The typical paved garage is grey concrete that works but is not much to look at. It’s easy to take it for granted. When thinking about household improvements to increase the value of your property, the thought to renovate the floor of the garage usually won’t come to mind. There are several options for treating concrete that will make the garage much easier to take care of. At Floortex, we like to reveal to clients the opportunity to bring out the unique quality of the concrete beneath their feet. The composition of concrete varies, and floors age differently. Investing in your garage will bring a touch of elegance to an often ignored room.
1. Protect your Investment
The flooring in your kitchen or living room is well cared for compared to the rough treatment of the garage’s floor. Spilling or scratching the floor in the house is much more serious than when it happens on concrete. As a result, the concrete bears the marks of much abuse over time. Furthermore, naturally occurring damage, such as cracks and pits are neglected. Homeowners don’t often maintain flooring in the garage and it shows.
After the concrete was paved in the garage of your home, it may have been affected over time from exposure to moisture. The effects might be small cracks on the ground or mildly uneven patches. If severe, bumps can develop creating a walking hazard. This can be a serious issue, especially if you work with tools in the garage. While our epoxies can’t fix noticeably raised areas, we may have a solution for you if you speak to a representative of ours.
All the epoxies from Floortex are self-levelling and durable. In addition to aiding repair, epoxy forms a layer that protects the surface from future damage such as scratches and staining. As any automobile owner will have noticed, bare concrete absorbs liquid easily. Coated concrete blocks the liquid from penetrating the ground so it can be easily cleaned.
2. Bringing the Car Showroom to your Home
The appearance of a model car at a trade show is enhanced by the beautiful platform it rests on. To help you appreciate the vehicle you drive, give the concrete a slick finish. Our epoxies are high gloss, reflecting light well. The metallic version has a marbling effect, creating intricate patterns.
3. Enjoy the Developments in Polishing Technology
The finish on concrete floors eventually require re-application. For a simpler, long-term solution, consider polished concrete. Polishing concrete involves grinding the surface down and applying an agent to harden it. It is also a durable and highly reflective surface as you would expect from an epoxy coating. Polishing lets the natural colour of the concrete to shine through, although you may choose a stain to enhance the appearance.
Floortex offers a cream polish, a salt and pepper polish, as well as an exposed aggregate polish. The cream polish is incredibly smooth. The salt and pepper polish gives a textured look to the floor. The exposed aggregate polish is the most expensive option, but well worth it to those with the budget. The high cost comes from the heavy diamond tooling wear.
4. The Good Kind of Stain
Staining in this case is applying translucent colour to the finish. While staining doesn’t help with durability or gloss, it adds visual interest to the concrete. Staining, especially staining in layers creates rich and deep tones without obscuring natural colours. If you want the hassle-free option of a polished floor, but would like to enhance the appearance, we offer a wide range of colours to meet your needs.
5. Embracing Random Designs
If you’d like to break up the uniform appearance of stains and epoxies, consider using decorative broadcasting. This options uses crushed materials such as silica sand, vinyl colour chips, quartz, and others to form discrete blocks of colour. The materials are distributed evenly into the coating for a unique look.
Bare, untreated concrete in the garage is a missed opportunity to increase the value of your home and you can solve it by finding suitable concrete garage floor solutions. If you have a large garage, you can even take the opportunity to re-purpose the space into a common area. For a home theatre, furnish with an entertainment system and comfortable seating. If you’ve always wanted a home gym, equip the area with free weights and cardiovascular exercise machines, like a treadmill or stationary bike. Polishing the floor so that outdoor footwear is optional will be beneficial in transforming your garage into an inviting room.
Author bio:
Mark Clair is a 46 year old interior designer, decorator and planner. He is a prolific writer and enjoys putting his thoughts into words on pretty much anything around that evokes an interest in him. Happily married and the father of a new born girl, Mark is now exploring the many little joys and challenges of parenthood. For more information, follow him on twitter.