Monthly Archives: May 2016


Commercial Epoxy Flooring – For Commercial Kitchens

Commercial Epoxy Flooring A Must do

The restaurant industry can be pretty cutthroat and sanitation requirements are strict to say the least. You are of course maintaining an establishment where people consume food, and as such, there is always a chance that their health will be at risk. That being the case, you need to ensure that the area is sanitary throughout every single room, which might not always be the easiest thing in the world. As you probably know, many upscale restaurants still use tiles with grout joints.

That’s a great thought if you have time to clean it properly but let’s face it, grout joints are porous and always end up with a stain(s) that you cannot remove, causing you to replace your tiles entirely. If you were to use our commercial kitchen epoxy flooring, this problem would easily be a thing of the past. If you have a restaurant then this flooring may be essential for the kitchen to help your restaurant run smoothly, you may also be interested in a POS System to help your restaurant run more smoothly , you can check out popular POS systems for your restaurant after reading this article and deciding whether the floor and POS System is the right choice for you.

Commercial Kitchen Epoxy Flooring: Clean and Clear

To put it quite simply, ArmorGarage epoxy flooring is far superior than most other types you might choose to utilize. First of all it’s much thicker and harder than standard epoxies. It also has a much brighter and better looking finish. With the addition of some heavy duty nonslip additive it can be very slip resistant and impact resistant.

In addition to looking good, the floor will be waterproof and much easier to clean, which makes it simpler for you to keep up with the sanitation standards set forth by the health department in your area. The great thing about an epoxy floor is that it seals your concrete floor, meaning it will no longer be porous, and therefore incapable of absorbing liquids. That said, your floor will last longer than it otherwise might have, which is always going to be a plus. The epoxy can even be run up and over a cove base along the floor making your kitchen area a waterproof and stain proof tub. We like to use the cove base from www.easycove.com.

Longer Lifespan

We mentioned in the previous paragraph that commercial epoxy floor paint can last quite a bit longer than its counterparts, and by this we mean it will last up to ten years, if not more. This estimate applies only to floors that are applied with a highly abrasion epoxy, however! Using a high quality epoxy, you will have a floor that lasts and is capable of withstanding anything, from impacts to constant caustic washdowns. You never know what’s going to happen in your commercial kitchen, your dining room, or your waiting area, so be prepared! Having said that, you may want a different style of commercial flooring. Which is fair – you could install it atop the epoxy to ensure durability.

If your floor is already tiled and they have reached the end of their life span don’t worry. We can help with that. We have a proprietary primer that will bond to your tiles and allow our commercial kitchen epoxy to stick to your tile floor. You just need to get the tiles and the grout clean. We even have a super fast drying epoxy for restauarants that have to keep the downtime to the minimu. Our fast dry epoxy can have you back up in service the one day.

Get Started Today

Whether your restaurant has existed for several years already, or if you’re just getting started, now would be a great time to start looking at epoxy floor products for your restaurant, particularly in the kitchen areas. Armor Garage has an outstanding selection, and it won’t be too long before you fully realize the incredible benefits epoxy flooring has for your restaurant both in the kitchen, and out. Take a look at our products and get started!


Commercial Epoxy Flooring for Locker Room Floors

Epoxy Flooring for Locker Room Floors

Locker rooms are often known for being one of the most disgusting rooms in a building, and with good reason. We aren’t going to discuss everything that goes on in there, only that our Coat All Epoxy System is most likely your best bet to transform ugly worn out tile and grout into a beautiful and sanitary floor.

Concerns that Epoxy Floor Paint Can Address

Moisture is the biggest problem that a locker room floor is going to face. Think about it, whether it’s a swimming pool locker room, or one attached to a gym, perspiration and other liquids are going to find their way to the floor and when it comes right down to it, grout is porous. So what does that mean for you exactly? When we refer to a surface having a porous nature, we mean that it is not entirely solid. It does, in fact, mean that the surface is filled with thousands of tiny pores that you simply cannot see with the naked eye. As water leaks in between the tiles, the grout expands, eventually causing cracks. It won’t be long before your tile floor looks like a mess and a great way to find yourself spending a LOT of money having to replace it. Even though you would have to spend a lot of money replacing it, you can at least fix any water damage that you might have by hiring a company similar to this Sarkinen Restoration. It doesn’t matter how you the water damage occurred, just make sure you get someone in who can help you fix it and prevent further damage from occurring. If the water damage has caused more problems further into your home meaning that you will have to reconstruct or renovate the area, you may want to see How to renovate your home after water damage so you can get it completed efficiently and correctly.

In addition to dealing with the potential for water damage, you also have to consider safety issues. A locker room floor is not exactly slip proof, and that creates a serious hazard. What can you do about it? Obviously you would encourage your members and patrons to wear shoes on the slick surfaces, but you can’t account for every single thing that’s going to happen. That being the case, you will want to consider commercial epoxy paint for your locker room floor. Let’s talk about some of the safety benefits!

Exploring the Safety Benefits of Commercial Epoxy Flooring

The following are just a few of the safety benefits that you will experience from your epoxy floor installation:

Slip Resistant Surface: Epoxy which means it great for locker rooms, especially if you’re adjacent to a swimming pool. One of the most common solutions for gyms is to install low tuft carpet to allow for low water absorption, but even this can become expensive. Epoxy flooring can be augmented with a non-slip additive and is therefore much safer.

ArmorGarage Epoxy FlooringBrighter: You need to see what you’re doing in a locker room – any locker room. The natural instinct would be to install more lights, but if you want to skip that part, then you might consider the benefits of an epoxy floor. It is reflective, and it will make the room seem much brighter. Not to mention a lot better looking than a floor with black grout lines and broken tiles.

Easy to Clean: You’re going to need to keep your floor clean, and if you don’t have epoxy, you might as well through in the towel, so to speak. Epoxy flooring provides a solid coating over your porous concrete floor, meaning liquids will pool at the top rather than soaking in. You can easily clean your floor with a mop, no matter what the ‘damage’ is.

These are the three main benefits of installing a commercial epoxy floor coating. If you’re ready to get your floor into prime shape, take a look at our website and pick out the epoxy flooring that will not only suit you now, but for the next decade. That’s right, it’ll last for at least ten years, or more with our military grade topcoat topcoat. The future of your locker room floor is in your hands – why not let us help?


Ready to Install Garage Flooring? Make sure you Read this Checklist!

Installing Garage Flooring

garage floor epoxy coatingSo you’re ready to install garage epoxy flooring, but you’re not quite sure how to go about it. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have the right materials, and that means buying a high quality epoxy flooring. Once you have it properly applied to your floor you will experience a number of different benefits. Most notably, your floor is going to look a lot better than it did as just bare concrete.

Along with that, it’s going to protect your concrete floor from the elements and harmful vehicle fluids. There are many other benefits, such as greater reflection (it’s going to be brighter), greater resistance to scratching, and of course, easier cleaning. Before you can apply your new flooring however, there are a few things that you will need to get out of the way. Take a look at our checklist and make sure you’re ready to give your floor the upgrade of a lifetime.

Preparing your Floor

The first and most obvious thing you will want to do is to properly prep your concrete for the new garage floor epoxy. You will need to start by clearing it out, obviously, and then you can move on to the more important business of cleaning it. The idea is to get your floor back to the condition it was in after it was first laid – it’s a bit of a chore but totally worth it. To get it done thoroughly, we strongly recommend that you do a thorough acid etching. It’s a procedure that might take two passes, but it is a critical step to get the proper bond between the epoxy and your floor. Of course if your floor is really dirty and in poor condition, shot blasting or grinding might be needed to get you a better profile. You can also try the combination of a tornado diamond buffing pad and super blue cleaning solution from Concrete Floor Supply Inc. However, if you do not want to do it yourself and would much rather prefer a professional doing it, you can always check out companies like floor buffing services in NYC or ones more local to you to get your garage the way you want it.

Get the Right Tools

You need the right tools for the job, and when it comes to epoxy flooring, that means making sure you have rollers (multiples if you are having someone help you), jiffy mixer, duct tape but perhaps the most important, and the most overlooked piece of equipment, is the calibrated squeegee not just a flat squeegee, this helps spread the epoxy at the right thickness. For more detailed application info see our How To Prep and Epoxy Paint Your Floor Page. Make sure you use a good duct tape tape and some Xylene for cleanup. Painter’s tape is too thin for our epoxy, duct tape ensures that you do not inadvertently get epoxy seeping over or through the tape. In most cases, especially with paint, you could simply ‘wipe it off’ if you made a mistake, but our epoxy is a bit different. As we like to say, once it’s on, it’s on. That said, if you make any mistakes, wipe the epoxy clean immediately with Xylene – otherwise you’ll have to sand or grind it off.

Have a Topcoat Ready

Install Garage Flooring

The biggest mistake people make, aside from forgetting to tape off their walls, is not applying a topcoat. Your floor needs a topcoat for several reasons! First of all, it makes the floor look even better than it would with just a layer of epoxy coating on it since it has a higher gloss finish. Another great reason to apply a topcoat rather than just a clear epoxy is that a real topcoat is much much harder than an epoxy. Remember – epoxy is NOT a topcoat and you can’t make an epoxy into a topcoat by just adding in some UV or other additives like some of our competition claims to do!

The above information will go a long way toward helping you to successfully apply your epoxy coating, and you will quickly find that your floor is much more enjoyable. Once you have applied your floor coating, however, do try to remember that it’s not completely impervious to damage. It cannot take massive impacts, such as dropping an engine block onto it, but it can should withstand dropped tools and parts. That being said, now would be a great time to start looking into epoxy flooring and making sure that your surface is ready for what’s coming. Most importantly, when your floor is finished, you are going to want to look after it. You can visit here to find comparison reviews of wall mounted garage vacuums. This is especially important if you want your epoxy floor to last as long as possible.

Remember, a properly applied high-quality epoxy coating will last for a long time, and in most cases, for at least ten to twenty years. If taken care of properly, the sky really can be the limit as far as longevity is concerned. The most important piece of advice that we can give you in this regard, is to avoid purchasing discounted or store-bought epoxy. Buy the best and reap the benefits for many years to come.


Garage Flooring – Are you Broadcasting your Chips Correctly?

Garage Floor Epoxy

To put it lightly, garage floor epoxy is something that can completely change the look of your floor, and it comes with many other benefits as well. For example, with the right epoxy, your floor is going to be shiny, tough, and it’s going to last for a very long time. Did you know that the a high quality epoxy coated floor is capable of lasting for at least ten to fifteen years? That’s pretty impressive, if we do say so ourselves. The epoxy will be able to protect the concrete floor from the effects of age, but most importantly, it is going to protect it from external damage.

When most people think of ‘damage’, they think of direct impacts, but damage can come from so many other sources. Vehicle fluids and water are just two of the most common sources, and for this reason, you need to invest in garage floor epoxy. You know that you need it, but if you are like many other garage owners, you probably get a little bit confused on the chip broadcasting step. Most owners have two very important questions:

  • What are these Chips For?
  • How do I Broadcast Them?

These are two great questions that beg answering, and throughout this article, we’re going to do our best to provide you with those answers. Let’s start by explaining what these chips are for, and what role they play in garage floor epoxy.

Garage Flooring Chips Explained

There are two sides to the flooring chip coin. First of all, they serve mostly an aesthetic purpose, giving a garage floor the vibrancy that it really needs to stand out. That’s a great thing, of course, but on the other end of this argument, the chips keep the floor looking nice by hiding certain imperfections. As the eye is drawn to the chips, it is drawn away from any other issues that the floor might have.

These issues, while nearly imperceptible in the beginning, will be almost invisible once the armor chips are properly broadcasted. In addition to that, it will be great for hiding dirt and dust that gathers on the floor. As you can see, these chips do a lot for your floor aesthetically.

Laying your Chips Properly

The most common question that homeowners ask, is whether or not they are laying or broadcasting the chips correctly. Spreading the flakes evenly is the key to making sure your floor looks like it was done professionally, and it’s easy if you know the trick:

There are quite a few different spreading techniques, with some people throwing overhand, and others just tossing them at a 45 degree angle away from you. Remember – if there are too few flakes on the floor, you can always spread more, so tossing a little at a time is best. If there are too many, you’ll have raised piles or blotches in your garage floor. Take a look at our ‘How to Prep and Epoxy Paint Your Floor Page, for a technique our customer showed us using a plastic jug – it was simple and produced a perfect result..

Limit your ThrowingThe most important piece of advice that we can give you is to use small finger fulls of flakes when you are tossing. It is going to go a bit slower, but it will be well worth it in the end. Having a set of the spike soles lets you walk in the wet epoxy while you broadcast the chips. This will eliminate what we call chip pile ups.

These are just a few of the tips that you will find useful when working on your epoxy floor, and you can be rest assured that you will come across many more. Flakes, while thought to be aesthetic, definitely have practical applications, and they’ll help you to create a floor that you’re proud of.

Quality is Everything

Armor GarageAs always, it is important to make sure that you are laying quality epoxy on your floor. Remember, there are many inferior products out there and you’re going to want the best you can possibly get. ArmorGarage not only provides a great solution for protecting your garage floor, but a great way to keep it looking amazing for the foreseeable future.

That being said, it’s time to stop worrying about what your floor looks like, or how long it’s going to last, and time to do something about it. Chip broadcasting is just a small part of the process, but it makes all the difference in your garage.