by Mazza Concrete | Sep 29, 2016 | Epoxy Garage Floor
Contact Mazza Company Concrete at (248) 625-3305 for Birmingham, MI epoxy garage floor installation.
Benefits of choosing Epoxy Coating for your Garage Floor:
Make your garage floor stain free: Apart from making your garage floor look great, the hard epoxy coating is very durable and immune to chemicals and stains. Your floor is safe!
Covers up flawed concrete: Does your garage floor have any minor imperfections like small spider cracks or flaws in the concrete? A professionally installed epoxy coating is thick and does a great job of covering these types of flaws.
Get rid of the dust: Concrete floors are dusty. Most of the dust you find in your garage, the kind of dusty powder that collects on your cars and storage items comes from a concrete garage floor. An epoxy coating, however, is like a topical sealer which will cover up the concrete to make it a dust free floor. That keeps your garage and home a lot cleaner and healthier.
Easy to clean during the winter: During the winter months, icy brines, and road salts tend to find their way onto our garage floor. If you had a concrete floor, cleaning would be quite a challenge. But epoxy coating is naturally moisture resistant and can handle chemicals well too. Having an epoxy garage floor makes cleaning during the snowy months a breeze. All you need is a little soap and water.
Garage floors are slippery: Most garage floors have a smooth finish. So when they get wet, they are very slippery. A good epoxy coating with slip resistance will quickly take care of this problem and will help you stay on your feet and not on your back!
Improves the value of your home: A nicely installed epoxy coating is more attractive in your garage compared to a stained, dull concrete floor. An epoxy coating increases the value of your home to a potential buyer if they know they can move in with confidence, knowing they don’t have to do any maintenance on the garage floor.
It’s garage proof: Epoxy coatings are chemical and stain resistant. So if you spill any oil, grease, brake fluids, gasoline or any other car or bike chemicals on your garage floor, there is no need to panic. They can be wiped away easily, even if the oil or chemical sits for a while. source: sealmaxxofcolumbus.com
If you are interested in an epoxy garage floor in Birmingham, Michigan or surrounding areas please call Mazza Company Concrete at (248) 625-3305.
by Mazza Concrete | Jun 30, 2016 | Epoxy Garage Floor
Mazza Company Concrete specializes in the installation of epoxy garage floors in Birmingham, MI and the surrounding areas. Please call us at (248) 625-3305 to schedule a free consultation.
The Benefits of Epoxy Garage Floors
One of the toughest and most durable finishes that you can apply to a garage floor today is an epoxy coating. Not only does it protect your garage floor, it can instantly transform your boring or ugly cement into a professional looking floor of beauty and function. And since the garage is fast becoming more than just a place where you park the car, the benefits of garage floor epoxy have quickly made it one of the top choices for garage flooring today.
Used for both residential and commercial applications, epoxy will give your garage or shop floor that showroom shine that says “look at me”! Depending on which application you choose, you can select from a variety of understated solid colors and hues, to custom colors and blends of color flakes that match your style or even your favorite sports team.
So let’s examine briefly what an epoxy coating really is, what the benefits are for you, learn how it’s applied, and some of the costs involved.
What is garage floor epoxy?
We’ll start by ending some confusion about epoxy right now. An epoxy garage floor coating is not paint. Paint for garage floors is a latex acrylic product. Some paints will have a small percentage of epoxy added to the mix to make it more durable than standard paint, but it is still paint. These are known as epoxy paints or 1-part epoxy paint.
Epoxy is an actual thermosetting resin that is applied as a coating. It is formed when you mix one part epoxide resin with one part polyamine hardener. The hardener acts as a catalyst and is what gives epoxy its strength.
Unlike paint that has to dry, epoxy cures. When the two parts are mixed, a chemical reaction is started which creates an exothermic curing process. This curing process produces polymer structures that are closely cross-linked giving epoxy its superior strength and durability. The end result is a coating that is much thicker than paint and bonds tenaciously to a properly prepared surface.
Benefits of a garage floor epoxy coating
So what makes an epoxy coating one of the best finishes for your garage floor? Besides looking nice, the hardened and thick application that you get from epoxy creates a coating that is very durable and resilient to impacts, chipping, chemicals, stains, and surface abrasion. You don’t have to panic about damaging the floor if you drop a wrench or a bicycle falls over.
The thicker coating also does a great job of covering over minor imperfections such as small spider cracks and flaws in the concrete. Because epoxy is a topical sealer, it is also anti-dusting. Much of the dust in a garage is created from the powder that a cement floor can shed. Normal traffic on bare concrete can kick up this dusty powder that has a tendency of collecting on cars, tool benches, and storage items, as well as being tracked into the house.
As a topical coating it is also naturally moisture resistant. This is a great benefit for people who live in snowy climates. It makes for easy cleaning of icy brines and road salts that can collect on the floor during the winter. Just a little mild soap and water is all it takes. Dust and debris can be collected with a dust mop or soft broom when the floor is dry.
Depending on whether you added colored acrylic flakes to the floor and the type of topcoat used, some surfaces can be slippery when wet. For people who live in drier climates this usually isn’t an issue. If you want some extra grip however, you can add slip resistant aggregate to the final coat that will create a non-skid surface.
Epoxy coatings receive high reviews from the home mechanics and hobbyists as well. Since it is both chemical and stain resistant, oil, brake fluids, anti-freeze, gasoline, and other caustic car chemicals can easily be wiped up without worry – even if it sits for a while. Rolling tool boxes, jacks, and jack stands will not damage the floor either. It also brightens up the garage environment because it is very light reflective depending on what type of finish you choose.
As tough as this type of garage floor covering is, it’s not resistant to everything however. Welding is hard on epoxy because it can create burn marks from the hot slag that falls on it. It’s also not a good choice for garage floors that have moisture issues. The rate of moisture vapor transmission from underneath the slab can cause epoxy to delaminate if it is too high.
A common question that pops up about epoxy garage floors is hot tire pick up. This is caused when the hot tires from your car can soften lessor quality coatings. The tires then cool down and contract after driving which causes the tire tread to literally grab and pull at the surface of the still soft coating. This process will actually cause the epoxy to delaminate as the tire pulls it up off the floor.
This is a problem that is associated more with the lesser quality products such as store bought epoxy paint kits. These are usually water based coatings that are 50% solids at best and only 3 mils thick, as compared to 100% solids epoxy that is 10 mils or more thick. This is found in quality commercial product or professionally installed coatings.
Because the thicker, multiple coat epoxy floors wear so well, warranties of up to 15 years or more for installation by professional installers is becoming common. Many manufacturers of 100% solids epoxy warranty the product against defects for the life of the floor. source: allgaragefloors.com
If you are interested in an epoxy garage floor in Birmingham, MI or surrounding areas please contact Mazza Company Concrete at (248) 625-3305.
