How to Prepare a Garage Floor for Epoxy
Start strong with surface preparation.
Surface preparation is the process of building the strong foundation that any epoxy floor sits on. When you do it right, your clients' epoxy floors will stand the test of time and resist wear and tear for longer. Preparing your concrete floor before installing epoxy guarantees durability and supports the epoxy, making it sleek and strong for years to come.
Why Contractors Need An Epoxy Garage Floor Service
Epoxy garage floors are in high demand for contractors and homeowners alike, for many reasons. Any contractors making their impact on this booming flooring market should make adding a garage epoxy floor service as an essential first step to success.
For contractors, installing epoxy floors into garages comes with low labor and resource costs, especially when you invest in owning the right equipment. Garage floor renovations are always in high demand, and the installation process is very reproducible. Once you can install one garage floor, it's very easy to scale that up to as many as your business can handle.
Most epoxy floor installations in garages are flake systems. Flake is durable, low-cost and can be customized to your clients' wants. Our article on Why You Need Flake Epoxy Garage Flooring explains why this flooring system has grown to become the standard in garages.
Preparing a Garage for an Epoxy Floor
Perfecting your surface preparation process is essential to installing a strong epoxy floor. Read these tips to help elevate your services:
Concrete Leveling
Sometimes, building a strong foundation for an epoxy floor means literally preparing the foundation for installation. Installing epoxy on concrete that isn't level is a recipe for disaster, as our article on Why & How To Level Concrete explains.
Concrete Cleaning
Cleaning concrete is incredibly important before any installation, so luckily it's also very easy! A thorough cleaning will make the floor free of any dirt and grease. It'll also get rid of other debris that could threaten the integrity of the epoxy. With simple cleaning solutions, and a thorough water rinse, you can easily clean your concrete floor.
Patching & Repairing
Patching & repairing your concrete floors before installation helps guarantee a smooth, sleek surface. Any cracks in the foundation of the concrete will come back to haunt your clients' floors in the long term.
Concrete Etching
Etching your concrete is a necessary step to improve the grip that the epoxy will build on the concrete foundation. Using a quality chemical concrete etching solution, with a water rinse after, you can improve the strength of your clients' floor with little to no labor.
Moisture Testing (Optional)
After the concrete dries, depending on the conditions of the garage and the climate in the area, it may be necessary to perform moisture tests in the concrete. If there is lingering moisture, it could lead to significant long-term issues with the floor, as our article on the Importance of Concrete Moisture Testing explains.
Applying Primer
The final step before installing your epoxy system is the last brick in the strong foundation you've built. Apply a primer coat on a clean, smooth concrete surface and let it dry before moving on to your last step.
Install Epoxy System
It's finally time to install the epoxy system on your cleaned, prepared concrete floor. Apply the flake system with thin coats, broadcasting the flakes and allowing the coats to dry before moving on.
With all that, you've now built your client a beautiful, sleek, and incredibly strong floor!
Tools You Need to Install Epoxy in Garages
Now that you're armed with the knowledge necessary to start installing epoxy, it's time to get equipped. Here's some of the tools and resources you'll need:
- Concrete Grinder - The Concrete Genie is a perfect grinder for garages due to its mobility, its efficiency and how thoroughly it grinds.
- Cleaning Tools - In most garage installation jobs, a pump sprayer filled with appropriate cleaning solution is effective enough to work with. For more stubborn concrete cleaning jobs, a pressure washer could be worth the investment.
- Moisture / Vapor Barrier (Optional) - Underlying, untreated moisture in the concrete foundation will threaten to ruin your epoxy floors. For guaranteed protection, it's highly recommended that you invest in a moisture testing kit and barrier solution, such as the Concrete Moisture Barrier Vapor Reduction.
- Chemical Concrete Etcher - Use a quality chemical etching solution to guarantee your epoxy has a solid grip onto the foundation. We recommend the NewLook QuickEtch line of concrete etchers.
- Primer - A primer coat further ensures the quality of your epoxy, keeping it sleek, and solid. The Ardex P 51 primer is a cost-effective solution that keeps epoxy looking sharp.
When you're fully equipped, your flooring business can handle any garages that come its way. For any contractors looking to start installing epoxy in garages, we have a full epoxy starter kit on our online store designed specifically for installing quality garage floors.
Learn To Install Epoxy Floors in Any Garage
Surface preparation is one of the first steps in the process of installing epoxy, but there's more work to do. You can build a great foundation for epoxy, but unless you install the epoxy right, that work will be useless. We host a 5 day Epoxy Classes program, where you can get hands-on knowledge with professionals in the industry.
- How to prepare a surface for epoxy
- How to handle, install and maintain epoxy floors
- How to grind and level concrete.
Sign up now and build your business!
Conclusion
Any flooring contractor looking to diversify their services and find new success in a booming industry should consider installing epoxy floors in garages. It's a cost and labor efficient service, with a low barrier for entry, that can be scaled up as you find success! With the tips from this guide, you're ready to take the first step into building your flooring business. Start installing quality, strong floors today!
You can contact our specialists at (954) 287-3797 with any questions about preparing a surface, or otherwise working with epoxy. Our EpoxyETC online store has deals on all the necessary tools and resources for your flooring business.
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