Best Garage Floor: What Is It?

July 26th, 2008

Many people today are covering up those ugly concrete garage floors.  Covering your garage floor has many advantages, ranging from the purely functional to the purely aesthetic.  It’s true, you can really spruce up the look of your garage floor by checking out these flooring options.  Installing the right garage floor covering can also increase the overall value of your garage, and thus your house.  Anyway way you look at it, garage flooring is a good option.

However, you might be wondering what the best garage flooring option is.  Basically, you have several major options for covering the garage, specifically, epoxy paint, mats, and tiling.  Let’s look at each option, and talk about their pros and cons.

First, lets look at epoxy.  Garage floor epoxy provides a thick, durable paint surface for your garage floor.  This seals it against moisture, and protects the floor from cracks.  It can also spruce up the look of your  garage floor, as you can get different colors of epoxy paint.  It installs easily, simply by cleaning and treating the garage floor, and painting it on.  After a curing period (usually 24 hours or so), you’ll have a great new floor.  Epoxy floors make cleaning your garage floor a snap, since liquids won’t soak in like they will with concrete.

There are a couple downsides to epoxy flooring, however.  Depending on what type you get, it can be susceptible to damage from certain types of chemicals.  It can also soften up when exposed to high heat, though many epoxy formulas are resistant to this.  However, all epoxy surfaces are somewhat slippery when wet, so you’ll need to watch out for that.

Garage floor mats are simply large vinyl mats that you can roll out to provide yourself with a quick, easy garage floor covering option.  These come in a wide variety of colors, designs, and textures, so you can find something for every need.  These provide great protection for your floor, are quick to install (no waiting for epoxy to cure!), and can be removed if needed.  They are also slip resistant, stain resistant, chemical resistant, and more.

The only real flaws with floor mats are its installation issues for oddly shaped areas, and the difficulty of repairing it.  Imagine you have a workbench or other such permanent protrusion in your garage.  You will have to cut the mat to go around these, which can be a little annoying.  As for the repairs, if you damage a portion of the mat, you’ll either have to make a patch, which can be hard to do cleanly, or replace the entire mat.

If these problems bug you, you might want to check into garage floor tiling.  It has all the advantages and properties of garage floor mats, but in convenient tile form.  Since these tiles are completely modular, you can install them around hard to fit areas, and simply replace damaged tiles individually.  Simply and effective.  This option tends to be a little more expensive then the mats, but for many, the advantages are worth it.

So, I hope this has helped give you some idea of what your options are when it comes to choosing the best garage floor covering for you.  Check out some online dealers to see what your options are, and learn more about how you can transform your garage by installing a great new floor.

Garage Floor Mats

July 26th, 2008

Want to greatly increase the value and utility of your garage?  Try giving that old concrete floor a makeover. Choosing the right garage floor covering can greatly increase both the aesthetics and usefulness of your garage.  There are many options for garage flooring, but in this article we’re going to talk about garage floor mats.

A garage floor mat, as the name implies, is simply a large mat, usually made from vinyl, that you can set up in your garage to help protect the floor.  This has many benefits.

You see, simply leaving your floor in its natural concrete form leaves it open to staining, cracking, and other unsightly damage.  Further, concrete garage floors can be slippery when wet, and quite hard to clean, since fluids will soak into the concrete.

Garage floor covering, like vinyl mats, will help solve these problems.  In particular, vinyl floor mats will help guide liquid out of your garage, provide a vapor barrier for the concrete, protect against cracks, and even help reduce the amount of dirt that gets tracked into your house through the garage.  In short, they provide a myriad of benefits over a plain garage floor.

Further, garage floor mats are quite simple to install.  You simply purchase the proper amount of flooring in a big roll, unroll it onto your floor, and cut it to fit.  You can either overlap adjacent mats, or cut them to get a perfect seem.  Either way, you can greatly improve your garage very quickly by installing this flooring.

If you ever need to move or change the flooring, you can simply roll the mats right back up.  The mats also come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures, so you can get the right one for your needs.  If you want super grippy, slip resistant flooring, you can get that.  If you want a nice clean look transform the aesthetics of your garage, you can get some nice decorative designs, as well.  The options are really wide.

If all of this sounds good to you, try checking out some of the many internet retailers who offer these garage floor covering products at great low prices.  Once you see how nice your garage will look with a new floor installed, you’ll be quite glad you did.

Garage Floor Tiles

July 26th, 2008

Looking to get that plain old concrete garage floor cover up with something a little more durable, functional, and stylish?  Give garage tiling a look.  As its name suggests, garage floor tiling is simple specially designed tiles for your garage floor.  These tiles come in a wide variety of different styles and shapes, so you can choose the optimal tiles for your garages needs.

So, you might be wondering why you might want to choose tiling over other garage floor covering options, such as mats and epoxy.  Let’s start off by comparing it to epoxy. First of all, tiling does not require the same type of cleaning and prep as epoxy does.  You can simply lay down the tile over your existing garage floor, regardless of the condition of the floor.  This can be a great time saver.  Also, tiling can be installed much faster, as there is no curing time.  Another advantage over epoxy is that it is much more slip resistant in wet conditions.  Tiling can also be removed, while epoxy is fairly permanent.

As for tiling vs. mats, tiling has the obvious advantage of being modular.  That is, if you do damage your tile floor, you can easily replace just the damage tiles, and have your floor looking as good as new.  Obviously, this wouldn’t work as well with a mat floor, where you could have to make a special patch to repair the damage.  Also, tiling is very to install, as you don’t have to cut the entire floor to match before install.  You just start laying it down and cut the edges.

Tiling is, in fact, quite easy to install for the homeowner, and makes a great garage flooring surface.  If you’re serious about transforming your garage, be sure to give garage floor tiles a good, hard look.  They are versatile, durable, affordable, and easy to install.  You’ll find that you can get a wide variety of textures and styles by shopping around, so be sure to check out various online and offline retailers to see what your options are.  One thing is sure, though, you will be pleased with the way your garage floor looks after installing tiling.

Garage Floor Epoxy

July 25th, 2008

Considering using epoxy coating for your garage floor? Good choice. Garage epoxy flooring is durable, rugged, and can add great value to any garage.

What exactly is epoxy flooring, and why does it make an ideal garage floor covering? Well, lets think about what an ideal garage floor would be like. First of all, it would be very durable, resistant to cracking and other damage. It would also have to be chemical resistant, to protect your garage from stray fluids. Basically, you want armor for your garage floor.

Garage floor epoxy is such an armor. Epoxy is a durable chemical compound that is applied to your floor in liquid form, very similar to painting. Once applied, garage floor epoxy bonds to your floor and hardens, forming an impermeable, protective layer on your floor, after a cure time (about 24 hours) This layer will be water and chemical resistant, stand up to heat and cold, and provide a protective barrier against fluids and stains

This process can be completed by almost anyone, most epoxy treatments come with a complete kit that guides you through the application process step by step. This can typically completed in a weekend.

Once installed, the epoxy flooring will protect against stains and other damage to your actual garage floor.  Of course, you’ll still have to clean up stains and fluids, but they won’t soak in like they will with concrete.  Rather, they will just pool up on top.  The coating will also serve to prevent cracks and other damage to your garage floor.

Since epoxy garage floor covering can installed easily while providing solid protection for your floor, it makes a great option for every home owner. Learn more about this great flooring option by reading around the site. Thanks for visiting.

Garage Floor Covering Options

July 19th, 2008

So, you’ve decided to convert that old garage into a more useful area.  Maybe you want to make a nice workshop, workout area, or playroom, and are looking to cover up that ugly concrete floor with something a little nicer. This will be a key part of the conversion process, as you need the right floor for your purpose.  Even if you’re not looking to convert your garage, you can still benefit from choosing a nicer floor for your garage.  So, what are your options?

One of the most popular options for garage floor covering are mats for the floor.  These can be made out of vinyl, rubber, and other materials.  These mats will usually come in a large roll, which can be self installed, which usually involves rolling at the mat, trimming it, and affixing it with adhesives.  Professional installation is also available for those who want to.

Another popular option is garage floor tiling.  Garage floor tiling is simply extra rugged tile that you can install on your garage floor to provide a nice, utilitarian surface.  These are available in all sorts of patterns and designs, so find one you like.  The options here are quite broad, which lends some freedom to the design process.  Again, these can be self or professionally installed.

You could also cover your garage floor with an epoxy coating.  Epoxy floor coverings give your garage a thick, tough coating that will protect against stains, cracks, and more.  These typically are self installed by the user.  You can buy kits that have everything you need, though, which makes the process simple.

So, this should help give you some idea of what your garage floor covering options are.  Please look around the site, or check out our  links to learn more about how you can transform your garage with the right flooring options.