While concrete is a reliable building material for most garages, it can still degrade over time, especially if exposed to intense weather and extreme temperatures. At best, the deterioration of your garage floor leads to unsightly cracks, chipping, staining, and other blemishes appearing on the concrete surface.
At worst, the damaged ground is a hazard to your and any other occupants’ physical health as they run the risk of tripping over blemished flooring.
Fortunately, Columbus, OH property owners won’t have to tolerate a failing garage floor. At Premier Concrete Coatings, we provide all of our clients with expertly applied garage epoxy sealant guaranteed to protect your floors while keeping them looking beautiful with a clean, glossy finish.
Epoxy offers a wide variety of benefits, not just to your garage floor but every concrete floor on your property. If your flooring has seen better days and you’re in the market for a protective layer that keeps it fresh, then you won’t find many options more durable and cost-effective than epoxy.
What Is Epoxy?
Epoxy is one of the most popular options for residential and commercial concrete coatings. The formula to create it consists of combining chemicals through “curing,” resulting in a resin that can be laid over standard concrete. When properly manufactured, epoxy resin provides high amounts of heat and chemical resistance and enhanced durability against sudden impacts and heavy loads, such as vehicles. Additionally, one of the most popular features of epoxy is the versatility of its formula. While a standard epoxy material is made of raw resin and a hardener, several additives can be included that drastically alter the properties of the finished product. A professional coating company can easily alter epoxy to change several of its properties or grant it new ones, such as:- Rapid curing for quick application purposes
- Increased resistance to abrasion, chemicals, heat, weather, etc.
- Altered viscosity to match the precision needed for the job
- Increased durability for areas with high foot traffic or heavy objects in storage
- Adding non-slip characteristics for spaces where spills are likely to happen
- A variety of different pigments, colors, and textures so that the epoxy floor can match the client’s aesthetic choices
Common Problems With a Garage Floor
As mentioned above, concrete is a valuable material, ubiquitous across many construction jobs. However, no matter the quality of the concrete used, it’s still vulnerable to the wear and tear of time, sun exposure, extreme weather, and several other things that can damage your flooring. While some of the problems with concrete can seem minor at first, they’re an unsightly part of your home and can lead to a severe drop in property values. Additionally, if cracks and faults in your property’s ground aren’t fixed, eventually, they could worsen and lead to severe structural damage. Below we’ve provided an overview of a few of the most common problems with a concrete garage floor and demonstrate why an epoxy coating is better for your home in the long run.Blisters
Blisters are bumps of various sizes that form when trapped air beneath a sealed surface rises to the top. Typically, they’re a symptom of improperly mixed concrete but aren’t a cause for alarm as they don’t present a danger to a property’s structure. However, if a blister develops in an exposed area, it’ll be an eyesore at best and a tripping hazard at worst.Curling
Curling occurs when your concrete flooring experiences severe temperature differences between the top and bottom layers. This happens when the top portion of bare concrete is exposed to cool air and dries and contracts faster than the warmer bottom layer, causing the edges of the top layer to curl inwards and overlap. If curling isn’t corrected early, it can lead to an uneven foundation and poor stability for the garage floor.Cracks
Cracking is probably the most common concrete defect and the most difficult to fix because of the large number of potential causes, including:- Thermal Contraction: Concrete tends to expand or contract depending on the temperature of the environment. If that temperature fluctuates rapidly, the concrete will shift too fast and create cracks in its surface.
- Applied Loads: Concrete is versatile, and buildings that use it as flooring can have it mixed to withstand the weight of their everyday operations. However, if those weight requirements increase over time, the concrete will degrade faster and form cracks.
- Subgrade Settlement: Occasionally, the earth beneath the concrete will resettle due to the inability to withstand the weight of the property’s flooring or due to underlying tectonic shifts. Sudden unevenness in the foundation can easily create cracks in the concrete flooring.
