget.
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