Garage Floor Epoxy in Jacksonville, FL

Garage floor epoxy is the request that comes up most often for us in Jacksonville. Garages here hold a lot more than a car: a bay boat on its trailer, the golf cart, fishing gear, a second refrigerator, the washer and dryer, a weight bench, a workbench. Doors stay open on warm afternoons and summer storms push rain under the seal. A garage floor coating seals the concrete so spills, sand and water bead up on top rather than sinking in.

How bare concrete fails in a Jacksonville garage

Concrete is porous. Motor oil, transmission fluid, pool shock, fertilizer and wet sand all work into an unsealed slab and leave marks no cleaner will lift. Untreated concrete also dusts, so the floor looks gritty a day after you sweep. In a humid climate a bare slab can feel damp, grow mildew along the walls and hold musty smells. Many garages we see also have a painted floor or an old kit epoxy that has started flaking off in the two lanes the car rolls over.

Signs it is time

• Oil and fluid stains that have set in
• Dust that comes back right after sweeping
• Paint or an old coating lifting in the tire paths
• Cracks, chipped control joints or a dip by the door where puddles collect
• Rust rings from bikes, tool chests or trailer stands
• A dull, stained strip just inside the door where rain and sun reach

Hot tires and afternoon sun

July highs in Jacksonville average around 92 degrees, and asphalt gets far hotter. A hot tire softens slightly, grips a thin coating as it cools in the garage overnight, and can pull it loose when you back out. Installers call this hot tire pickup, and thin coatings with a weak bond are where it usually shows up. A ground, well-bonded base with a hard topcoat resists it. Sunlight is the second issue. In HomeGuide's ratings, ordinary epoxy scores only poor to fair against UV, so we finish garage floors with a polyaspartic topcoat that HomeGuide rates excellent.

Prep before color

Store kits lean on an acid etch. It scrubs the top, yet old sealer, oil and soft surface concrete stay put. We diamond grind the slab wall to wall, edges included, vacuum it, scrub out oil spots with degreaser, patch cracks and chipped spots, and take a moisture reading. Slabs on low, wet ground near the river or creeks can push vapor up from below, and that is a leading cause of blistering. When the meter reads high, we switch to a primer designed for damp slabs or tell you the floor needs to wait.

Older and newer garages

Point2Homes, summarizing ACS data, dates about 18.9% of Jacksonville's homes to the 1950s and 1960s and about 16.9% to the years 2000 through 2009. An older garage usually has decades of stains, paint and patches. A newer one often has a builder's sealer and hairline shrinkage cracks. Neither is a problem, but both change the prep, and we write that into the quote.

Finishes that suit the way you use it

Most epoxy garage floor jobs here get a full flake broadcast. The chips mask sand and dust until the next sweep and give your shoes more traction on a damp floor. A single base color with only a sprinkle of chips reads tidier and suits a workshop. For a boat or heavy trailer, we may build a thicker base in the parking path. Every option gets a clear, UV-stable top.

After it cures

Sweep or blow out grit, rinse with water and a mild cleaner, and squeegee standing water toward the door. Put rubber pads under jack stands and trailer tongues. Wipe up pool chemicals and battery acid quickly. A coated floor will not keep a storm surge out, but it makes the cleanup afterward far easier.