Garage floor coatings are an excellent way to preserve your concrete and protect your investment, but is there a better time of year to install a garage floor coat? Does the weather or ambient temperature make a difference? As a matter of fact, there are many different factors to consider, all of which we discuss below.

Pros of Garage Floor Coatings

Garage floor coatings really are the best way to protect your floor from damage, both of the elements and general traffic. Coating your floor can extend its lifespan significantly, making it resistant to cracking, peeling, and UV radiation. 

Floor coatings look beautiful the day they are applied and for years afterward. They are 100% customizable and come in a broad range of colors. They prevent the natural yellowing of time and keep out both precipitation and chemical spills. 

Additionally, a good floor coating will make surfaces smooth and easier to clean without making them too slippery. Materials like epoxy and chip-and-flake are great under impact, abrasion, and the pressure of large vehicles. They really don’t have any downsides except perhaps a little upfront installation money and time.

Can You Install a Garage Floor Coating in Winter?

Whether or not you can install a garage floor coating in the winter depends entirely on which kind of coating you work with. With the right material, winter may actually get you a garage floor coating more quickly because lead times in the colder months are shorter.

When Can You Coat a Garage Floor?

Installing a floor coating takes quite a bit of preparation. All previous coats of paint or epoxy coating will need to be removed first, and the area will need to be completely cleared of debris, vehicles, and stored belongings. 

The best time to install a garage floor depends heavily on the kind of flooring you want installed. However, there are some consistencies across the board. You cannot install your garage floor coating when there is a lot of moisture in the air or in the concrete. Too much moisture spoils the curing process and results in ineffective coatings. 

Short of watching for rain or monitoring humidity levels, how can you tell if the ambient moisture will be too much? Here’s a simple experiment: tape a plastic bag to your garage floor overnight. If, after 24 hours, you check under the bag and find moisture or dampness, there is too much water in the air or concrete to coat it. Wait to install or take steps to dry out the area, otherwise the water pressure will break the bond between coating and floor.

Epoxy Floors

Epoxy floor coatings are enduring and tough and are certainly a good addition to any garage floor. If you want to install a garage floor made of epoxy, however, there are several things to take into consideration. You cannot simply slop down a layer of epoxy at any time of year or even any time of day. The curing process for such floors is nuanced, and there are many factors to consider before starting. 

The first is temperature. Epoxy floor coatings require specific temperature ranges for optimal installation. Epoxy doesn’t cure properly in temperatures below 55°F. This applies to ambient air temperatures and the temperature of the concrete itself. Typically, when installing epoxy floors, you want weather conditions to be around 60°F and 80°F for best results. This pretty effectively rules out winter as a good time to install an epoxy garage floor. 

Epoxy, even in good weather, also takes quite a while to cure. Three days is the recommended minimum, meaning that you have to really plan for when you want to manage the installation. You may want to keep a weekend open for the process or handle it right before leaving on vacation. 

While the epoxy cures, you should not put weight on the surface, so you’ll have to store your car somewhere else. This is another reason why winter isn’t ideal. On the other hand, if you don’t want your vehicle sitting out in the hot sun, you’ll install during the milder months anyway.

Polyaspartic Floors 

Unlike epoxy floors, polyaspartic floors are much more forgiving in their installation. The material performs properly in both blazingly hot conditions and in temperatures as low as -40°F. This temperature tolerance means that you have a lot of flexibility when you want to install a garage floor of polyaspartic, even if you plan to install in the winter. 

If you are not set on a floor coating material but do have a stringent schedule to keep to, polyaspartic is the way to go. Even if you need your floor installed in the winter, polyaspartic will cure properly in a way that epoxy cannot in the cold. 

Polyaspartic floors also cure much more quickly than epoxy coatings. Unlike an epoxy floor, when you install a garage floor made of polyaspartic, it will harden very quickly, even being available in as little as four hours. This means that the hassle of installation and the degree to which it disrupts a household is significantly reduced.

Garage floor coatings of vinyl or epoxy are a preventative measure that strengthens and protects concrete floors. Floor coatings offer a lot of variety and can be applied to a property owner’s specification when it comes to color, material, and thickness. Sometimes, however, removing garage floor coatings becomes necessary. For example, if a property changes ownership, the new owner may not share the previous one’s preferences.

When changes to a floor coating need to be made, professional coating removal may also extend concrete’s durability and improve the look of a given space. At Garage Floor Masters, we offer impressive results whether you need your floor coating applied or removed.

Why Would You Want to Remove a Garage Floor Coating?

Garage floor coatings protect concrete surfaces and improve the appearance of a floor. They also extend the life of a concrete floor and add value to a property, so why would you want to remove them? A few situations necessitate the need for change. If you lay a floor coating yourself and the finished product doesn’t meet your expectations, you may have to resort to pulling it up again.

Removing garage floor coatings presents more than a little difficulty because epoxy resins bind with the surface of the concrete. We certainly don’t recommend handling the removal yourself. Professional floor coating removal is a much quicker and less disruptive process. In fact, if a coating is applied incorrectly or there are any flaws in the installation, removal will need to be performed by a professional.

Removing Garage Floor Coatings 

Epoxy garage floor coatings are designed to be enduring and to hold up well under wear and tear. This can make them difficult to remove. Removing garage floor coatings can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially depending on the size of your garage floor. Though the process is difficult, floor coatings can be removed with a combination of elbow grease and chemical means.

Scraping and Solvents

With a little determination, removing garage floor coatings can be managed by scraping and a little acetone or paint thinner. Using a tungsten blade scraper with a long handle, homeowners can remove floor coating residue that has been weakened with a corrosive solvent. This method is not for the faint of heart. The chemical reaction between solvent and epoxy produces noxious fumes, so wearing protective gear is a must.

Using a mop, cover the coated floor with a solvent that is specific to the kind of floor covering on your property. Follow all dilution instructions to the letter to avoid injury or damage to the concrete itself. When the coating pulls away from the concrete, scrape it away. The process is generally effective, but the process may need to be repeated several times to ensure all remnants of the floor coating are removed.

Grinding

Removing garage floor coatings can also be managed with a floor grinder (similar to a sander, though designed to remove much sterner stuff). Choose your unit carefully; some models are fueled by propane while others run on electricity. You will also need some specific tools for grinding away coating material in corners. Manufacturers provide edgers or edging attachments for the purpose.

Grinding floor coatings away is a process a little more finessed than scraping, though it is still important to wear protective clothing during the process. Diamond pads allow users to determine how deeply the machine cuts into the coating’s surface. Lower grit ratings (20-80) are better at deep cuts while higher numbers (nearer 100) are better for detailing and smoothing.

No matter which pads are on the machine, grinding down a garage floor coating requires delicate handling to avoid damaging the concrete beneath. Grind in one direction for an even surface, removing the debris that flies off as you work. When all the grinding is completed, the concrete underneath should be thoroughly cleaned with water and soap.

Restoring a Floor Coating After Removal

The process to restore a garage floor coating after one has been removed is dependent on whether the removal was partial or complete. Because installing a floor coating—especially after one has been removed—is a nuanced process, it is best to call in the cavalry. Let a professional contractor do the job.

An experienced professional will make sure all of the previous coating has been cleared away and that the concrete is prepared for a new coat (a process that can require acid etching). If you are thinking about removing garage floor coatings or restoring some that have been removed, give us a call at Garage Floor Masters.