I hope this does not seem like a crazy question. Recently, I had my garage floor painted with epoxy paint. It looks nice. But here's the thing. I do not normally park the Prius in the garage. But when winter comes ---I'm in New Jersey, as my handle indicates -- I would like to park the car in the garage so that I don' t have to scrape ice. Will the epoxy be all right? Are there any special maintenance tips I should know? For some reason, meant to add, "I didn't ask these questions when I should have -- which was *before* I had the job done.
Nope! Its the best concrete coating you can get. To make cleanup easier it is good to put a floor wax on it and dirt and spills will come off clean.
I have done this with a two part epoxy paint. It looks nice but the downside is that any rain/ice run off after you park stays on top of the paint in puddles and in the winter does not go away, meaning you end up splashing in and out of the car. With bare concrete the water soaks in and eventually vanishes. I overcame this with an old carpet to park on. The water is soaked up, wicked away and evaporates from the carpet in a short while. When the carpet smells like an old dog, discard and replace. Old carpets are everywhere. It can also be slippery when wet. Take care braking in and accelerating out. Please don't bother asking how I learned. The second garage I treated had sand mixed in for a rougher surface.
Thanks for the advice. It sounds like regular mopping would be *very* helpful. Or is there such a thing as a carpet that would resist rotting?
you can put a rubber auto mat down to park on if you want, or the garage floor rubber squares, but you're kind of defeating the purpose of the expensive epoxy.
Unless the floor was meticulously degreased and neutralized from the muriatic acid prep, you can get lifting of the paint under the tires if you are always parking with hot tires in the same locations. If you've got the room, vary the depth you park in the garage by a foot or so, and if you've been blazing a trail on the turnpike, park outside for a couple hours before pulling in. A large floor squeegee is also a good tool for consolidating those puddles.
The car's tyres will probably leave black tread marks where they sit after a while. Car showrooms use small squares of rubber matting to stop this. I use a push broom to get the water, and eventually the ice and snow out of the garage (my garage isn't heated). It is said parking in the garage is hard on the car because the salt continues to work all night instead of freezing. Not sure how much snow you get, but if a lot I recommend -proper- snow catching mats in the car, such as Weathertech. The Toyota ones are a joke. Eventually the epoxy paint will wear through and will need to be redone. Mine did after 5 years or so. Do be careful of sawdust or snow on the floor. It is very slippery.
I coated my man-cave, umm, garage about 6 years ago with the cheaper DIY stuff from Lowes. Holds up well and scrubbing it with a push broom and soapy water brings it back to looking new.
