Garage floors have to be tough with everything we put them through. Unfortunately, with all the driving, spilling paint and automotive fluids, and creeping in of environmental elements, sometimes a garage floor can’t take it on its own. That’s where protective epoxy floor coating comes into play. Garage floor coatings can protect your floor from all kinds of hazards, environmental, biological, and mechanical.

The Trouble with Water

Water wreaks a lot of havoc on garage and basement floors every single day. It can seep in from the ground or from overflow after heavy precipitation or even from leaking appliances in the home. Because of their position at the base of the house, basements and garages are in the most danger from water damage.

Excessive moisture in your basement or garage leads to all kinds of problems. These include the growth of mold and mildew, rot and other decay, structural damage to walls and floors, and destruction of personal property. Especially if you use your garage or basement for storage, it is vital to seal the floors to keep water out.

Signs of Moisture Damage

The trouble with basements is that moisture damage often has a chance to progress before a homeowner even knows what’s happening. Take an active role in preventing water damage in your home by installing a protective epoxy floor coating and keeping an eye out for these signs:

• Unusually high humidity levels in the basement
• The smell of damp or rot
• Damp or water-stained walls and floors
• Dripping water or condensation
• Peeling paint
• Other structural damage

Keeping Out Moisture with a Protecting Epoxy Floor Coating

Installing a protective epoxy floor coating is a masterstroke in preventing widespread moisture issues and essentially making a floor waterproof. The sealant blocks water and other liquids from seeping into your naturally porous concrete, from both above and below. Additionally, it is sure not to warp even when in contact with large amounts of water, providing a solid and secure barrier.

Protective epoxy floor coatings cannot reverse moisture damage, but they can prevent it. If your home has already sustained water damage, floors must be completely restored before they can be sealed. Consult with a professional restoration company in addition to your floor coating installation team to make sure dampness or structural damage doesn’t compromise the integrity of your garage floor sealing.

Say Goodbye to Mildew and Mold 

Protective epoxy floor coatings also stave off the growth of harmful microorganisms like mold and mildew. This is partly because keeping out moisture removes one of their favorite growth conditions—damp—from the picture, but that is not the only reason. 

The protective sealant that floor coatings are made from are nutrient poor, meaning they do not provide sufficient food for these microscopic pests to munch on. This alone does a good job of making them mold-resistant, but they even take it one step further. Because they are so easy to clean, without groves or crevices for mildew or mold to nestle into, regular cleaning will easily sweep them away. Literally.

Fending Off Creepy Crawlies

Serving as the closest part of your home to the complicated infrastructure that is underground, a home’s basement and garage are its most likely areas to be entrance points for pests like mice and insects. Preventative measures against these creepy crawlies should begin there, for once they find their way in, it’s usually only a matter of time before they spread throughout the home.

Bugs and rodents usually find their way into a basement or garage through cracks and gaps along the seams of the flooring. Because protective epoxy floor coatings extend several inches up the surrounding walls, the installation process seals off any gaps in the seams between wall and floor. The seamless and nonporous system cuts off all access points for trespassing critters, making your home a safer place.

Minimizing Mechanical Damage

Concrete floors experience mechanical damage from everyday use and the march of time, but protective epoxy floor coatings minimize the damage and prolong a floor’s lifespan. For example, heavy foot traffic and the pressure of vehicles rolling onto and off of a garage floor are cushioned by a thick layer of epoxy.

The highly enduring epoxy coating fares well against temperature fluctuations, high humidity levels and other moisture, corrosive salts used to melt ice, and the harmful effects of solar UV radiation. Left alone, concrete undergoes a process called dusting, in which the material gradually grinds down with contact, creating a fine powder that can exacerbate the effects of asthma and other respiratory problems. Epoxy sealing contains the concrete, preventing the dusting process in the first place.

Other Benefits of Garage Floor Coatings

In addition to protecting your basement floor from moisture, mold, and mice, a good basement floor coating will enhance the floor’s appearance, increasing the overall value of the home, and make it easier to clean. Because they shield concrete and cement from spills, they also block staining, improving the appearance and quality of the concrete itself in addition to the room overall.