Adding a protective and decorative coating to your garage floor is a smart way to enhance both appearance and functionality. Can I responsibly DIY epoxy flooring with a kit…or should I hire a professional? Here’s what you need to consider.
Benefits of DIY Kits:
There are a few benefits to DIY epoxy flooring kits that might interest you.
- You get to work with your hands. We completely understand this one! That’s what got us into this whole trade. It’s so much fun to enter a garage with a bare concrete floor and transform it into something beautiful and durable via epoxy flooring.
- It’s cheaper. While you might be paying for repairs or restorations pretty soon, it’s a quick fix that can look decent if you’re confident in your skills. The cost factor is probably why it’s a sustainable business for companies who feel comfortable providing these materials.
- Availability: You can order materials online or pick them up locally fairly easily to do it yourself.
DIY kits have some appeal, sure, but there are key challenges to keep in mind.
The Downsides:
- DIY kits are notorious for how they rely on inadequate concrete surface preparation. They often recommend simple etching, but this is not enough to create a surface that properly bonds to the primer coating. Concrete expands and contracts, and without thorough grinding, a DIY coating can end up peeling or cracking over time and you’ll be needing epoxy floor replacements.
- The durability from DIY kits just doesn’t hold up. Exposure to road salt, chemicals, and UV rays can lead to fading, discoloration, and damage. By contrast, professional concrete coatings are designed to withstand these challenges and maintain their durability and appearance.
- The lack of professional expertise hurts more here than it might if you were, say, repainting a room or patching up some drywall. This is more akin to installing a load-bearing wall in your house. While it might be a process that can be cognitively understood, it’s best to leave it to hands that have done it a thousand times before.
- DIY kits will need repairs down the road, and probably sooner than you’d think (we’ve seen DIY garage floor coatings needing repairs only months after installation!). When that floor starts cracking and peeling up, it won’t come easily either. Simply clearing your concrete from the DIY coating will be a huge endeavor, let alone prepping the concrete again and installing another one.
Why to Choose Professional Epoxy Floor Installation
Like we mentioned, putting a load-bearing wall in your house is probably best left to the pros. The same goes for epoxy and polyaspartic garage floor coatings, if you’re after a floor that can last for decades (instead of a year or two).
- A professional installer uses industrial-grade grinders to thoroughly prepare the surface and has the experience to address imperfections like cracks or moisture. This level of preparation ensures that the coating bonds properly and that the finished product lasts for years.
- Professionals use top-of-the-line coatings that provide superior resistance to UV rays, chemicals, and heavy wear. These coatings are far more resilient compared to DIY kits, offering a level of performance and durability that’s well worth the investment.
- The customer experience part of professional services is a great bonus — not only are you getting a floor that will stick around for well over a decade, but you’re kept apprised every step of the way.
- You can be more confident about the outcome. There are a ton of color and customization options for epoxy flooring — among both DIY kits and professional services. However, the latter is the only one that’ll craft your epoxy flooring to accurately match your vision.
- Comprehensive warranties only come with professionals who know what they’re doing. Most DIY kits aren’t going to have warranties at all, and they certainly aren’t going to cover moisture damage. Issues from moisture are the number one reason for coating failures, so it makes sense to go with a company that will cover that under their warranties.
- A professional installation process makes for higher quality flooring which increases all the great aspects about garage floor epoxy that we all love: durability, longevity, aesthetics, and more.
Investing in Professional Quality
Although DIY kits may have a lower initial price, the long-term value of a professional garage floor coating is far greater. From superior preparation to high-quality products, hiring a professional is the best way to ensure your garage floor looks great and performs well over the long term.
Give us a call or shoot us a message if you’d like to talk more about a professional option over a DIY kit.
