Prepping for Your Epoxy Garage Floor Coating
An epoxy floor coating in Litchfield Park can protect your garage floor, extending its longevity and making it look great for a longer time. It can also make it much easier to keep your garage floors clean – you just need a sweep and a mop to get rid of most dirt and debris.
The benefits of epoxy floor coatings are only as good as the installation, however. If the floor coating hasn’t been properly applied, it will soon wear off and leave your garage floors exposed. Properly prepping the floor is key to ensuring that the coatings are applied correctly. You need to hire a flooring contractor who knows how to prep the floors properly. Here’s what’s involved:
Cleaning the Floor
Dirt, oil, chemicals, and old coatings can all cover the surface of your garage floors and make it harder for the new coating to bond to the floors. The floors need to be thoroughly stripped and cleaned to provide a good surface to which the coating can bond. You can’t use a simple household cleaner and expect that to do the job. Your contractor should use professional strength cleaners that will get the job done quickly and effectively.
Grinding the Floor
Cleaning the floor won’t be enough to get the coating to adhere in the long term. The floor also needs to be grinded to get it ready. The grinding strips everything off the surface and provides a rougher surface to which the coating can bind.
Most epoxy floor coating professionals prefer diamond grinding to prepare the floors. Diamond grinding is less destructive to the floors since it does not cause micro fracturing on the surface. Those small fractures can cause the coating to weaken over time, which can make the whole floor vulnerable. Diamond grinding is also preferred because it does not leave behind lines where the floor was blasted, so it maintains an even surface. Diamond grinding also removes old coatings quickly and effectively.
Other Alternatives
Some epoxy floor installers will use shot blasting to prepare the floors instead of grinding. However, there are some disadvantages to grinding that make it an inferior choice for floor prep. For example, the tools used for shot blasting cannot get as close to walls as grinders, which means parts of the floor won’t be as adequately prepared. Shot blasting is also much noisier than grinding, which can make the process disruptive and stressful, especially if you have small children or sick relatives at home.
There are other drawbacks to shot blasting. Typically, it is not as quick as grinding, which means that it can increase the overall cost of the job. Shot blasting also requires the application of additional primer and body coatings, which can increase the overall cost. Using grinding to prep the floor can make the job go faster and can make the job more affordable. Talk to your contractor about the method to be used for prepping the floor and ensure that they are using the right options.
Proper preparation is key to ensuring that your epoxy floor coatings bond with your garage floors and have a long life. If you hire the right floor coating contractor, you shouldn’t have a problem. Experienced professionals will know how to properly prepare the floor for long-term results and a beautiful surface. Take your time in researching the contractors in your area before hiring one, and ask a lot of questions about the process before you make a choice. The contractor you choose will have a big impact on the results you get and the return you get on your investment.
Barefoot Surfaces has years of experience apply all kinds of concrete floor finishes, and our experienced contractors use the best methods for preparing your garage floors so that you get beautiful, long-lasting results. We offer a number of options for epoxy floor coatings, including different colors, patterns, and textures, so that you can get the look you want. Our epoxy floor coatings will give your garage floors a long life, improve their look, and make them easier to clean. Call us today to schedule a free consultation with one of our epoxy floor coating installers and learn more.
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740 E Redondo
Gilbert, AZ 85296
Phone:602-931-7656
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://barefootsurfaces.com
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