Should you paint a garage floor?

When it comes to garage flooring, many of you may have heard or seen the epoxy floor coverings that are available today, possibly even on TV. You see what looks like a simple process and beautiful results. What you don’t see or hear is that most epoxy floor coverings fail and the process is extremely time consuming and difficult. The biggest reason the epoxy garage floors fail is adhesion; they simply don’t stick well unless the surface has been properly prepped. That doesn’t sound bad, right? Wrong.

Here are some of the things you need to do to “prep” for an epoxy floor:
•    Be sure the concrete is dry. This does not mean to the naked eye but truly dry.
•    Remove ANY and ALL chemicals, grease, oil, etc. Remember, we are talking about a garage. All of these items are abundant in the garage and VERY difficult to remove.
•    If the floor was previously painted, all the paint should be removed. Good luck with that.
•    The garage surface may need to be ground down to expose the clean concrete underneath. Shot Blasting is the most effective method, however this is a slow, laborious, dirty and dusty job. Grinding may not be enough.
•    Time taken – your garage could be out of action for over a week whilst you get it painted.

If you decided you still want an epoxy garage floor and you think you can handle the hours of surface preparation necessary to do the job, there are some other areas of concern you may want to consider. Even if the surface has been properly prepped and cleaned there is still a good chance the floor will fail.

Here are some other possible problems associated with epoxy floor failures:

• The concrete was not completely dry. Water is a major problem with epoxy garage floors. Humidity can cause problems with epoxy and cause the floor to fail.
• Paint incorrectly applied
• Concrete not sealed prior to painting
• Incorrect drying time between coats – too short or too long can cause problems.
• Salts that are deposited from the concrete as it cures can affect the bonding of an epoxy garage floor.
• Surfaces generally expand and contract with heating and cooling. These expansions and contractions can cause cracks in the epoxy flooring. Once there are cracks the floor loses its protective coating and it nice appearance.

Who is responsible if you have a problem?
The company doing the application can blame the paint used or the paint manufacturer will blame the application method. This can lead to a stand off with you being the loser!

Garagestorageworld.com.au can offer you a better solution.
We offer various garage flooring options including PVC and Polypropylene tiles.
These floors are inexpensive and made to last.
The best part is they are easy to install and perform well under most conditions.

Some of the advantages to using our garage flooring are:

• Easy to install - Surface preparation is minimal for our tiles and basically includes simply sweeping the floor and wiping up any spills or chemicals for installation
• Quick to install – An average garage takes half a day to install.
• Long lasting. Did you know that our Autodeck tiles have a 25 year warranty?
• Easy to clean. Simply wipe up spills and your done. You can even spray down the floor with a garden hose.
• And most of all - It looks great!

Call us today to discuss your requirements 08 9248 2221