Garage Floor Makeover

We all manage to spend plenty of money on our homes every year repainting and smartening up both the inside and the outside of our property, but have you ever given much thought to your garage? Most people would have to answer “no” to that question. But just the simple act of painting a garage floor can turn your garage from a boring and grey interior into something which looks attractive and will leave you wanting to leave your garage door up for all the world to see.

Your garage floor will probably be covered in dirt, grease and oil stains, chemical spills and general debris. Even if you regularly wash and sweep the floor, removing these types of stains is difficult. Concrete tends to be very porous and will absorb all the nasties which drip from your car, leaving a big mess behind.

Applying a floor paint designed for garages is a great way of smartening up the floor and also giving it a protective coating to allow any future spills to washed off in no time. Not only that but adding a splash of colour to your garage will make it look instantly tidier and more part of the home, rather than an addition.

So what sort of paint should you buy? It is important to choose the hardest wearing paint you can find which is specifically aimed at garage floors. Ronseal do a good one in their Diamond Hard range. With a satin finish, it takes just two hours to dry and requires two coats.

Whichever paint you decide to use, it needs to be very tough as it will be under more pressure than any other part of the house. Not only will it have a two tonne car driving over it a few times a day, that car will have hot tyres and will leak all sorts of contaminants over it. It addition you will probably use your garage for storage of things like bicycles, lawnmowers and tools. All of this means that the paint needs to be stain resistant and difficult to scratch or scuff.

There a few different colours available in this type of paint, but most people tend to go for natural hues such as blue, slate or a brownish red. Even if you opt for a safe colour, the transformation of your garage will be impressive.

Applying the paint

• Remove everything from your garage, use a stiff brush to loosen dirt before removing it with a vacuum.
• Use a strong degreaser mixed in hot water to scrub away any oil residue. No matter how may coats of paint you use it is important to remove grease first. Heavy oil deposits will seep through your finished paint job.
• Paint the floor with a sealant designed for concrete floors and follow that with a primer. Some garage paints may have a built in primer so follow the instructions on the tin.
• Use a roller brush to apply the paint working toward the garage door. You may want to use a textured paint to prevent being left with a slippery surface once complete. Apply two coats.
• Finally add another coat of sealant to protect the paint. This will ensure that the paint job lasts a long time.

You may have to repaint high traffic areas once a year or so, but this is a small price to pay for an attractive and practical garage space.