Bob Jogging Strollers

What do you use your garage for? Do you just park things on it, or do you actually get in there to work? Either way, you’ll want some sort of epoxy garage floor coating or covering, but if you plan to be doing work, you’ll want to get a lot more specific. After all, garage flooring is an investment, so you may as well get the right one!

Ability To Deflect Chemicals

Working in your garage will, by necessity, involve spilling chemicals on the floor. Motor oil comes to mind first, but there are others. Luckily, those who make garage floor coatings and coverings seems to be aware of this, as all of the garage floors available are perfectly capable of resisting any damage done by the most often used, and spilled, chemicals. If you want to take it to the next level, though, some garage floor mats and tiles are designed to channel liquids out of your garage, as well. This is especially useful when it comes time to clean up, since a basic water hose suddenly becomes a comprehensive cleaning tool. However, be careful not to pollute the area outside of your garage. Just because the chemicals are mixed with water does not mean they are safe to let absorb into the soil.

Surviving Being Driven Upon

This is an area where epoxy garage floor paint notoriously has issues. Cars go in garages, and cars tend to have hot tires when they’ve been going down the road, so the fact that epoxy paint has a reputation for peeling under hot tires is a heck of a stigma. There’s even a term for it: hot tire pickup. Most paint manufacturers promise that, with newer blends, this is not an issue. However, practical experience does not always agree with these claims, although you can never be sure that those who complain applied the epoxy paint correctly. Neither garage floor tiles nor other garage floor coverings have this issue, although mats can bunch up under moving tires, especially during steering. Again, though, that’s supposed to be a thing of the past.

Deflecting Less Predictable Damage

Epoxy paint does not fare well here, either, due to chipping. When a dropped tool hits a garage floor mat, the result is usually a bouncing tool. However, if it hits paint, there will be a chip, and likely much cursing. Of course, an floor with epoxy paint is a lot stronger than a non-protected concrete garage floor, but anything solid is still going to be prone to this type of damage. Garage floor tile sometimes has the same problem, depending on the tiles’ consistency, but unlike epoxy, you can merely exchange the affected tiles for new if needed.

Outlasting The Elements

Of course, the elements have a lot to do with exactly what the flooring will have to survive. As long as moisture doesn’t get it first, epoxy will definitely do the best job protecting concrete. With that in mind, be sure to test your floor for moisture before you even order or buy your epoxy. Tiles do not do a lot to protect against the elements, except cause some heat retention, which is still a good thing in the winter months as that’s when concrete often splits and cracks. Even less effective, but still better than nothing, would be a garage floor covering, such as a mat.

For more information on garage flooring, check out Sweet Garage Floor.

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