If you’re on the lookout for a new garage floor finish, you’ll have stumbled upon epoxy coatings sooner or later. It’s easy to clean, chemical-resistant, and lasts for years—no wonder it’s a popular choice for a lot of homeowners looking to upgrade their floors. Plenty of stores sell DIY kits so if you’ve got the time and resources, you can certainly apply the epoxy coating yourself. However, there are certain facts you need to know before you start working with epoxy coatings. Read on to find out five of them:
1. You’re Not Using Paint
Epoxy coating isn’t paint but customers previously thought they were and tended to use the term when they searched for epoxy painting brands online. Companies that marketed epoxy paint followed this practice, adding to the confusion.
2. You Need to Mix It
Epoxy coatings don’t come in one can. What you actually get are two cans—one contains the epoxy resin and the other, the polyamine hardener. When you mix these two together, you end up with the epoxy coating.
3. You Need to Work Fast
Epoxy coatings dry very quickly. So if you take a 30-40 minute break in between applying the coat to your floors, you might be surprised to find instead of the can of viscous and thick epoxy coating you left behind, you now have a hardened mass that won’t do you any good, at all. So if you’re going to apply this on your own, remember this and make sure you work fast but clean. Don’t be sloppy. Rushing might lead to thick applications of the coat in some portions and thin applications in other sections. That won’t look good. Try your best to even out the application of the coat.
4. You Need More Solids
In affordable, cost-effective DIY kits, the epoxy solid content is usually only 48 percent. That’s why you can apply the epoxy coating like paint. The less solid epoxy content there is, the easier and more malleable the material is. The more solid content, on the other hand, the less easy it is to work with. However, more solid content means the coat is going to be more durable. So be careful about putting in the right volume of the solids.
5. You Need Help
If DIY doesn’t appeal to you, companies like Granite Garage Floors in Denver offer granite floor epoxy finishes they’ll install so you won’t have to.
So get ready to upgrade your garage floors. With epoxy finishes, you can enjoy better looking floors for years.
