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Gray uncoated concrete garage floor with stains

Before you paint / Concrete & floor coatings

Before you coat a garage floor.

The right finish starts with the floor you have. Here’s what to think through before you pick up a roller.

Painter Surplus · Featuring Home In Progress

Epoxy Flake Garage Floor (Before and After Pic) by Decorative Concrete Kingdom · CC BY 2.0 · Cropped to the before floor.

From the podcast

What goes into a garage floor makeover?

Get to know the floor you have.

Is it bare concrete, or has it already been painted or sealed? Look for stains, hairline cracks, peeling paint, or dark, damp spots that suggest moisture.

Spotted damp patches?Can you coat a damp garage floor?Moisture can climb up through the slab, gather under the coating and push it off. Schematic only; it can’t diagnose your floor.
Dark oil spots on a concrete parking surface
CleaningOil and residue come off first.
Illustration of bare concrete in a garage after surface preparation, before coating.
Surface preparationThen match the surface to the coating.

Cleaning and preparation are different jobs.

Cleaning deals with contamination. Surface preparation gets the concrete ready for the coating. The process depends on the floor’s condition and the product you choose.

On using etching solution to skip cleaning, the podcast is blunt:

“No, it’s not really a cleaner.”

Home In Progress, episode 315 · 13:09

“Epoxy” is the start of the conversation.

Each floor coating has its own preparation steps, application instructions, and cure/drying time. Some give you very little working time once the two parts are mixed.

For a fast-setting polyaspartic, the episode’s advice is simple: don’t do it alone. Plan the crew before you open the cans.

Parts mixed: the clock startsHardens in the can
  1. MixOne person mixes the two parts.
  2. PourOne pours it out on the floor.
  3. RollOne rolls it out.

“Generally the way it goes is one person is mixing the two parts together. One person is pouring it out on the floor and another person is rolling it out.”

“All right, so you’ve gotta move fast.”

“It can harden right in the can.”

Home In Progress, episode 315 · 27:48

Bring this to the paint counter.

Find your next project in the shop.

Surplus changes. The right questions still help you shop.

Inspired by Home In Progress, episode 315, June 24, 2023. The garage-floor discussion runs from 04:45 to 32:29. Check current product instructions for the coating you select.