Epoxy Garage Floor Coatings Are All Over The Place
Epoxy garage floor coatings are all the rage. Long gone are the old browns and grays that used to be associated with any type of garage floor paint. Today’s garage floor finishes are often a shiny red, or sometimes even clear. Any time you see really eye-catching garage floors on TV, if they’re a solid color, or only have flecks of color, then you’re most likely looking at epoxy. Nearly all garage floor coatings nowadays will include the words epoxy, acrylic, and resin, but most people don’t really know what these terms mean. In this article, we’ll take a look at epoxy, what it is, and why it’s used in practically every modern garage floor coating.
What Is Epoxy?
Anyone who has ever glued something together that was never meant to come apart in the first place has probably used either super-glue or epoxy. If you had to mix it, it was probably epoxy. This is because epoxy, by definition, is a mixture of epoxide and polyamine. Once these two chemicals have mixed and cured, they create the rock-hard adhesive or paint that we know of as epoxy. The curing process of epoxy is often varied depending on its application. When it comes to garage flooring, epoxy usually takes hours to cure, whereas in adhesive, it may be mixed so that it will only take minutes.
Is Epoxy The Strongest Of Garage Floor Coatings?
Of all of the various garage flooring options, epoxy is definitely the strongest and most durable. By nature, epoxy resists everything from liquid to UV rays, so you can bet it will also resist any chemicals that come from your car or anything else that ends up in your garage. Because it is so hard, it’s not as comfortable to lay or sit upon as tiles or mats, however, although it is easier on the back and knees than a plain old concrete garage floor.
Comparing Other Garage Floor Coverings To Epoxy
If you take a look at the various garage flooring options, you’ll see some garage floor paint is labeled as water or acrylic based. These are usually also epoxy coatings, and they may or may not be mixed a bit differently with slightly different balances than those garage floor coatings that more clearly show themselves to be epoxy based. For whatever reason, it seems that some companies want to lead consumers away from thinking their products are the same as the other guys, even if they basically are. Notice that the big guys like RustOleum and Quikrete garage floor pretty clearly say that all of their coatings are epoxy.
You Guessed It, Epoxy Is Now The New Future Of Garage Floor Coatings!
Although epoxy paint has been used for some time, it can still deflect even today’s worst, most destructive chemicals. Brake fluid, which is a good example since it is capable of dissolving clothes if left alone, can be sprayed off the epoxy coating as easily as water. There’s probably some horribly destructive chemical that will make its presence known in the cars of the future, but as of know, epoxy can deflect pretty much anything. If you can swing it, the best garage floor coating should continue to be epoxy for some time.
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