Sealing a Garage Floor
Flooring, Garage and Storage, Interior by Danny Lipford
If your garage floor has seen better days, you might consider sealing it. While there are many products available, we used a two-part epoxy kit from Rust-Oleum that is available at The Home Depot stores. The kit contains everything you need to have your garage floor looking like new including cleaner, two-part epoxy coating, decorative paint chips, and even an instructional DVD.
The epoxy coating won’t bond well if the floor has already been sealed, so test it first by pouring a little water on the floor. If the water beads up, the floor has been sealed before. You also should check for excess moisture in the slab by taping a 2’ by 2’ piece of plastic to the floor for 24 hours. If the area under the plastic appears damp, then the epoxy might have problems adhering. Newly poured concrete should cure at least a month before sealing.
If everything looks good, you’re ready to proceed with the following steps:
- Remove all items from the garage.
- Sweep or blow out all dirt and debris.
- Remove any oil or grease stains with mineral spirits and a scrub brush.
- Wipe up the mineral spirits and residue with paper towels.
- Mix the packet of cleaner with water and apply with a long-handled scrub brush.
- Hose off the cleaner and allow the floor to dry thoroughly.
- Fill any cracks in the slab with concrete repair caulk and allow to dry.
- Mix the two-part epoxy sealer together and stir thoroughly.
- Trim out the edges with a brush then roll the floor within the time specified.
- Allow the floor to cure according to the instructions before putting into use.
Not only will sealing the floor improve the look of your garage, the smooth surface will be much easier to sweep and keep clean.
15 Comments on “Sealing a Garage Floor”
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October 3rd, 2007 at 12:12 pm
does the epoxy paints stand up to hydrostatic pressure?
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
sorry I just read the entire blog again and realized you answered that with the plastic test. Does Durolock (sp) waterproofing help in a situation like this. It claims that if used to thier specifications you can use acrylic floor paint on top and it will stick regardless of hydrostatic pressure..any comments? I am just now trying to get carpet glue off the concrete flooring after a flood in our lower level..the idiots that installed it used carpet tacks AND then used an enormous amount of adhesive for some reason. Jasco is taking it off but ive decided to rent a diamond grinder with three heads and an attached wet vac and hopefuly will do the eight hundred sf i need to do in a weekend..all five feet two inches of me. ( no woman tells thier weight)
October 5th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
[...] Handy man extraordinaire Danny Lipford published an article on sealing a garage floor. It’s a must-read for garage owners. [...]
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
WHAT IS THE BEST PRODUCT TO USE ON MY GARAGE FLOOR TO LEVEL IT OUT CORRECTLY BY THE DOOR. THE PROBLEM I HAVE IS WHEN IT SNOWS IT MELTS AND SETTLES IN MY LOW SPOTTS. WHAT IS THE BEST PRODUCT AT HOME DEPOT TO LEVEL IT OUT? THANKS
November 6th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Greg Is the problem the floor or a drainage issue? The solution I would suggest would be to dig drains at the entrance to your garage, covered by grates so that when you drove over them, you would be able to do so with ease and then direct the drainage into a sump pump. The only way to level the floor at this point is to resurface it I believe with an expensive overlayment which is attractive but about twenty dollars a sf depending upon the area you live in. If the water isn’t too much of an issue maybe putting a better seal on the bottom of the garage door would help. I know we did that and it helped a great deal. It is so tight the water delivery people think it’s locked when they deliver water for our drinking fountain. But it does help to some degree.
November 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I have my garage issue. I do have hyrdrostatic pressure and it may have been caused by a bad wax ring in nearby bathroom. It has caused our flooring to buckle (wood flooring),existing to when we bought the house, now I want to paint or seal the garage flooring. Every time i go in there barefoot my feet are white and drag into the house. Do I need a contractor to further look into more problems. My husband has placed draing rocks to the side of the house due to swamp cooler. Too many wet problems here.
Help my sobbiness.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I believe I have water coming up from under my garage floor, although it is peculiar. It can pour down rain and the floor is dry, humidity and it gets wet. When I leave a box or anything on the floor and move it after a couple of days the spot is damp. Any suggestions?
January 8th, 2008 at 1:59 am
I’ve seen homeowners in warmer climates simply lay out a end roll piece of vinyl flooring that they’ve acquired as a remnant. One can get years of use before replacing and no real labor issues. Nothing better for clean-up issues, wet or dry.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
My garage floor shows a crack in it. It appears to come from the outside wall about half way in the garage. Also, lots of water comes off the trucks wheels from melted snow or just rain water. What is the best thing to do in this case?
October 24th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I recently purchased a new home and the garage floor has never been sealed. The problem is, is that it’s October and it’s about 40 degrees outside. Is this to cold to seal a garage floor? I live in Ohio and the winters here are usually pretty bad and alot of melted snow and road salt. I wanted to park my car in the garage this winter, so hopefully I can seal a floor in cold weather. I’m not painting the floor, I just want to put a coat of standard sealer down. Please let me know what I need to do, and if it’s a bad idea to park my car in the garage without sealing the floor first.
November 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I would like to know the answer to Nick’s question. I am in Minnesota. I close on my house 12-5-08 and I would like to seal the garage floor before the first snow and salt gets on it. What do I do??
January 12th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I purchased a split level home two years ago. The garage floor, although level, has cracks in floor, and is allowing water sepage to occur, resulting in large puddles of water on the garage floor. What is the best plan of attack? To have the floor sealed, or do I need more drastic measures?
January 14th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
We recently purchased a house, but by the garage door, the concrete is pitted and snow blows in. Some of the pits are up to an inch deep. Once it warms up I would like to fix the concrete and seal it so we don’t have problems again next year. Would a concrete patch work or will the sealer adhere to it?
Ben Erickson Says:January 15th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Don,
You might want to consider using a concrete resurfacer, like Danny did in the video How to Repair Cracks in Concrete.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I did my garage and basement myself last year. I took some pretty extensive photos of the entire process, which folks may find useful here: http://www.goodrum.cx/fall2007projects The epoxy flooring project is about halfway down the page.