garage epoxy

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

 in Epoxy Coating / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged epoxy coating / garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices / industrial epoxy flooring / industrial epoxy flooring for sale / industrial epoxy flooring online / industrial epoxy flooring prices by

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?

 in Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged commercial epoxy floor coating / garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage flooring / industrial epoxy flooring by

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 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.

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.

 

What is a Topcoat and Why is it Important for a Garage Epoxy Floor?

 in Application Tips  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Are you considering the installation of garage flooring epoxy?

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.

Shinier and More Attractive

ArmorGarageThe 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.

Easier to Clean

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.

Cover the Armor Chips

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.

Make your Floor Last Longer

Garage Epoxy FloorEveryone 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!

 

Four Chemical Spills a Garage Epoxy Floor can Repel

 in Application Tips  tagged garage epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices garage floor epoxy by

Epoxy floor benefits

garage epoxy flooringThere are a number of great reasons to invest in garage floor epoxy for your workshop, garage, or even inside your home, and you’ve probably heard that there are some amazing benefits. We aren’t going to argue, but before we go any further, let’s talk briefly about what epoxy is and how it can benefit you. First of all, epoxy is, without a doubt, one of the most crucial upgrades that you can make to a garage floor. You may also want to make it aesthetically pleasing by landscaping around the garage. Many tend to mistake epoxy for paint, but it is most definitely not standard paint.

If you prepare your floor properly before application then you will find that it is able to withstand small impacts, scratches, and a plethora of other potential issues. The bottom line, is that garage epoxy saves you money, even if it costs a bit to get it properly applied. These points we mentioned should be enough to make anyone consider applying it to their floor, but what if we were to tell you that there is more to it? That’s right we’re talking about chemical spills.

Hazards of Garage Life

When you’re in the garage anything can happen, and chemical spills are right at the top of the list. You should always take the utmost precautions when it comes to storing chemicals, something like a Storemasta cabinet is the ideal solution as they have a number of features designed to minimize the damage caused by spillages. However, accidents do happen and the question you need to ask yourself, is how do you compensate for those spills? Concrete floors are porous, and as such they will absorb virtually anything that is spilled on them. Have you ever spilled water on a concrete garage floor? Did the water remain standing, or did it eventually disappear? Many mistake this for a different process known as evaporation, but the water is actually being absorbed into the concrete. That isn’t necessarily good for your floor, but it is tame compared to the other substances that can be spilled. Corrosives, for example, could find their way into your concrete floor and cause serious damage. It could damage your garage door as well and then you might need the assistance of a company similar to Garage Door Repair company Denver. Let’s talk about a few chemicals you will need to watch out for, and that a good garage epoxy flooring can compensate for.

Battery Acid – If you store cars in your garage or if you park golf carts or other small engine items this is bound to happen. Maybe you’re not a mechanic, and maybe you aren’t one to constantly go under the hood, but at some point you may need to change the battery, or you may need to have someone else do it for you. Batteries leak, and the substance within them is most definitely a corrosive – something that you will want to think about when you’re doing any sort of automotive work. Have no fear battery acid has no effect on our garage epoxy coatings!

Fuel/Oil – Just as with battery acid, this is the one that happens quite often, and it is actually far more likely your vehicle will drip some oil on the floor. Leaks are inevitable, and there is a good chance you’ve seen at least one garage floor covered in oil stains – you don’t want your garage floor to be like that, not by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, you must make sure to protect your floor from these leaks – at least if you want it to last for the foreseeable future. Nothing looks nastier than an dirty oil stained concrete floor. Keep your floor from becoming that ugly stained floor constantly needing stain removing cleaner with our easy to apply garage epoxy kits.

Paint ­– It’s harder to clean paint off of your garage floor than you might think. The problem, as we mentioned before, is the porous nature of concrete. It will absorb the paint, and it will be very difficult to remove it completely. With an ArmorGarage epoxy coating with a topcoat you never have to worry about paint spills. Paint will wipe off like water runs off a duck’s back!

Beverages –You might not think of an ice cold glass of Coca-Cola as a chemical but let’s face it, if you can dissolve a nail in the substance in under a week, it’s not something you want to spill on your garage floor. Your ArmorGarage floor can even withstand the dreaded Coca-Cola spill!

The Epoxy Difference

ArmorGarageWith the right garage floor epoxy coating you will have a floor that can not only reject those spills, but also one that is very easy to clean. You won’t need to spend all day scrubbing; the chemical resistant floor will be able to reject the spills, and with its non-porous nature, you won’t have to worry about anything being absorbed, making cleaning a breeze.

Now would be a great time to start looking into the different types of epoxy flooring we offer, whether you find yourself interested in a standard garage coating, or if you want to the commercial or industrial system for even more protection. We have an epoxy system for any floor and any level of protection needed from any type of chemical spill that could occur within your garage.

How Garage Floor Epoxy Creates a Brighter Cleaner Work Space

 in Commercial Epoxy Flooring / Garage Floor Epoxy  tagged garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / garage epoxy flooring cost / garage epoxy flooring price / garage floor epoxy / garage floor epoxy coating / garage floor epoxy cost / garage floor epoxy price / garage flooring / garage flooring cost / garage flooring epoxy / garage flooring for sale / garage flooring prices by

Garage Floor EpoxyThere are many reasons to like garage floor epoxy coatings whether you are trying to make your garage look better, protect your concrete slab or if you’re trying to increase functionality. Before we get into that, let’s talk about your garage. Let’s face it, you can put a lot of work into your garage to make sure that it is the ultimate workspace. Even simple things like making sure your garage doors work will help you have the ultimate workspace, you don’t want to struggle to bring in cars if your doors don’t work properly. If something like this happens, then you can easily call up something like these Crofton Maryland Garage door repair professionals to help get this fixed for you. You don’t want there to be any issue when it comes to your garage, particularly if you are working in there constantly. Maybe you’re working on restoring a classic car, maybe it’s a woodshop, or maybe it’s just a general workshop – there are many different reasons to use a garage as your workshop, and we would be hard-pressed to list every single one of them here. If you are using your garage to store your collection of classic cars, you may want to consider professional auto transport to move them between your properties or to and from auto shows. The one thing that all workshops have in common, however, is that they need a high-quality floor, which can contribute in more ways than one. Sure, a garage floor epoxy solution makes for a very durable surface, but most people think the benefits end there. Don’t worry, you definitely get more bang for your buck than you think.

A Cleaner Work Space

It’s a workshop; mistakes are bound to happen, whether you spill a cup of coffee or tip over a drum of industrial grade corrosive material. On a typical garage floor, both of these would present a serious problem; coffee would stain the concrete, and the corrosive, well, we don’t even want to discuss what that would do. This is where floor epoxy has the advantage – it might require a bit of an investment but it’s well worth the cost. Here there are two different benefits. First of all, epoxy is very durable, but you should also consider that it is stain resistant. It does a great job of closing the pores that would otherwise rather easily absorb and accept any number of materials. Instead of permitting damage or even a stain, the chemicals will remain on the surface, allowing you to clean them at your leisure. Protecting your floor from staining and corrosion plus having dramatic porcelain-like finish a great reason to consider ArmorGarage epoxy coatings.

In addition to the above it is far easier to clean. You can use a simple washrag or a bucket of soapy water to get your epoxy floor back to its original shine, and it really doesn’t take that much effort on your part. That being said, not only does it reduce the mess, it also takes the effort out of cleaning. You were, after all, planning to expend your effort on other, more important things, weren’t you?

One of the better side effects of being able to keep a clean work space is the ability to get rid of most germs and allergens. If you suffer from allergies or simply want to prevent illness, these flooring options are not only outstanding, they are completely mold and mildew proof. You will keep your work space clean, you will ensure there are no nasty allergens or airborne illnesses wandering around your shop or garage. It doesn’t get much better than that – unless you consider how much brighter your workshop will be.

A Brighter Workspace

ArmorGarageWhat many people fail to consider is how much brighter garage floor epoxy will make their work space. You will find that one of the many benefits is the floor’s ability to make your work space brighter. If you use standard fluorescent lights, you will discover that they reflect well off of your high gloss epoxy floor, making for a much brighter space. Not only is this aesthetically pleasing, it will be a great way to conserve on energy that you might have otherwise wasted in lighting. In the end, you’re going to save on energy you’re going to have a slip resistant surface, and most importantly you’re going to have a garage/shop that you can be proud of. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, as long as your garage is clean, of course. If you’re investing in epoxy flooring, you may as well also invest in cleaning out your garage to make the place look spotless. It’s likely a lot of rubbish and useless items you no longer need have gathered in your garage; it’s useful to look into dumpster rental service in Kansas City MO if this is the case. Get that garage looking as good as new!

Take a look at the garage flooring prices today and get ready to give your work space the treatment it deserves. Installation is easy and lasts for up to twenty years.

Ordering & Delivery

 in Ordering & Delivery  tagged commercial epoxy floor coating / deck coatings / garage epoxy / garage epoxy flooring / super duty deck painting / waterproof deck basecoat by

Today lets talk about the ordering and delivery process. Since it is still busy season this is a good time to go over some of the issues we encounter. When planning their project some customers like to try and schedule them with military precision. They wait till the last minute to order then schedule a contractor to come in and do the work the day after the estimated delivery date from us. This more often than not leads to problems and frustration when using a contractor. Please do not attempt these types of surgical strikes when planning your project.

Here’s some of the reasons why. During busy season demand often outstrips our production capabilities for epoxy and deck coatings. So instead of next day shipping epoxy can go out 2-3 days after the order and in the case of our Renew It Deck Coating lead times can stretch out as far as 10 -14 days.  So when you make your decision to go forward with your project using one our products please allow as much of a cushion time wise between when you should get your order and the time you plan on doing it.   This advice holds true even if you decide to go with another brand. The only time you don’t have to do this is if you’re going to your local home improvement store and buying off the shelf product. You’ll have other problems but scheduling won’t be one of them.  We do not make or sell off the shelf type products.

You will notice that if you order an epoxy kit from us it will come in multiple shipments. Why because sometimes the delivery company can be abusive with our packages and the epoxy can and does sometimes leak out. When that happens we rather just the epoxy be damaged and not the whole order. When you get an epoxy kit from us it comes with a lot of other items such as rollers, mixers, squeegee, nonslip additive and such. These items ship separately and usually go out first with the epoxy a day or two behind depending on the order volume at the time.

Also besides your shipment getting damaged in transit, it can get lost or you may have forgotten to order something or  believe it or not we could have made a mistake and shipped you a wrong item or left out an item from your order accidentally and yes we do make mistakes even though we try our best not to.

So when planning your floor, deck or roof project allow for a little bit of Murphy’s Law to creep in. Order you product to arrive at least a week before you want to do the job if you are doing the work yourself. We would allow a little more time if you are scheduling a contractor to come in and do the job for you, just to be extra safe. Once your product arrives,  open the boxes to check for hidden damage. A lot of times a customer will receive everything way ahead of time and not open anything or check the packing list until the day they are doing the work. Then if there was some hidden damage or something is missing,  all the planning goes out the window and now we both have an emergency on our hands. We don’t like these emergencies any more than you do. To avoid these situations order in advance, the product will not go bad if you get it a week or two ahead of time, it won’t cost any less if it gets there at the last minute. When you receive the product bring it inside where it is protected from the elements. You can store it anywhere you want just don’t let it freeze during winter months. Once safely inside open the boxes and cross check everything against the packing list. If you think you’re missing something or don’t know what a certain item is give us a call or send us an email. Same goes for something that might have been roughed up by the delivery company. We had a customer call in the other day saying he’s not sure if the Part A of the epoxy is still good since the can looked like it was kicked up and down a soccer field. It happens to be that the epoxy was fine but it was good that he made sure before applying it.

Another factor to keep in mind is that the majority of orders ship from our distribution center in NJ. So if you live on the west coast you need to allow for at least 5-6 days of travel time plus a day or two for us to pack and ship your order. While we are on the subject of packing and shipping. If you call in or order online at any time past 3:00 EST your order goes in as a next day order. If you order lets say at 5PM EST on a Friday, your order will then be processed as a Monday order. So please take this into account too. We have had customers order online over the weekend and then call first thing Monday morning looking for a tracking number. We understand why it happens in the age of Amazon, but we are not Amazon and the products we sell are basically custom made products.

In sum if you pressed the go button on your project give yourself as much time between ordering and when you plan to do the job. We do our best to get all orders out the door and to you asap. But just in case something goes wrong, if you allowed some extra time it gives us time to get you out replacement product if you missed something, we missed something or FedEx damaged something. And finally if using a contractor DON’T schedule him until you get all the tracking on your order and then schedule him at least 2 days past the time it would take us to get you replacement product just in case Murphy’s Law hits us.