The Best Garage Floor Coatings to Prevent Oil Stains
(Page 2 of 3)
May 14, 2009
By Todd Kaho
With the floor clean, you can patch any chips and fill cracks in the floor. Concrete patch material works well for larger areas, and it’s easy to fill the cracks with a concrete mortar repair compound applied with a caulking gun. Some floor paints require a primer coat, others don’t. Again follow the application instructions on the can. Rolling out the floor paint is really the easy part of the job. Use a long-handle roller and a high-quality roller cover made for the material you’re applying.
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Some epoxy floor paints will require two coats (especially if you didn’t apply a primer). Apply a light base coat and allow it to dry completely before applying the final finish coat. Most products recommend at least 24 hours of curing time before walking on the surface and as much as a week before you park anything on the treated floor.
Epoxy Flooring Coatings
Epoxy-based garage floor coatings are popular because they are relatively inexpensive (about $70 to cover 250 square feet) and widely available at hardware stores and home improvement centers. A little shopping will help you find the one that will work best for your situation. A variety of colors are available, and some have contrasting color flakes that are sprinkled over the wet floor surface to make it more visually appealing and add a bit of texture. The epoxy in these coatings bonds well to the concrete and makes the finish durable when properly applied.
Beware Of VOCs
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be quite strong with many solvent or oil-based epoxy garage floor paints. If you choose to use this type of paint, always take proper precautions and use a high-quality respirator during application — and anytime you’re exposed to the vapors. Fumes can be heavy with these products, and VOCs aren’t the most environmentally friendly elements to work with. One alternative is to have the coating professionally applied, so you won’t have to deal with the fumes, though they will still be released into the atmosphere. A quick Internet search will reveal specialty garage floor coating outfits more than ready to manage the job for you. And some offer green products.
