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You wanted to be sure your concrete garage floor would have protection, so you put down epoxy garage floor paint. It’s looking great, and just looking at it makes you happy. You never thought garage flooring would make such a difference. Then, something horrible happens (queue the horror movie shrieking). Your epoxy garage floor coating takes a hit! Luckily for you, it’s not all that hard to fix a crack or chip when it comes to epoxy garage floors.

Preparing Your Epoxy Garage Floor Coating For Repair

The first thing you need to do is clean the area that needs to be prepared. You’ll want to get rid of dirt, but there will also likely be some sort of grease or oil, even if you don’t work on your car in your garage. Cars are funny like that, even brand new ones. If nothing else, tires track some pretty nasty stuff on to your garage floor coating. Luckily, since epoxy paint is designed to resist damage from chemicals, it’s also pretty good at taking a thorough cleaning. Although there are cleaners that are specifically designed for epoxy, dish soap works just as well, and is much easier on your hands. Don’t just clean the damage, either. Be sure to clean a wide area around the damaged spot as well.

And Now It’s Time To Amputate…

Just filling the affected area would be a bad idea as it would be very obvious. Paint in general, and epoxy is no exception, fades over time and changes color. On cars, you can just blend the new and old paint with a scratch removal product or a clay bar. Epoxy, though, resists chemicals, which means that won’t work. To blend epoxy paints, you’ll have to remove a large-ish area so that the new paint isn’t so obvious. A good hobby knife or a box cutter can be used for this. Cut a few inches around the area, or even more if the area is exceptionally obvious, like right in the middle of your floor. Once you’ve made the cut, use a blow dryer to warm the area until it starts to soften, and remove the paint with a newish, sharp paint scraper.

Don’t Forget To Breathe!

Okay, now that there is a bare area, you can start to repair your epoxy garage floor coating. Make sure to use any directions that came with the epoxy kit, but use common sense as well, acknowledging that you are working on a much smaller area than what those directions were written for. Feather the edges of the old and new paint so that the colors blend at least a little bit. Make sure, too, that you have good ventilation in your garage whenever you are working with epoxy garage floor coating. Epoxy fumes are not good for human lungs.

Keeping It From Happening Again

Buy a garage floor mat! If it happened once, it will happen again. To prevent that, buy some sort of garage floor covering, at least for using whenever your garage floor might take a hit. After everything is said and done, you’ll be very glad you did. Epoxy garage floor coatings are very nice to look at, and certainly durable, but they’re not indestructible.

Check out Sweet Garage Floor for more information to help you choose or repair yourgarage floor coating.

There’s no question that Quikrete is the most popular brand among garage floor coatings. This may be due to their good reputation, or the catchy name, but I don’t think anyone even comes close. If you consider this, then it makes a lot of sense for Quikrete Concrete Stain to be seen by many as the best possible garage floor stain available.

There Are Two Different Quikrete Concrete Stains, And Neither Use That Name

There’s not a particular product that is named “Quikrete Concrete Stain”. This can be kind of confusing since, if you do a search on Quikrete Concrete Stain, you’ll probably get one of these entries: Quikrete Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain, or Quikrete Etching Stain. Be careful which you pick, because these two products will result in different looks. For the time being, we’ll concentrate on the Quikrete Etching Stain. I’ll most likely talk about their Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain later on. Hey, stop whining, I’ll get around to it. And eat those peas, too.

Quikrete Suggests Using Etching Stain On A Garage Floor

Actually, to be more exact, Quikrete doesn’t recommend you use anything other than etching stain in your garage, and for good reason. Etching involves nothing short of melting the top layer of your concrete garage floor with acid so that you can scrape texture into it while, in this case, adding the stain as well. The result is garage flooring with improved grip for both car tires and human shoes or feet, as well as an old world, classic stone look.

Don’t Worry, Etching Isn’t All That Hard

As far as home improvement projects go, concrete etching is easy. In fact, Quikrete etching stain is actually a one-coat job. However, you do still have to apply a sealant, so you can forget about it being a truly one coat job. Even though, the application on the whole is a lot simpler than any epoxy garage floor paint, and you will have some protection after the sealant is on there, which is something that you can’t claim with stain alone. Don’t forget you also need to clean your garage floors, especially if you have any grease or oil stains, and you may want to use some sort of stain remover. Not really one coat, is it?

Is Staining Cheaper Than Epoxy Garage Floor Coating?

Well, usually, but not in this particular case. Quikrete Etching Stain can run over $300, even before sealant and cleaner, probably due to the acids that are used during the etching. That’s not cheap for concrete stain, which usually is less expensive than most garage floor tiles. However, garage floor tile will not result in a marble look. Worth the additional money? Well, that totally depends on your perspective. If the main purpose is to protect your concrete, then probably not, even though the seal in the end will give a bit of protection. If the point of all this is to give your garage an interesting look from other, more common garage floor finishes, then you may have found your coating.

Visit Sweet Garage Floor for more information about every kind of garage floor out there.

There are two different mainstream types of garage floor tile: peel and stick tile, also known as self adhesive, and interlocking. When many people search for garage floor tiles, they are confused by this as manufacturers and resellers don’t always make it clear that there is a difference. Let’s take a look at peel and stick tile for garage floors, and see if it’s right for your needs.

Installing Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile

The installation for peel and stick garage floor tiles is as straightforward as it is obvious. You peel the backing off, then you stick them too the concrete garage floor. Of course, before you even begin the floor must be thoroughly cleaned. After all, you wouldn’t want your new tiles sticking to something other than the concrete like, say, dust. In fact, with the exception of an epoxy garage floor coating, no other solution takes as much cleaning to get right. One advantage over epoxy garage floor coatings, though, is that you can take as long as you like to complete the install, as long as you re-clean the floor before you begin sticking things to it again. Of course, as always, follow the directions with your particular product.

Peel And Stick Tile Is Not Terribly Expensive, But It Can Be Hard To Find

Although there are many places that you can buy this garage floor covering, peel and stick tile seems to be a bit sparse when it comes to the more traditional places to purchase flooring or home improvement supplies, such as hardware stores. They exist, but they can sometimes be hard to find, and selection may be limited. As such, prices are all over the place, and it seems there’s not particular size of garage that a set will cover. I’ve found everything from 40 square foot to 66 square foot, and prices ranging from $112 to well over $300. Be careful, before you buy, that your kit will include enough garage floor tile to at least cover your garage.

Durability Of Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tile

There are quite a few garage floor coverings to choose from, but tile is most likely the most durable. Since they actually stick to the very solid concrete, they won’t be damaged by being rubbed around against the concrete, as garage floor mats are. Remember when you shop, though, that most of the garage floor tiles’ strength will come from their own makeup, so consider what you intend to do in your garage when you choose.

Why Peel And Stick Garage Floor Tiles May Not Be Your Best Option

Peel and stick tiles are immobile. I only bring this up because snap together tiles, as well as a garage floor mat, can be moved around when needed. Because of this, if you are only intending on covering a portion of your floor, I would definitely suggest going the route of something that you can move. The final price will likely be less, and you may as well get all of the features that you can. Also, when you’re ready to cover your entire garage floor, you’ll already have a mat to protect your nice new garage flooring!

Check out Sweet Garage Floor for even more great garage floor information.

Etching is often an overlooked step when people apply garage floor paint. For your garage floor coating to be at its best, though, etching is a necessity. For the most part, garage floor coatings can be used without etching, but you will be missing out on a lot of the benefits of your epoxy paint, and it might not last as long.

When It Comes To A Garage Floor, What Is Etching?

Etching, which is just a spiffy term for cutting into the the surface of something, is more widely known outside of flooring. Glass etching is a very good example. Although the end result will give the user a slightly better grip if we’re talking about a drinking glass, etching is generally done on glass for decoration. With garage floors, decoration is generally not the primary goal, although the results do look better than the alternative, which is a liquid smooth mirror finish, to some eyes.

Is There Really Any Reason For Garage Floor Etching?

There are definitely some reasons why you would want to etch the concrete garage floor when using epoxy paint. First, if you do not etch the concrete, the epoxy paint will not give nearly as much traction as even concrete alone. Not only will this promote slips and falls, but driving upon non-etched, painted flooring can also result in annoying spin outs and such, although some prefer the smooth, non-etched look, and will take their chances to get it. If you intend to do work while in the garage, though, etching should be considered a necessity.

What If My Epoxy Garage Floor Paint Kit Says Etching Is Not Required?

In reality, etching is never required in order to apply a garage floor coating. However, if the instructions for your kit say to etch the concrete, then that is what you will have to do to get the maximum stated life out of your new epoxy coating. Without etching, epoxy paint cannot create a complete seal, and will peel far earlier. There are no hard and fast rules on how long epoxy garage floor paint can last, either with or without etching, but it will certainly last longer with etching than without. Some kits do not include etching in their instructions, which enables them to make the claim “No Etching Necessary!” or something similar. This is generally a marketing ploy, and the directions for those kits either do not mention how long the coating will last, or may say that although it not necessary, etching is recommended to get the maximum life out of your epoxy garage floor paint.

At What Point Should I Etch My Garage Floor?

Many of the more expensive epoxy garage floor coating kits will come with some sort of “etch and clean” chemical, and will come with explicit directions. When purchasing your epoxy garage floor paint, you will get the best value from the ones that include everything you need, as opposed to buying the chemicals separately. Whether in a kit, or purchased separately, etching should generally be applied to the garage flooring as the first step. If the etching product does not also clean, then cleaning your concrete garage floor will be what comes next.

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