Choosing the best coating for garage floors is top of the list for many homeowners. With all the choices on the market, how do you know which coating is best for your concrete floors?
In this article, the Skyline Concrete Coating team discusses the best garage floor coating.
Best Paint for Garage Floors
It might surprise you that the best paint for the garage floor does not paint at all. An epoxy coating is far more effective at covering your concrete surface because it is:
- Highly durable
- Available in a variety of colors
- Scuff and scratch-resistant
- Versatile
- Impermeable
- Stain and chemical resistant
- Easy to install
- Simple to clean
- Low-maintenance
Polyurea with polyaspartic coatings is the latest evolution of epoxy flooring. Unlike standard epoxy, polyurea is UV-resistant and won’t fade or become brittle with sun exposure.
Polyurea, along with a polyaspartic topcoat, is the best coating for garage floors. It combines the exceptional strength of polyaspartic with the cost-effectiveness of polyurea to give you the best value for your money.
What Is Polyurea?
Polyurea is a type of polyurethane. It is a long-lasting coating and sealant that is highly durable and damage-resistant. It cures quickly and protects concrete from the elements.
What Is Polyaspartic?
Polyaspartic is a type of polyurea with greater strength and durability. It also cures far more quickly, enabling you to use your new garage floor within 24 hours of installation. Using polyaspartic floor coatings makes one-day installations a reality.
The only potential drawback of polyaspartic is its higher costs.
What Are the Uses of Polyurea?
Aside from being the best coating for garage floors, polyurea has several other applications. Many manufacturers use polyurea to prevent corrosion and make surfaces and storage watertight. Makers of aquariums often use the compound as a liner.
Polyurea vs. Epoxy
Contractors use both compounds to seal concrete and garage floors. Epoxy is the older of the two mediums, but polyurea is overtaking it in popularity.
Their differences include the following:
- Polyurea can bear far more weight, making it a better choice for garages and commercial facilities.
- Epoxy is more rigid, making it less able to adapt to changes in temperature. Polyurea is better able to contract and expand, which is useful in high-heat environments.
- Polyurea coating also cures more quickly, so bubbles are less likely to form during the curing process.
- It’s easier to get a professional finish when using polyurea.
- You can install a polyurea floor in one day, whereas epoxy installations take a few days.
- One of the main reasons that manufacturers developed polyurea is that epoxy requires specific temperatures to install. This characteristic means that epoxy installations are seasonal. However, you can install polyurea almost year-round.
- Epoxy is sensitive to UV radiation and will fade, yellow, and grow brittle if it receives enough direct sunlight.
- Epoxy can be slippery if it gets wet. By contrast, it’s possible to add aggregates to polyurea and polyaspartic to improve traction.
- Polyurea is lower in volatile organic compounds, and its smell doesn’t take as long as epoxy to clear.
- One area where polyurea comes second to epoxy is in the initial price. Polyurea will cost you more upfront. Still, when considering the cost per use and overall lifespan, polyurea is the more cost-effective of the two.
- Both epoxy and polyurea are easy to clean, but polyurea is more stain-resistant.
While both options are similarly low-maintenance, polyurea takes the top spot for durability and versatility.
Is Polyurea a Good Decorative Option?
Yes, polyurea is an excellent decorative option because you can add several pigments, flakes, and other additives. This feature allows you to customize your new garage floor in several ways.
Even if you choose the same compounds as your neighbor, we hand-cast the decorative elements. No two floors are ever precisely the same.
The unique properties of polyurea make it possible to mimic more expensive materials and several artistic effects. If you wish to have a show-stopping metallic floor with a 3-D design, we can help you achieve that look.
Finally, we protect the design with a clear coat of polyaspartic that creates more depth and enhances the final result.
Get Your Free Estimate Today
To get the best coating for garage floors, you need to work with the best team. Skyline Concrete Coating is your top choice for quality installation if you’re in the Metro Washington DC area. We back our work with a 15-year warranty.
Call us at (571) 831-2144 for your free estimate.
