Why It’s a No-Brainer Hire an Expert for:
Epoxy Garage Floor Installations
“How much does an Epoxy garage floor cost?” No doubt about it, “the price to epoxy a garage” is kind of a trick question. We hear it all of the time. As a matter of fact if you’re in the business of epoxy, it’s probably what you will hear the most, and that’s understandable. People need to know. It is an important question when you’re considering having an epoxy applied to your garage floor.
If you’re considering a DIY epoxy for your garage floor, I picture someone thinking how hard can it be? I have to acid wash my concrete. Then go to their nearest big box store to purchase epoxy and rollers… It’s an option. You can very well do that but I don’t recommend it and I’m going to explain why so that you can see the full picture.
If you aren’t familiar with what goes into the cost of an epoxy floor. You can receive a fill in the blanks answer to get a standard range “It’s going to be between $1,300. and $3,000.” Ouch, that hurt’s my ears because the range too wide to consider as a real answer plus, it can be exactly what I just read on the internet! I recommend going to an educator. That’s right not a sales person. That’s because I think I’d rather hear something more like “I’d love to give you a price. Most of the cost is in the prep work. When is a good time for me to evaluate your floor?”
1st Step: Giving a price to epoxy a garage: Evaluating
Evaluate:
See what level of prep work needs to be done. Check out the floor. Ask the right questions.
Check out the floor:
Of course, you need to measure the square footage to know how much coating is required but evaluating is a lot more than that. The life of epoxy is all about prepping the surface and actually is the most important part of laying down the epoxy.
Ask the right questions and see for yourself:
How old is the floor? Is there a sealer or treatment that will need to be removed? Are there any oils or road chemicals on the floor that prevent epoxy from adhering to it? How much moisture does the floor have? Will leveling of the concrete need to be done? Are there any divots or bumps that need smoothed out? Are there cracks and spalling that need attention?
2nd Step: Giving a price to epoxy a garage: Time and Materials
Time and Materials:
What’s it going to take? Things to consider, Break it down
Floor Preparation: Materials needed for:
Repairs
Resurfacing
Grinding/diamonds
Epoxy Materials:
Primer
Topcoats
Custom Styles: Flake, metallic, non-skid, custom color
Standard applicators, buckets, tape
Labor
Weighing the value of hiring a professional to install your garage epoxy or DIY?
I think it’s fair to say; most people that consider putting epoxy on their garage floor want to have a nice floor, the custom look is appealing and sometimes even want to raise the value of the house. Whatever the reason I think it’s all about weighing the Cost VS Value of the job.
Maybe you are a DIY person with all projects are fairly skilled and don’t mind doing the labor. That’s great and will work with some things but not everything. With epoxy you have to be smart about it.
Like I said before, most of the cost is in the prep work. There’s a reason for that. The floor preparation is the biggest denominator and most important step, when it comes to an epoxy floor life expectancy. Then the 2nd denominator is the quality of the material.
You can actually read on big box stores websites, life expectancy of an epoxy garage floor 2-3 years. I’ll just say it… “That’s a perfect scenario for a perfect floor” because I’ll tell you if the surface has anything on it the epoxy isn’t sticking to it. Why because it’s all about penetrating the floor to grip. The better the grip the longer that epoxy is going to last.
Both, proper professional floor preparation and quality epoxy will play a part in having better floor grip and extending the life of the epoxy up to 5x times longer than a DIY floor. Don’t take my word for it, so that you can be smart about it I’ll explain.
*Professional Floor Preparation compared to DIY Floor Preparation:
DIY Floor Preparation:
For someone that is A DIY person you might be thinking: If I want to save money on getting epoxy down on my garage floor. It can be a lot of labor work. I have to prepare the surface, clean it, get the oil off maybe a power wash or acid wash will be good. Not a problem I can do it. I will tell you, you would have to not only do the labor but you would need to rent a grinder, a walk-behind, and an edge grinder. Now all of a sudden the DIY price has tripled. If you use a grinder for obvious health reasons you’ll need to rent a safety respirator mask and a vacuum that directly connects to the grinder or you’ll never get rid of that fine dust. It’s the snowball effect.
Professional Floor Preparation:
When it comes to extending the life of epoxy on a garage floor, it’s all about the prep work. Preparing the surface of a garage floor to apply epoxy is the most important part of the job. It’s not only about cleaning the floor and removing visible debris like oil and road chemicals. Preparing the garage floor for epoxy is grinding the surface to open up the pores of the concrete to give the epoxy something to grip to.
Quality of Epoxy compared to DIY Epoxy:
Quality Epoxy:
The Professional Epoxy Installer has an unfair advantage. This is what they do. For the most part, they have the knowledge (I say for the most part because a moisture test may be warranted) to look at the garage floor surface and tell right away what kind of epoxy is best for the situation.
DIY Epoxy:
Most hardware or Big Box store epoxies are more similar to paint. It does have some epoxy in it but basically, 50% is solid, 50% will evaporate once it’s dry. Dried / Cured, epoxy cures so if it’s evaporating what’s left to grip? That lowers epoxy life 50% right there.
*Conclusion
Assuming that a DIY person is talented and the garage floor is in perfect shape (30 days old and no debris on it) Even though they never rolled out epoxy before in this scenario average life of the epoxy on this DIY floor is 2-3 years. If it has any outside chemicals dripped on it or oil from a car, know that this is not the best scenario those spots will peel quickly. Lets also add that limited color options are available when you DIY.
Professionally installed Epoxy will have the cost of labor but because of that you can have a custom appearance that looks professionally done and completed in 1-2 days. The quality of Epoxy that will be more durable have better grip and last 5x longer.
The smart thing to do: Looking at the facts, when it comes to installing epoxy in a garage, the hiring of a professional to do the job is a bargain. You’re clearly getting the best value.
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Ronald Wesley
CEO MOY FLoorFX
Hello I’m Ron, CEO of MOY FloorFx, South Central Pennsylvania’s Epoxy Distribution and Training School. I’m here to support you by getting you the right product and instruction for your floor coating business.