Doing Garage Flooring Yourself

by Gus Fredericks on December 1, 2009

Are you planning on doing your own garage flooring? This is certainly an excellent way to save money, and get something useful done at the same time, but I’m sure you’re wondering exactly what all doing your own garage flooring will entail. After all, this is an investment, and those who prefer to do it themselves are also usually pretty keen on saving money. So let’s give a quick overview of exactly what all you will have to do for each type of garage flooring.

Epoxy Garage Floor Paint: The Most Comprehensive Garage Flooring Option

Epoxy paint is some great stuff. For all extents and purposes, using epoxy is akin to adding an extra, sort of bouncy, and also stain resistant layer to the top of your concrete garage floor. It’s also the cheapest if you do it yourself. Unfortunately, though, this comes at a cost of labor hours. Not only does an epoxy garage floor coating take the longest of any of these solutions, but it’s the only one with strict directions on exactly when you can install it. The weather has to be perfect, and you have to give it time to dry in between coats, as per the kit’s instructions. The floor must also be very clean before you even begin.

Garage Floor Tiles: Garage Flooring That Can Be Almost As Good As Paint

Does paint sound scary, but still want a very thorough flooring solution? Tiles do the job about as well as paint, protecting your concrete garage floor from stains. They’re nearly as durable and, if needed, tiles can be replaced individually if they get damaged, assuming the style of tile is still available to purchase. Breaks can be taken between tiles and, though the floor may have to be re-cleaned, you can take long breaks if you want or need to. Since the tiles themselves aren’t having to dry or set, weather isn’t as much of an issue, though there are some extremes that need to be avoided, depending on the instructions that come with your tiling kit. As they will stick to anything, including dust and dirt, the floor must be absolutely immaculate before laying down tile.

Garage Floor Mats: Alternative Garage Flooring

A big garage floor mat for your garage is the easiest thing to install. Many kits simply require you to cut the mat to fit, and lay it out. The floor does not have to be clean since the mat isn’t going to have to stick to anything. If the floor is already heavily cracked and damaged, a mat may be your best option since it will easily hide everything. This is, however, your most expensive option, and the most likely to be compromised simply by driving upon it as some mats will bunch and gather under car tires.

Compartment Garage Floor Mats: Garage Flooring For One Area

Compartment mats are generally only the best option when a small area of the floor needs to be covered. They work exactly as you would think: just throw the mat wherever you expect that the garage will become dirty, such as underneath a car or where you are going to be working. Single mats generally run about the same in cost as a paint kit, and they can be dragged outside for cleaning. You can even begin covering the entire floor with just one mat as most of them overlay or snap together to create a seal, but that is a very, very expensive way to cover your garage since all mats would have to be purchased separately.

For more information on garage flooring, visit Sweet Garage Floor.

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