Selecting Your Garage Floor Based On Its Ability To Withstand Damage

What do you use your garage for? Do you just park things on it, or do you actually get in there to work? Either way, you'll want some sort of epoxy garage floor coating or covering, but if you plan to be doing work, you'll want to get a lot more specific. After all, garage flooring is an investment, so you may as well get the right one!

Ability To Deflect Chemicals

When working on vehicles, you're going to spill chemicals, and probably lots of them; that's just how it goes. Not just motor oil, either. It seems that those who make garage floor coatings, as well as coverings, have got this part down pat as most every option can protect against anything chemical. If you're also looking direct the spilled liquids, you should look at garage floor mats or tiles since they can channel those liquids. All you have to do is spray them down with a water hose. However, be very careful not to send all those chemicals straight to the soil. Regardless of what some people say and believe, diluting these chemicals won't save the groundwater from contamination.

Surviving Being Driven Upon

This is an area where epoxy garage floor paint notoriously has issues. Cars go in garages, and cars tend to have hot tires when they've been going down the road, so the fact that epoxy paint has a reputation for peeling under hot tires is a heck of a stigma. There's even a term for it: hot tire pickup. Most paint manufacturers promise that, with newer blends, this is not an issue. However, practical experience does not always agree with these claims, although you can never be sure that those who complain applied the epoxy paint correctly. Neither garage floor tiles nor other garage floor coverings have this issue, although mats can bunch up under moving tires, especially during steering. Again, though, that's supposed to be a thing of the past.

Deflecting Less Predictable Damage

In this category, epoxy paint loses, for one main reason: chipping. Dropping a tool on a garage floor mat usually ends up with the tool bouncing a ways, but that's about it. Chip your epoxy paint, though, and you'll be cursing up a storm. There's no doubt that an epoxied floor is much tougher than a concrete garage floor, but it's still susceptible to chipping. Garage floor tile may or may not have this same limitation, depending on what the tile is made of, but at least you can just swap out the damaged tile if it becomes damaged.

Surviving The Elements

The ability to survive the elements depends a lot on, well, the elements. Epoxy will protect the concrete itself the best, there's no doubt, but only if it's not defeated by moisture. Make sure you test your concrete for excess moisture before considering epoxy. Tiles don't do much when it comes to protecting from the elements, but they do help your concrete retain heat, which is good during the wintertime when concrete tends to split and crack. A garage floor covering, like a mat, will do even less, but it will still be better than no protection at all.