“What Are The Best Garage Floor Epoxy Coatings?”

Question: What are the top garage floor coatings out there? I want a nice, clean washable surface for my concrete floor, but there are so many options on the market.

Answer: You’re right, there are a lot of floor coatings out there. I haven’t done long-term testing on a bunch of different options, but I do know that Rust-Oleum Epoxy Shield has stood up very well over more than 15 years of heavy use and counting. Epoxy is the best option I know of for situations like yours, but there are dangers you need to be aware of.

Rust-Oleum still offers a product with the same name, so I think it’s a good bet. The situation I’ve seen is not in a garage either (it was a summer camp craft building), but epoxy works well in many environments. Click here for an experience I had with epoxy applied to a basement floor.

In all situations the issue is adhesion, so you’ll want to follow application instructions closely. Above all, you’re wise to wait until summer. Garage floors get wet and salty in many areas during winter, and that’s no good for coating adhesion.

Wash your floor when winter slush isn’t a problem any more (using plenty of water to wash away any road salt), then let it dry for a week or so of good weather. I’d clean the floor with a shop vacuum as a final step before coating. Epoxy floor coatings look best with little flakes of plastic thrown on the surface when the epoxy is still wet. A pair of golf shoes with spikes lets you walk on the floor to spread flakes on the wet coating. If you do this within an hour of rolling the epoxy on it will flow back and the spike marks disappear. These flecks really do improve appearance, so I wouldn’t go without them.

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– Steve Maxwell