On how to use garage floor paint and how easy it is to apply
A garage offers optimal protection for cars, scooters, bicycles and more. Often, materials or tools are also stored here. The demands on these purely functional spaces are high and over the years the floor has to withstand quite a lot. The weight of the vehicles, plasticizers in the tires, tar from the road, dirt, moisture, road salt in winter and abrasion are just some of the stresses the substrate has to cope with. To protect it from these challenges and make it easier to clean, there are special garage floor paints.
What exactly is garage floor paint?
A garage offers optimal protection for cars, scooters, bicycles and more. It is also often used to store materials or tools. The demands on these purely functional spaces are high, and over the years the floor has to withstand quite a lot. The weight of vehicles, plasticizers in tires, tar from the road, dirt, moisture, road salt in winter and abrasion are just some of the stresses the surface is exposed to. To protect it from these challenges and make it easier to maintain, there are special garage floor paints.
Compared to simple concrete paint, the heavy-duty floor coating makes garage floors more resistant, plasticizer-resistant, more durable, non-slip and oil-resistant. It also prevents water from penetrating and makes it easier to remove dirt from the coated surface. For many people, the visual design of the garage floor is also important, as the coating can be chosen in a suitable cement shade such as light grey or silver grey. You can also determine the gloss level of the cement paint. This determines whether the incident light is absorbed or reflected. Depending on this, the floor appears matt (dead matt, satin matt, matt) or glossy (satin gloss, gloss, high gloss).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of floor coatings for garages?
Advantages
The special paint increases the service life of garage floors. It also makes the coated surface much easier to maintain. The formulation, which is tailored to cement screed and concrete, ensures that the garage floor is more resistant to plasticisers, impacts and scratches and repels liquids such as water, oil, de-icing salt, alkalis, chemicals, acids and petrol.
If you decide to coat your floor with garage floor paint, you don’t need to be a professional tradesperson. The paint can easily be applied to the concrete floor with standard painting tools
and offers excellent coverage. Once the drying time has elapsed, the floor can be subjected to full loads.
Disadvantages
There are hardly any disadvantages. The only downside is that the floor preparation can be a bit more involved. Depending on the condition of the garage floor, it may need to be thoroughly cleaned, sanded and pretreated with a primer. Only then can the garage paint be applied. If you accept this minor drawback once, you’ll enjoy your garage floor coating for a long time.
How long does a garage floor coating last?
Unlike concrete paint, garage floor paint forms a protective layer on top of the garage floor. It usually consists of two components. These so-called 2K floor paints contain epoxy resin and are water-based. They are a mixture of paint and coating. Single-component garage sealers are easier for DIYers to apply and also create a solid surface. Above all, it is important to use high-quality paint. This way, the coating will protect your garage floor for many, many years.
How to: paint your garage floor in 3 easy steps
1. Cleaning & preparation
Before you start, the garage floor must be thoroughly cleaned. Only when the concrete floor is free of oil, any kind of contamination and is dry can you move on to the next steps. Remove coarse dirt with a broom; oil stains can be treated with a special cleaner.
Then check the garage floor for strength and absorbency. If the top layer comes loose when lightly tapped, you must sand down the old coatings or existing finishes before the renovation coat. Don’t forget to clean the floor again afterwards and repair any defects and cracks.
2. Water test & primer
For the water test, put some water on the surface and observe how strongly the liquid is absorbed. If the floor darkens quickly, a primer should be applied before the garage floor paint.
If garage paint is being applied for the first time, pre-treating with a primer is recommended. For a new, very smooth concrete floor, the concrete surface must be roughened before repainting, e.g. with a random orbital sander, and treated with a 2K bonding agent. Before the paint is applied, the first treatment must dry for up to 48 hours.
3. Applying the final coat & drying time
In the next step, the garage floor paint is applied. For mineral substrates, a test coat on a small area is recommended. To do this, simply use a lambskin roller or a brush. Apply the paint in even strokes once or twice (for old and renovation coats) with the lambskin roller towards the garage door. For new coats, two to three layers are required. A drying time of 12 hours should be allowed between coats. After the final coat, the paint is ready for use after a drying time of seven days.
Frequently asked questions about garage floor paint
In addition to using the paint for interior garage walls, it is also ideal for basement floors, workshops and carports.
If you want to renew your concrete paint, it usually makes sense to remove the old garage floor coating. Epoxy-based garage floor paint can be removed with chemical paint strippers or by using a grinding machine. The latter is the most common method and is also environmentally friendly. At the same time, it perfectly prepares the floor for the new coating.
Garage floor paint is now available in almost every conceivable RAL colour: from gentian blue, iron grey, leaf green and tomato red to moss green, fire red, sky blue and rapeseed yellow, all the way to platinum grey, concrete grey and terracotta. We offer our BAUFIX professional Garage Floor Special Paint in the colours light grey (RAL 7035), anthracite grey (RAL 7016) and silver grey (RAL 7001). These colours are particularly popular because they are timeless, easy to maintain and ideal for use in garages.
That depends on the condition of the floor coating. If it is already very porous or even cracked, mechanical removal with a sanding machine is important before the primer and garage floor paint can be applied.
Recommendation: This is the garage floor paint you should buy
If you want to optimally protect your garage floor and use it for many years, special garage floor paints are the perfect choice. With BAUFIX professional Garage Floor Special Paint, even non-professionals can seal concrete and screed floors quickly and easily. This high-quality paint is particularly resistant to light and weather. The abrasion-resistant coating also impresses with its water and plasticizer resistance, which many users repeatedly praise. Make your garage fit for cars, scooters, bicycles and more with this paint specially designed for heavily used floors.
Our garage floor paint: BAUFIX professional Special Garage Floor Paint
If you want to optimally protect your garage floor and use it for many years, special garage floor paints are the perfect choice. With BAUFIX professional Special Garage Floor Paint, even non-professionals can seal concrete and screed floors quickly and easily.
- Resistant to de-icing salts and plasticizer migration from car tires
- High-quality special floor coating
- High resistance to abrasion, weather, UV and water
- For indoor and outdoor use