Why coat my garage/shop floor?

[bedn0009]

All,

I'm curious as to why it makes sense to epoxy coat or otherwise coat a garage floor. Is it just for appearance?

Seems like a time expense for what really amounts to workspace

 

[JohnX14]

Appearance and in my case to make it non-slip as the concrete was slippery as ice when wet or snowy.

 

[Gozo]

It also makes it easy to clean up. Less dirt gets tracked into the house. The downside (at least with my garage) is water pools in the mild low spots because it doesn't absorb into the concrete as it did before the coating.

 

[Punchwood]

If you live in an area that uses salt on the roads in the winter, it will save your concrete from being eaten by the salt which causes big time pitting.

 

[mo2872]

+1 for easier cleanup/less tracking in the house. Absolutely hated working under the vehicles on bare concrete.

 

[A_Pmech]

Easy oil and dirt cleanup and the surface reflects much more light than dark concrete.

 

[drinkmoresake]

+1 for the added light being reflected off the epoxy. I was amazed how much brighter my garage was after applying a grey colored expoxy. Definitely can see much better when I am working under a car.

 

[TigerGA]

Covering your floor with anything (epoxy, RaceDeck, etc) keeps the dust down. So, if you're picky about what's in your garage...

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

You will understand once you do it.
It makes a big difference in clean ability, light reflectivity, etc...

 

[TGEC_Zac]

Take it to the next level and do a hybrid epoxy and polyaspartic full flake floor. Looks beautiful, is easy to clean and keeps the dirt and dust from sticking to the floor. It can also act as a vapor barrier by keep MVE (moisture vapor emissions) down. Add some cabinets and now you've got a functional and beautiful garage!

 

[Trey T]

When I work on projects in my garage (cars, wood, metal, etc...), I like to be in a very good environment with comfort space (nice flooring, workbench, good tools, etc...). I believe the work environment is a reflection to the quality of your product and nice flooring is one of the contribution.

If I don't cover my concrete floor, I will stain it and make it really dirty, thus the garage is dirty. Therefore, appearance is one of the factor but I believe, psychologically, it affects the way you attack your project.

If you're a first-time homeowner and don't work in your garage much, you won't see the value in spending $500-$1000 (assume 2-car garage) to cover the floor w/ industrial-type epoxy. Just like storage space in your garage, you'll need to spend several thousand dollars to keep all of your stuff organized and be ready for any project.

 

[Falcon67]

X14 to the above. Easy clean up, easy sweep, less dust, looks nicer.

 

[houstonch73]

Covering your floor with anything (epoxy, RaceDeck, etc) keeps the dust down. So, if you're picky about what's in your garage...

How does coating the floor keep dust down?

 

[Trey T]

I think he meant that if you have a smoother surface, you're likely to put in less effort of cleaning up the dirt/dust. It's really hard to clean the dust off the concrete porous surface.

Let's take two types of dirty (dust) floor: bare concrete (no sealer) vs epoxy coated. To clean the concrete floor, you have to spray the floor down and sweep it. To clean the epoxy coat down you just mop it.

Another way to explain it, in a scientific way, is a bare concrete floor have more surface area (bc of pore spaces) than an epoxy or plastic tile floor (i.e. Swisstraxx). Dirt are likely to be stuck on a higher surface area space (assuming same floor space).

 

[cnk]

How does coating the floor keep dust down?

Concrete floors dust if not sealed from normal use.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[MotoDave]

Just to be contradictory - I left my floor bare, because my garage is more of a fabrication space than anything. I've seen what welding, dropping heavy parts, dragging tables around etc does to nice looking epoxy floors, no thanks.

If I had a separate space for the heavy work, and just parked my car and polished wrenches in the garage, then sure I'd coat it

 

[Trey T]

^That's true but I think most people on here understand the limitation.

You probably saw the thread recently about the guy complain about this plastic tile flooring w/ burn holes resulting from weld splatter. In response from GJ members to that, majority of the them already understood that heat can burn plastic or polymer (or cured polymer) floors --- WELL DUH!!!

Therefore, your reply isn't contradictory, you're just not informed or understand the limitation yet. Sorry for being so harsh but I don't like beating the bushes.

 

[A_Pmech]

Just to be contradictory - I left my floor bare, because my garage is more of a fabrication space than anything. I've seen what welding, dropping heavy parts, dragging tables around etc does to nice looking epoxy floors, no thanks.

If I had a separate space for the heavy work, and just parked my car and polished wrenches in the garage, then sure I'd coat it

The beauty of epoxy is that it was designed specifically for working spaces. It makes cleanup a breeze!

My welding table weighs around two tons and I've burned a few hundred pounds of rod on it. The floor beneath cleans up just fine - note the lightly scrubbed spot.

The only time dropping something damages the epoxy is when the concrete beneath fails.

 

[kwfloors]

Ditto to the salt damage off your car pitting the concrete. Look at all the sidewalks that have to be salted in winter and how they look in a couple of years.

 

[RaceDeck1]

On this flip side of dropping things that damage a floor.. We have many customers who use RaceDeck to protect the items they may drop. Like expensive billet aluminum parts on cars and bikes, engine build rooms where they may drop cranks, pistons, etc.. and a host of other items where RaceDeck could save the part.

 

[DieselFxr]

For me it's appearance, clean up and the light it helps reflect. Just makes for a nicer work space IMHO.