Because it serves more as utility space than it does rooms for living or entertaining, you likely treat your southwest Florida-area garage with an out-of-sight-out-of-mind sentiment. Like other areas of your home, your garage needs regular maintenance to preserve it from daily wear and tear. Over time, your garage floor’s concrete surface can break down and deteriorate. Concrete is also absorbent, which means that spills, tracked-in dirt, and other contaminants can permanently stain the surface.

You can renew and beautify your concrete floors with garage floor and concrete paint, stains, or dyes. Paint can cover unsightly stains and add vibrant coloring to your garage floor. Concrete water stains penetrate deeper to ensure more color permanence, while dyes provide even greater color saturation. While these coatings certainly brighten and beautify the drab look of the concrete, they will not prevent new staining and only offer limited protection to the underlying concrete. As such, your premier Naples, Florida-based painting company—FCI Painting—recommends using epoxy floor coatings to ensure maximum protection for garage floors.

Difference between Epoxy Coatings and Paints

While paint manufacturers offer “epoxy paints” designed for garage floors and similar applications, such products are not technically an epoxy coating. They do not provide the strength and durability of epoxy. Epoxy paint is a mixture of epoxy and solvents. It produces a glossy finish that provides better adhesion and durability than regular paint. Not to the extent of a proper epoxy coating.

True epoxy coatings are made by combing epoxide resin with a polyamine hardener and other additives. When applied to your concrete floor, it chemically bonds with it to form a thick, protective layer as it hardens. Once cured, this new durable surface can withstand scratches, stains, and other wear and tear far beyond other coatings.

Advantages of Using Epoxy Floor Coatings for Your Garage

Strength is perhaps the best advantage of using an epoxy coating for garage floors. If you drop a heavy item on a concrete floor, whether painted or not, it’s likely going to take a chip out of it or otherwise leave a mark. Not so, with an epoxy coated garage floor, which has essentially increased the concrete’s surface strength by 7,000 pounds per square inch. This strength also makes it resistant to other potential damage that could be caused by oils, chemicals, or water. An epoxy coating is a sealant, which means that water, oils, and chemicals will not seep into the concrete.

This leads us to another oft-cited advantage—easy to clean! If you spill oil, chemicals, or other potentially staining substances on the epoxy coating, it will clean easily. In fact, the epoxy surface makes keeping it clean a breeze. Dust and other minute debris will sweep up with ease. Epoxy’s clean surface maintained with simple washing with soap and water; (acidic cleaning products should be avoided as they dull the shiny surface with prolonged usage).

Epoxy coatings are long-lasting and provide years of protection to the underlying concrete surface. The added tensile strength offered by epoxy offers better support for automobiles and other heavy equipment stored in your garage. This will help prevent cracking and further deterioration of the underlying concrete.

Epoxy floor coatings are also versatile, with different color options and design configurations to highlight your garage’s style. Epoxy’s shiny surface adds sophistication to your floor’s look, and it can hide any existing defects or other imperfections in the concrete. Decorative mica or quartz chips can be added to the mixture to make interesting designs while also improving its slip resistance.

Other benefits of using epoxy coating for garage floors include:

• Cost-effective—based on its longevity and the cost of other garage flooring upgrades.
• Enhanced safety and visibility—epoxy’s shiny surface improves the overall lighting of spaces. There are many a number of additives can make the floor more slip and fall resistant.
• Eco-Friendly-while epoxy is a chemical compound, its longevity and ease of application results in less environmental impacts than many other garage floor conditioning methods.

Consult with a Professional Naples, FL Painting Company

If you would like to spruce up and fortify your garage with an epoxy floor coating but don’t have the time to do it yourself, FCI Painting can tackle the job for you. With more than 25 years of experience helping southwest Florida homeowners and businesses with all of their painting needs, contact Naples, Florida-based FCI Painting online or call us at (239) 435-1001.