Do you know where many accidents occur around the house? One place that most people don’t think of is the garage, but there are actually a fairly high percentage of injuries which occur in this area. Why is that? Most of these accidents are slips and falls due to the slickness of a concrete floor with a little oil and rain water mixed. The big problem is, concrete is very unforgiving and when you fall there is usually going to be some damage. If you hit your head there can be major problems. The way to alleviating this unsafe area is by treating your garage floor with a sealer which also has anti-slip properties.
The most popular method of treating a concrete floor is with an epoxy garage floor coating that can be applied in part of one weekend. This epoxy is easy to apply and cures to a hard finish that is durable and will last for years. Also, by adding a friction material after rolling out the liquid you can give yourself very good footing for those times when you drive into the garage with rain water on your car and it drips off. The epoxy will also shed any oil or other petroleum spills and this makes future clean up much easier.
The procedure is really quite simple. You start by cleaning the floor with a good detergent and then a degreaser to get up all the stained oil. After the degreaser works for a few minutes you wash it off and see if the water tends to bead anywhere. If there is beading then this indicates there is still some oil left and you need to degrease that area again. If the water does not bead, then apply a weak muriatic acid solution to etch the surface and rinse it off. Let the floor dry, it works well to use a space heater for quicker drying.
Next, mix the resin and hardener and roll it out with a nap roller just like as if your were painting. Do a section of about 6 feet square at a time. After rolling, spread the anti-slip material by casting it like you were feeding chickens. At this time you can also add color flecks for a more pleasing look.
Let it cure for 18 hours before walking on and 3 days before driving and you have a tough, durable floor that is safer and easier to maintain. A garage floor coating can make your garage much safer so look into this safety addition today.
Be sure to check out this post for more cool garage ideas.