Garage Floors

More and more homeowners are looking for that clean, smooth garage floor surface that you find in the service areas of automobile dealers and even airplane hangers. For roughly $1,000 you can have that same type of surface on your garage floor as well.

This garage floor surface material is actually an epoxy. A two component epoxy, that forms a high performance, floor system that provides a high gloss, seamless hygienic surface that is extremely hard wearing and durable. This is the same type of surface you will find on the floors of airplane hangars and the service departments of high end automobile dealers.

It’s easy to keep clean. Very durable and very comfortable. Prep work is very important to prevent the surface from failing especially where the car has been sitting. Extensive cleaning of the concrete is essential. A grinder is used to scuff the surface of the garage floor. This is necessary to help bond the epoxy to the concrete. The grinder creates a lot of dirt and debris that not only must be swept up but vacuumed, as well. In some instances it’s necessary to mop it. But the surface must be allowed to dry for at least one week. One coat of primer is applied after the scuffing and cleaning process. This must be allowed to dry for at least 24 hours before the epoxy is applied. The primer also helps the epoxy to cling to the garage floor.

Mixing the epoxy is crucial because it’s self-activating. Once it is mixed, it already starts the drying process. So the workers have 30 minutes to apply a batch to the floor once it is mixed. The job will require about 5 to 6 batches of the top coating for a 3-car garage. The epoxy is applied with a squeegee. They will simply pour it on to the concrete. The upper edges and corners of the garage floor are hand painted with brushes. The job will require about 3 hours to pour. At 72° it will dry to the touch within 12 hours, for foot traffic - 24 hours, for automobile traffic - 7 hours.

You can expect to spend at least $1000 for residential grade epoxy on a 3-car garage. However, because the residential grade epoxy carries and odor, it is recommended that this be applied during the construction of the home. For existing homes it is recommended that industrial level epoxy be used to prevent the homeowner from having to live with the odor for several weeks. Industrial grade will cost around $1600 for the average 3-car garage.