Resurfacing Your Garage Floor: Weighing the Options

Garages typically act as the catch-all for storage. However, some garages actually do house cars and workshops, and for these garages having a durable and long-lasting floor surface is crucial. Unfortunately, regular concrete slabs wear-out, cracking and settling over time. Therefore, when it is time to resurface your garage floor, you owe it to yourself to weigh all your options.

Staining or Painting

The first and most affordable option is to paint or stain the surface. Unfortunately, this application does not provide a significant amount of protection. Stains offer essentially no durability to falls, but they do provide some resistance for spills because they do fill in the pours of the concrete. Paint can provide limited protection, depending on the type of paint being used. An outdoor enamel-based paint does offer a hard top coat that is resilient to some falls and also provides superior spill protection.

Laying Out Mats

Mats provide a level of durability and versatility. However, they are not permanent and may not protect against all types of spills, especially those that occur outside of their border. Mats do offer padding and support for work areas, but they may not be suited for automobiles. There are rollout mats that can be removed when not in use, but that adds to labor and necessary storage.

Choosing Tile

Another viable option is click together flooring. While there are vinyl click together tiles used for indoor applications, the tiles referenced here are specific to garages. These tiles are typically vented to allow for spills and are made of hard plastics. They are strong enough to park on and durable enough to handle falls. Additionally, if a tile gets damaged, they are easy to replace. Unfortunately, tiles may be the most expensive option on the list.

Coating with Epoxy

A compromise when resurfacing garage floor is to choose epoxy. Epoxy coatings offer the strength and durability of tiles but without the significant price tag. The price is somewhere in between paint and tile. Epoxy is like applying a tough rubber or plastic coating onto your entire garage floor. However, while there are DIY kits available, the specifics of this treatment make it more suited toward professional application.

There are plenty of options available for resurfacing your concrete garage floor, but which choice is right for you depends on your needs. If you use the garage as secondary storage, then a fresh coat of paint may suffice. However, if your garage is used for a variety of activities, like parking, shop work and storage, then you may be better off with a garage tile or an epoxy coating.

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