A Quick Guide For the Process of Painting Your Concrete Floor

Garage and concrete floors can be made to look neat and well kept by painting it. The right material for this is epoxy paint or coating. This may prove hard sometimes but with proper technique, you can do the work light.

Here's how you paint your garage and concrete floor with epoxy paint:

· Complete cleaning.

See to it that you sweep or blow away all dirt and loose debris from the area to be painted. Likewise, clean fully the surrounding areas of dirt, leaves, debris and other materials that could come through the garage door to soil your floor again.

After sweeping, you have to wash the complete surface to be coated using a pressure washer. Preferably, use the one with between 2500 and 3500 psi. It is important, however, to be extra careful as pressure water can cut into the concrete. If you don't own a pressure washer, you can easily rent one from rental centers.

For areas that are heavily greased and heavy residues exist, a de-greaser solution can be applied to the surface. Scrub and wash thoroughly after use, again using your pressure washer.

· Check your concrete floor.

It is very important to check and examine the surface closely. This way, you may be able to find for cracks, the low or high spots and other damage or defects in the surface. You need to repair these if you want best results.

For very fine cracks, epoxy coating can fill and bond these. However, when you encounter larger cracks, jagged or deep cracks, you need to use crack filler or patching these with epoxy/concrete patching kit. There may also be a need to grind out the concrete. For low spots in the concrete floor, epoxy patching compound may be applied and trowel mix on the surface.

· Etch your concrete floor.

After pressure washing, de-greasing if necessary, and undertaking necessary repairs in uneven areas, you need to etch the concrete floor. This is necessary to let the epoxy floor coating bind with the underlying concrete floor.

In doing this, mix the same amount of muriatic acid and water, then, disperse this over the entire surface of the concrete floor. Let it stand for 20 minutes after which you rinse the floor completely with clean and clear water until all acid has been washed away.

· Mixing your paint.

You may need to know how to mix your epoxy paint. For a 2- gallon mix of epoxy, pour equal amount of "Part A" and "Part B" into a clear 5-gallon plastic bucket. Use a Jiffy Mixer or a mixing paddle to mix at a low speed of 1/2" drill. Mix at the bottom and never lift the mixer or paddle in or out as this will infuse air into the mixture. The mixing must be done only for 3 to 3 ½ minutes, no more, no less.

· Applying your Epoxy paint

You start to apply your paint from the farthest point from the door(s), this using a paint brush. You paint your way out of the garage to free you from walking in wet paint and move around materials and not destroying the paint. In the first coating, apply wet epoxy to only wet epoxy until the entire surface has been coated. Do your painting in small portions in order that the epoxy will not easily dry up. To apply for 2nd coating, wait for 2 to 3 hours until the first coating is already dry.

Given the right work and proper material used, your garage flooring can give you lasting satisfaction.

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