Today homeowners are looking for ways to upgrade their homes to increase their value, but often the garage floor is over looked when it comes to a makeover. How many times have you seen a beautiful home but when you look in a garage the floor is cracked or stained from dripping oil or other automotive fluids? There are many things to take into consideration when shopping for garage flooring that will be discussed in this article.
The most common and easiest product to install is a garage floor mat. Typically they can be found as a single rubber or plastic mat that fits under your car, very similar to an area rug you may find in your home. The obvious advantage to using garage floor mats is they are inexpensive, easy to clean, and are portable. The drawback of course is you are only able to protect a small portion of your garage floor with a mat. Manufactures have solved this drawback by creating interlocking floor mat systems that can be easily put together in a day to cover your entire garage floor. The drawback to this of course is the time and costs to install the flooring have increased over a traditional mat. Mats are for the most part very resistant to chemicals that may be spilled on them. Typically they are made of vinyl, foam, rubber, or polypropylene, a plastic like material. While all are inexpensive, if you are worried about spills staying away from foam, unless it is coated, is a material you want to avoid.
Another option that is almost as easy to install as a floor mat are garage floor tiles. Many options are available and a few of those options do require easy to apply spray or tape adhesive. Garage tiles are very similar to home tiles, but are built for heavy duty use. For the most part garage tiles are made of vinyl and are much easier to install than home tiles. They require a couple of basic tools including a hammer, ruler, and a sharp utility knife to ensure proper fit. They are typically built with an interlocking system and are waterproof to keep moisture and spills off of the concrete floor. Styles vary, but colored tiles are easily found online or in some retail locations so you can customize the look of your garage to suit your tastes. Because of the ease of installation it can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two depending on the size of your garage to complete and installation. There are cheaper versions of tile available, but their quality is suspect and is easily cracked because they are often made out of hard plastic.
The most expensive and time consuming flooring option is using an epoxy system. Epoxy garage floors have one major advantage over the other methods; they are bonded to the floor itself and thus create a better water tight barrier of protection that other forms of flooring. An epoxy floor is also very customizable, and is one of the most durable flooring solutions available. This does come at a price, a time consuming installation that can take days. There are fumes involved so the area must be well ventilated, and the floor must be applied in warmer weather to keeping drying and curing times down.
Despite the expense in both time and money for an epoxy floor they are easy to apply. They go on just like you were painting a room in your house. The only difference is there are several steps to the process, floor prep, the base coat and coloring of the epoxy flooring, and the top UV coat that gives the floor its shine and durability. Epoxy garage flooring comes in two different types, water and solvent based epoxy flooring. Water based is the least expensive of the two but gives up some durability when compared to solvent based solutions.
When shopping for a garage floor you will have many options to choose from. Finding the right solution for you is wholly based on your needs, and the time you have for the project. If you take all of your needs into account when shopping for your new garage floor you will have little trouble finding the floor for you.
Today homeowners are looking for ways to upgrade their homes to increase their value, but often the garage floor is over looked when it comes to a makeover. How many times have you seen a beautiful home but when you look in a garage the floor is cracked or stained from dripping oil or other automotive fluids? There are many things to take into consideration when shopping for garage flooring that will be discussed in this article.
The most common and easiest product to install is a garage floor mat. Typically they can be found as a single rubber or plastic mat that fits under your car, very similar to an area rug you may find in your home. The obvious advantage to using garage floor mats is they are inexpensive, easy to clean, and are portable. The drawback of course is you are only able to protect a small portion of your garage floor with a mat. Manufactures have solved this drawback by creating interlocking floor mat systems that can be easily put together in a day to cover your entire garage floor. The drawback to this of course is the time and costs to install the flooring have increased over a traditional mat. Mats are for the most part very resistant to chemicals that may be spilled on them. Typically they are made of vinyl, foam, rubber, or polypropylene, a plastic like material. While all are inexpensive, if you are worried about spills staying away from foam, unless it is coated, is a material you want to avoid.
Another option that is almost as easy to install as a floor mat are garage floor tiles. Many options are available and a few of those options do require easy to apply spray or tape adhesive. Garage tiles are very similar to home tiles, but are built for heavy duty use. For the most part garage tiles are made of vinyl and are much easier to install than home tiles. They require a couple of basic tools including a hammer, ruler, and a sharp utility knife to ensure proper fit. They are typically built with an interlocking system and are waterproof to keep moisture and spills off of the concrete floor. Styles vary, but colored tiles are easily found online or in some retail locations so you can customize the look of your garage to suit your tastes. Because of the ease of installation it can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two depending on the size of your garage to complete and installation. There are cheaper versions of tile available, but their quality is suspect and is easily cracked because they are often made out of hard plastic.
The most expensive and time consuming flooring option is using an epoxy system. Epoxy garage floors have one major advantage over the other methods; they are bonded to the floor itself and thus create a better water tight barrier of protection that other forms of flooring. An epoxy floor is also very customizable, and is one of the most durable flooring solutions available. This does come at a price, a time consuming installation that can take days. There are fumes involved so the area must be well ventilated, and the floor must be applied in warmer weather to keeping drying and curing times down.
Despite the expense in both time and money for an epoxy floor they are easy to apply. They go on just like you were painting a room in your house. The only difference is there are several steps to the process, floor prep, the base coat and coloring of the epoxy flooring, and the top UV coat that gives the floor its shine and durability. Epoxy garage flooring comes in two different types, water and solvent based epoxy flooring. Water based is the least expensive of the two but gives up some durability when compared to solvent based solutions.
When shopping for a garage floor you will have many options to choose from. Finding the right solution for you is wholly based on your needs, and the time you have for the project. If you take all of your needs into account when shopping for your new garage floor you will have little trouble finding the floor for you.
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garage floor,
garage flooring