How To Paint A Garage Floor
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Summary: It’s not just a matter of putting the pain on the garage floor you’ll have to do a little prepare work beforehand. Once this is done you’ll be able to paint the garage floor with ease.
Question: I would really like to paint my garage floor at home and am looking for some tips to how to do this. I'm not an expert or anything like it on DIY so any help will be great.
Answer: Painting a garage floor is a great idea and one that I have done many times. It's a great project because it will help keep the floor free from stains and any type of deterioration that happens over time. To paint garage floor cement requires a few things to be done and I have a quick list below before we get started.
This is not a one day job – depending on your garage it might take a couple of days to get this job finished but once done you’ll have an amazing painted floor that will last for years to come.
You'll need these
1) Primer
2) Epoxy paint - make sure it's formulated for garage floors
3) Paintbrushes - Nylon
4) Rubber gloves
5) Goggles
6) Paint rollers - water-resistant and solvent-resistant
7) Bleach
8) Stiff-bristle brushes
You may also need a Pressure washer and some Concrete etcher
Safety is key when working with paints and cleaners please make sure you are working in an area that is well ventilated. I put goggles and gloves on the list above for this reason.
Some of you will be lucky to have a garage floor that's clean but some might have cracks or stains and maybe deterioration showing so we'll need to take some steps to fix these little issue before we stat painting.
Just before we start painting we need clear out the garage, which I'm sure you'll already know, now we need to clean and sweep the floor thoroughly. If you have stains use a 3-to-1 water-to-bleach, you can of course use driveway cleaner or other commercially available products but bleach works most jobs and is cheaper. Make sure you spray the bleach on the stained area whilst wearing gloves and eye protection. Give the bleach a few mins and then scrub with the Stiff-bristle brush.
Once you have this done and are happy that the floor is clean and stains removed you need to clean the entire area with clean water. If you need a pressure washer to clean you can hire these from a local DIY hire centre. Start at the back of the garage floor and work toward the front.
Make sure that the floor is now dry and your happy it's clean. Now it's time to repair any cracks in the concrete. If you have small cracks you can use concrete/mortar-repair compound or use concrete patch for any larger cracks. It's important that the cracks are clean before you apply the compound, but as you're already son this you're ready to go.
Etching is next, this is not required for all job but what etching dose is opens the pores in the concrete so that the pain will be absorbed easily. To check if you need to do this, simply sprinkle a small amount of water on to the garage floor. If the concrete absorbs this quickly then you will most likely not need to do any etching. If however it's not that simply apply a commercial concrete etcher, all good DIY stores will stock this and please read the manufacturer's instructions before applying.
If you need to etch let the floor dry thoroughly maybe even overnight before you start painting the garage floor.
We are not at the paining stage just yet, we need to apply the primer cost. Using a primer we make sure that this is a long lasting paint job. Use a long handle paint roller makes the jobs easier and easy on the back. Once this is done you'll need to wait at least 8 hours for this to dry.
Before applying the paint make sure you read the manufacturer's instructions many different type are available so follow their guideline. Using the long-handled paint roller apply the first cost in a thin and even manor. Allow this to dry for at least 24 hours and check if you need to apply a second coat of paint.
Use the nylon brushes and solvent- and water-resistant roller and make sure you do all the corners first with the brush followed by the main area starting at the back and working toward the front of the garage.
Do not walk on the floor for 24 hours after you are finished painting. Wait at least a week before you drive on to the newly painted surface.
Keep any spare paint as you might need to do some touch up work on area that might have heavy traffic.
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