Did my Garage with your Armor Granite kit and military grade topcoat. When people come over to the house and see the floor their jaws drop. It came out spectacular and I can already tell this is going to last a long time just like you say.
Thanks for everything, Jack, VA
The list of uses for garage epoxy flooring continues to grow day by day and in this case we’re going to discuss the concept of using it for your parking garage. In this article, we focus on large scale parking lots but it can also be used in smaller residential garages too. Transform your garage and prolong it’s lifetime using epoxy flooring and other up and coming solutions like this garage door repair in Hoffman Estates, IL. Let’s be honest here: parking lots get a lot of traffic, and when we say that we’re not trying to make a pun, it’s the truth. One of the most interesting things about a parking lot is that you would be hard pressed to control the type of traffic that comes in and out. One day you could be dealing with small cars, the next, trucks, and the worst part is you can’t control the condition of the cars.
Your floors are eventually going to reap the ‘benefits’ of every single mechanical problem that your visiting cars have, and these problems aren’t few. Oil leaks, for example, are a common problem with any car and this can easily contribute to the not so gradual degradation of your concrete floor. As we have said many times before, concrete is a porous material, and the more liquid that seeps into it, the bigger the problems you will have. Something important to remember, is that while liquids like oil and antifreeze might not cause immediate structural problems other corrosive fluids from vehicles or run off from vehicles can cause severe pitting down to the rebar. Once this corrosion gets to your rebar, you have some serious issues to worry about.
Remember, concrete is not invincible, despite initial appearances. If you want to avoid these problems, we would strongly suggest taking a look at our epoxy coating systems.
If you take a look at the Home Page of our website you are going to find a video of a parking garage in which our epoxy flooring with a military topcoat was utilized while some directional blue arrows were done with a hybrid type all in one epoxy. The latter wore out the former still looks new after 9 years, which is to say that the former did not wear out at all. As we said, don’t let your floor get that bad in the first place.
Garage epoxy flooring isn’t invincible, but you will find that it’s a better solution than the big box brands, especially if you choose to utilize our military grade topcoat. A topcoat is a protective coating for your garage floor that will add many years of life to its lifespan, and it is great for covering the color chips if you choose to use them on your floor.
Take a look at your parking lot right now and ask yourself this very important question: could it be better? If the answer is yes, then you’ve got a decision to make to create a better environment and protect your facility structurally. Not only will the floor be much more durable, it will be easier to clean, and it will be quite a bit brighter. Any interior parking space can benefit from these features and we’re certain that it won’t be too long before you’re buying epoxy and coating the entirety of your parking lot. Don’t worry; it’s not incredibly expensive, nor is it incredibly hard to apply. You just need a bit of time, some determination, and a desire to see your parking space become better. Armor Garage will can supply the materials and information you need to get the job done right and at a price you can actually afford.
Below is a ArmorGarage review from one of our customers that installed our garage floor epoxy and military grade top coat product.
“First of all, we used your product in our laundry room including the military top coat to cover VCT. I LOVE YOUR PRODUCT! It looks great and now we want to extend it to the hallway from garage to the elevators.”
Pauline Building Manager, Hanley Towers/DNIProperties
Homeowners always want their property to look amazing. This is why they keep it looking good by adding fresh licks of paint, getting the best looking garage door from Tip Top Garage Doors – Charlotte NC and keep the landscaping neat. If you’re not looking to get a brand new garage door, but instead want to make sure yours is in full working order, it may be worth approaching a business that specialise in garage door repair in Lansdale, PA. Anyway – the burning question – if homeowners pay so much attention to their exterior then why not use the best products, like epoxy, on the interior?
If you are a homeowner with a garage, there is a good chance that you want to apply garage floor epoxy to keep it properly protected and defended against everyday wear and tear. If that is so, then there is also a good chance that you’ve heard all kinds of myths and rumors about what a garage floor epoxy coat actually is. For example, there has probably been at least one person who has told you that the epoxy coating just paints. We’re here to tell you that you can’t just slap a coat of paint down and hope for the best – it doesn’t work like that. So here’s the big question: what is the difference between a coat of garage floor paint and garage epoxy coating? Which one is best? Let’s take a look!
This is without a doubt one of the most common misconceptions that we deal with – epoxy coating NOT paints, not by any means. Companies that specialize in garage flooring find it frustrating that there is still this confusion. Much of this confusion comes from the fact that manufacturers offer paint with epoxy in the mix, and they refer to it as 1-part epoxy. Why? Because it creates better adhesion. If you’re not looking for the best in garage floor protection, then this might be a great option for you. If you want to take your garage flooring to the next level, however, you’re going to need something more.
Before we go any further it would be beneficial to explain precisely what epoxy coating is and why it is different. First of all, epoxy coating is a two-part product consisting of the following:
In order to achieve a full epoxy coating, you will need to mix these two parts together and apply them within the time specified by the product itself. When the epoxy dries, it will provide a hard surface that unlike paint is resistant to abrasion, chemicals, staining, etc. Also keep in mind that the amount of resistance provided by the flooring is going to be determined by the quality, so remember that when you’re shopping for your new epoxy coating solution.
Making a quality determination doesn’t necessarily have to be difficult. All you need to do is take a look at the percentage on the side of the product can. If you have 100%, then you have 100% of the product on the floor after it cures. The same goes for 50% and so on.
When you’re applying your epoxy coating, you will find that those with a 100% rating are much thicker and will require more time to apply. Not only does it have a thicker viscosity, but it will also dry faster, meaning you have to be absolutely ready to lay it down the moment you begin the mix.
In the end, to put it simply, you get what you pay for. Our garage floor epoxy price is reasonable and provides you with a quality product that will last for ten to twenty years. In addition to that, you’re going to have a product that is resistant to chemical abrasion, stains, and even light impacts. Finally, consider that there is an energy efficiency benefit to your new epoxy flooring, particularly in that it reflects light much better than its bare concrete counterpart. This will allow you to use less electric lighting and ultimately save you money.
As you can see, there are a number of different benefits to the installation of an epoxy floor coat, and it won’t be long before you’re using it in your home garage floor. Now would be a great time to take a quick look at our residential garage floor epoxy products and see what would work best for you. It’s time to protect your garage and make sure that it is ready to withstand everything you have to throw at it. After all, this is your garage – make sure it lasts for the foreseeable future. You want to do the best you can for your home and you want to make sure that every eventuality is covered in case something happens to your home when you are making changes or doing a renovation to your property. Check on your insurance to see if it covers your garage and surrounding areas of your home, click here to have a look at some different insurance companies to see if a new one could be better for you when making these types of changes.
If you have bare concrete then there’s a good chance that your floor looks just awful as is prone to happen to the concrete after a significant period of time. Did you know that concrete is actually porous? The implications of this are immense; prolonged water exposure on the floor could cause significant damage, especially if it’s full of road salt, which is why garage epoxy is so incredibly important. You do, after all, face the prospect of far more than water damage, especially if you work in your garage. Things are going to happen and you’re going to need to protect your floor from things such as oil leaks, battery leaks, chemical, and solvent exposure just to mention a few. If your floor has been damaged in a residential or commercial garage, ServiceMaster of Lake Shore can be available to help clean and restore what is needed.
It’s pretty much like any other type of paint, though it definitely has more benefits. You can pick out the color you want, and apply it to the floor, in the same manner, you would any type of paint, but you need to make sure you’re choosing a high-quality epoxy. In other words, try to avoid visiting your local home improvement store. It might work for a time but it’s not going to look nearly as good as an ArmorGarage epoxy floor, and it’s not going to be nearly as durable. Trust us, you’re going to notice wear and tear within a month if you use store-bought epoxy and it will probably start the first time you try to park your car on it. Tire abrasion does a lot to a floor and it’s simply not worth saving a few dollars. We all want our garage to look at its best and we’ll tend to do whatever we can to achieve that. For many people, this can include using Garage door repair professionals in Elmont, NY. whenever an issue arises with the entrance to their garage.
Once you lay your garage floor epoxy down you don’t want to do it again, that’s for sure. ArmorGarage products are able to help you to avoid the nightmare of having to recoat your floor again entirely, and we’re able to do this thanks to our years of experience.
Who can apply a garage floor epoxy coating? Anyone! There is a common misconception that only a team of trained professionals can effectively perform an installation but that is absolutely untrue. Armor chip epoxy flooring is designed for the raw novice with these benefits:
The Armor Chip garage floor epoxy kit comes with everything you need to finish off your floor including a protective topcoat. When held in comparison to other kits on the market, you’re going to see that this one really takes the cake.
Armor Chip epoxy flooring kits come with the distinction of a guarantee against hot tire abrasion, and if you take a look at our epoxy comparison chart you will find that when held in comparison to other epoxies on the market, and in the end, it’s just more cost effective. The 10 year guarantee against hot tire lifting is great but it also comes with other guarantees including those against:
When you buy cheaper epoxy flooring products one of the problems that you’re going to run into is the fact that it doesn’t hide all of the concrete or all of the imperfections. In that instance, you would be forced to buy more floor epoxy to cover up the rest of the imperfections, at which point you would have to question whether or not you were saving money. The average garage floor epoxy price should cover enough material to make your floor look absolutely amazing.
The last point we’d like to make is that your garage epoxy floor needs a topcoat. The first benefit is that it will make it look better than just the epoxy coating on it. Commonly, people think that a topcoat can be substituted with another coat of epoxy, but if you want your floor to look absolutely amazing then you’re going to need a real topcoat product. Secondly, it will protect the epoxy beneath for the foreseeable future. Simply because a real topcoat is much harder than any epoxy paint and is also UV resistant which 100% solids epoxies are not. So don’t make the mistake of applying an epoxy floor coating without a good quality topcoat.
The Armor Chip & Armor Granite garage floor epoxy coating kits are a great way to give your garage floor the protection it needs for the foreseeable future. Don’t settle for less!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Brighter: 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?
So 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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 Throwing – The 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.
As 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.
If so, then you must add a topcoat to your floor. If you’ve never applied an epoxy floor coating, then you might be curious as to why you need one, and we are here to tell you that it is not optional. By itself, an epoxy floor can withstand small impacts, it is scratch resistant, slip resistant, and it is even able to resist chemical spills that would tear any other garage floor to pieces! This can help you avoid anyone suffering a slip-and-fall accident in Houston, or anywhere else that your garage may be based. Once you have installed your epoxy flooring however, a topcoat can add that little something that you just can’t get otherwise. Let’s talk about some of the benefits of a topcoat and why you should most definitely consider covering up.
The garage floor epoxy cost will only raise marginally with the addition of a topcoat, and one cannot argue with the fresh, clean shine that a topcoat awards to the already formidable epoxy coating. Once you add a topcoat, the flooring will become very reflective, which will help to make the room you’re in a bit brighter, even if the floor is of a darker color. The topcoat is a much harder coating than the epoxy and is there to protect the epoxy for wear and tear. Our military topcoats are designed to last up to 20 years. If and when you ever do wear one out you can simply roll on another topcoat and bring the floor back to new. The epoxy stays protected indefinitely.
The epoxy flooring was going to be pretty easy to clean in the first place, but now, with a topcoat, it will become even simpler. All you need is a garden hose and some dish detergent for stubborn spots. Your topcoat acts like a Teflon coating so that nothing likes to stick to it.
Some people broadcast multi color chips when into the epoxy and of course others do not. We don’t’ know for sure which of these camps you’re going to fall into, but there are definitely benefits to using armor chips. For example, they will draw attention away from imperfections that existed on the garage floor prior to epoxy. In addition to that, they can add a splash of color to pick up or accent other colors in the room. Chips will add a little texture to the floor but are mainly there for aesthetic purposes.
Everyone knows that epoxy flooring wears out eventually, even if you were to opt for a professional installation. The general lifespan of the best garage floor epoxy is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen-twenty years, a good topcoat can help to ensure a long life for your epoxy coating. First of all, a topcoat is going to make the floor more wear resistant, and secondly, it will ensure that all damage done to the floor is done only to the topcoat , which can be touched up or replaced as needed. An epoxy cannot and should not be used as a topcoat. Even though some of our competitors sell a clear version of their epoxy as a topcoat. This is a complete waste of your time and money. One of our competitors says that they add in UV additives to the clear epoxy, that still does not make it a topcoat and is still a complete waste of time and money. Don’t be lured into an inferior product by saving a few dollars.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to use a true topcoat in your garage. There are many who might consider the topcoat to be unnecessary or ‘overkill’ when you are simply equipping a residential garage, but let’s be honest, you need an extra layer of protection. From chemical spills, to car tire abrasion, to potential scratches, all of that falls under the umbrella of protection that your topcoat offers. Don’t leave your epoxy uncovered!