As the leading provider of high-quality floor protectants in Wisconsin, our project planners and technicians at Armor Coating entertain hundreds of requests from residents and business owners for maintenance tips for epoxy garage flooring. They want their indoor and outdoor parking spaces to remain puddle-free, low-maintenance, and look brand-new throughout the seasons, and our technicians love making that happen.
Epoxy paint is the number one protectant for a concrete floor because it is cost-efficient and durable. We serve many customers who cover the entire floor space of their attics, basements, and decks with 100% solid epoxy. In our professional opinion, polyurea and polyaspartic coats make surfaces more hard-wearing and beautiful, but an epoxy-coated parking space is better than leaving your car over unprotected concrete.
In this explainer, our technicians will outline how to keep your epoxy garage floor coating in mint condition long after its warranty period. Following our tips could increase the market value of your property, improve its curb appeal, and help you save money by requiring less recoating.
Use Epoxy as a Base Coat for Your Garage Floor
Installing a more hard-wearing topcoat is on top of our list of tips for epoxy garage flooring, especially for homes and commercial properties that experience a lot of foot and vehicle traffic. A polyaspartic and polyurea combination is the superior option for guest carports and outdoor parking spaces.
A lone epoxy layer as a total solution works best for DIY technicians who require a generous margin for error, as it can take almost half a day to dry. Applying polyurea and polyaspartic requires professional expertise as they can cure in under an hour but form a more durable and long-lasting bond with a substrate. Epoxy is receptive to oil and chemical-based additions, making it an ideal subsurface for paint, another layer of epoxy, or polyaspartic.
Garages in Wisconsin typically host two to three vehicles, and most are SUVs above 5,000 pounds. Epoxy creates a rigid finish that is highly resistant to chemicals and pollutants. However, dirt, debris, and studded snow tires can still scratch it, especially if coupled with thousands of pounds of mass from a heavy vehicle.
At Armor Coating, our technicians cover thousands of square feet of epoxy-coated floors in polyaspartic and polyurea every year. Our customers enjoy a 15-year warranty on all our jobs, whether we cover antique bricks, natural stone, or plain concrete.
Only Use Epoxy Garage Flooring with 100% Solids
One of the most prevalent and costly problems our technicians see with amateur installers is they use DIY painting kits that have only 5% to 12% solids, indicating that only one-tenth of the can is epoxy and the rest is latex paint. Buy commercial-grade epoxy coatings with 100% solids exclusively, and save yourself the headache. Anything less will not withstand foot and vehicle traffic for more than five years.
Increase Your Maintenance Frequency as You Use Your Garage More
For most people, the purpose of getting epoxy floor coatings is to reduce the times they have to sweep, vacuum, and pressure wash their garage, which is partly true. However, when they bring home more SUVs, transform their garages into repair bays, and drop more wrenches and screwdrivers with reckless abandon, their epoxy floors could look rundown sooner than expected.
An epoxy coating will cover up the billions of tiny holes in your brick, stone, and concrete floor, lowering maintenance requirements and eliminating the need for stain removal whenever you spill oil, battery acid, or gasoline. However, if you ramp up car-related activities in your garage, you must increase your maintenance frequency to keep it looking fresh. Dirt, debris, and pollutants can still accumulate on epoxy-coated floors if you do not clean them properly, making your garage look just as unkempt as if it only had bare concrete.
Avoid Direct Sunlight
Unlike polyaspartic and polyurea, epoxy coatings are resinous, which means they are prone to oxidation in extreme temperatures and adverse weather. Oxidation turns epoxy yellow after extended exposure to direct sunlight.
Most manufacturers create epoxy by disassembling aromatic moieties into bisphenol-A and bisphenol-F. Only optical-grade coatings with hydrogenated bisphenol-A and no bisphenol-F develop cycloaliphatic compounds that prevent them from going through weather-related discoloration. If you want to use the reflective qualities of your epoxy garage floor coating to brighten your garage, install slightly tinted windows to reduce exposure to UV rays.
Call the Flooring Experts at Armor Coating
If you want more maintenance tips for epoxy garage flooring, contact our technicians at Armor Coating Company by calling 715-934-9037 and requesting a free consultation.