How To Apply Floor Coatings

It is true that most falls and slips in your house happen in the bathroom. It is considered to be the number one most dangerous place in a home. But do you know which comes next? Another area of the house that can be very dangerous when wet is the garage. The floor of the garage is the culprit of most slips and falls aside from the bathroom floor. In order to lessen your worries about these kinds of accidents, you should consider applying a good quality garage floor coating.

There are various kinds of garage floor coatings and what you choose for your floor depends on the usual function of your floor and the amount of traffic in your garage. Usually, you apply a coating that can hold up to a car driving on it several times a day. Such a coating can lower the original cost but it can still give you the nonslip surface you need for protection against falls.

If the epoxy garage floor coating is good enough, it can endure the average traffic of a regular home garage. For industrial floors, epoxy can also be used but it will function much better if it has two to three coats. In fact, this is the usual practice to achieve a higher quality of epoxy coating. In a home garage floor, one coating is usually enough. In garages that are mostly used as storage rooms, and there is hardly any traffic from automobiles, an epoxy coating can last for two decades.

The key to applying a garage floor treatment that will last for several years is to be sure the sub-floor concrete is absolutely clean. The number one reason for floor coating failure is a surface that has not been adequately prepared by cleaning and degreasing. You really can't expect an epoxy to bond to any floor that is not suitably prepared, and if you do try it, you will be disappointed.

When you apply a garage floor sealer the epoxy will actually chemically bond with the concrete. This can not occur if there is any kind of petroleum product contaminating the surface. It goes without saying that you would need to get all the dirt and grime off of the floor but many people forget about oil stains. It is very rare to see a garage floor that has been used for parking a car which does not have some oil spots either large or small.

It is best that you test the floor for water beads before the application of the garage floor sealant. The water bead test is done by spraying a light coat of water on the concrete floor and then observing the outcome. If there is a formation of water beads in some spots, that means that the spot is contaminated with oil. You should use a high quality degreaser in order to remove all the oil lying on the concrete. Once you are done scrubbing off the oil with the degreaser and rinsing the surface floor, do a water bead test again. You should repeat the steps for degreasing as long as there are still water beads.

If, during the water bead test, the entire floor shows that there are water beads, it means that the concrete floor has a clear coating. To remove the clear coat, etch the floor by using a weak solution of muriatic acid. Scrub the solution using a floor broom then rinse the floor thoroughly with water.

Even if you are just planning to put apply a garage floor paint and not an epoxy coating, you should still do the water bead test since floor paints cannot stick to contaminated concrete floor either. If your garage functions as storage and not as an area to park your car, you can opt to use a cheap paint that already has anti-slip additives so that your surface will be safe. However, if the paint peels up easily, the additives are useless.

After you are done preparing the floor, the next thing to do is to roll out the epoxy flooring and start applying the coat to the surface. For this task, you should use a nap paint roller and apply the coating in one six foot square area at a time. Then, spread the nonslip additive after applying the coat in a small area because it is useless if the paint or epoxy is already dry. The additive, usually flakes or granules, can provide the traction you need for a safer garage floor.

If you have other areas in your house that are slippery you can just apply a non-slip paint. You need to clean the surface like above but the traffic load will be much less so an epoxy is not necessary. Possible areas where the paint could be applied would be the front porch and sidewalk along with concrete walkways in the back yard. The fact is, it is never a bad idea to improve the non-slip attributes of a walkway or floor.