How To Care For an Epoxy Floor
Cleaning your epoxy garage floor coating is really easy. Epoxy floor coatings are known for their low maintenance. They’re also really popular because in addition to being low maintenance, they’re long-lasting, tough, glossy, and just really attractive.
We came up with some easy to follow steps for cleaning your epoxy coated garage floor. If you follow them every time, we give you the guarantee that it will stay pretty and pristine for the whole duration of its life!
But first, we want to give a little background on why choosing an epoxy coating is the best home improvement decision you’ll ever make.
Why Choose An Epoxy Coating For Your Garage Floor
When people decide to start on home improvement, the garage is usually at the top of the list. One of the first decisions you’ll have to make is what kind of floor or floor coating you want. Most garages have a basic concrete floor.
Our customers always come to us and tell us that they want to spruce up their concrete garage floors, but they don’t know how, or what to use in place of the concrete. These are so standard, that our customers are always surprised at first when we tell them concrete really isn’t the best out there.
We value customer education almost as much as our epoxy floor coatings! So from the get-go, we let our customers know that they’ll be way happier with something other than concrete. We tell them all the “why’s” about concrete being outdated, pricey, easily stained, easily damaged, etc.
Garage floors take a lot of abuse, and they need to be able to withstand really heavy loads, frequent movement of vehicles and people, various fluids, and fluctuating temperatures. We’ve seen time after time that concrete garage floors really can’t pass those tests.
So of course our customers want to know what we recommend, and we always say, “you can’t go wrong with an epoxy coating for your garage floor!”
There are countless benefits that come with choosing epoxy as your coating. Epoxy coated concrete garage floors are known for being the toughest and most resilient garage floors out there. Regardless of the beatings they take, epoxy coated hold up to each test that the plain old concrete fail. They even manage to keep their original shine and smoothness!
Another huge benefit of epoxy coated concrete is that they’re extremely low maintenance. The epoxy coating will hold up for years and even keep its original shine and luster so long as you follow a few easy steps. We really can’t think of a more user friendly, tough-wearing garage floor!
How to Care For Your Garage Floor With Cleaner
Industrial epoxy floors can take on significant damage; however, they are not immune to physical changes such as discoloration and smell when exposed to chemicals. Furthermore, it weakens the durability of the coating. Since chemical spills can frequently happen in an environment with vehicles, it is best always to have a neutralizing agent in your garage. Before washing chemicals with water, use a neutralizer to avoid unwanted reactions from concentrated chemicals. After that, use a cleaning cloth such as chamois or a rubber or foam squeegee to remove any remaining liquid.
Superior Epoxy Floor Cleaning With Diluted Ammonia
Diluted ammonia is the best cleaning solution for your epoxy floor. You’ll want a large bucket to mix your solution in. You’ll pour 3-5 ounces of ammonia into a gallon of hot water and that’s what you’ll use to clean your epoxy floor. It’s so simple!
What Not To Clean Your Epoxy Floor With
It’s almost as important to let you know what NOT to use to clean your epoxy floor as it is to tell you what to use.
You need to make sure not to use any products containing citrus or vinegar, not even mild white vinegar typically used for cleaning. This is because citrus and vinegar will remove the epoxy coating’s glossy finish.
You’ll also want to avoid using any kind of soap-based cleaners. Soap-based cleaners are known for leaving behind a soap scum, or haze. This soap residue will not only dull the epoxy coating’s gloss, it will actually build up on the finish and become dangerously slippery when it gets wet. As you can imagine, this is really bad since every garage floor is going to get wet at some time or other.
Best Practices For Caring For Epoxy Garage Floors
Here’s our list of foolproof steps for cleaning your epoxy coated garage floors.
Do Regular and Proper Maintenance
The most important part of any maintenance program is prevention. Since your goal is to keep your epoxy floor surface as clean and dirt free as possible, you’ll want to attack the grime from every possible angle.
Dirt and grime go hand in hand with foot traffic and vehicles. Not only will this cause your epoxy garage floor coating to look grimy, it will actually settle into the coating and scuff it up, causing the epoxy to lose its shine and gloss. Over time the grime will also tear up the epoxy and you might find yourself faced with an expensive repair job or even a full replacement of your epoxy floor coating.
We recommend starting off by putting a big doormat or walk-off mat at the door to your garage. This way anyone walking in can scrape off the dirt, mud, or snow from their shoes so they don’t track it onto the floor.
A good doormat can help a lot, but it won’t stop all the dirt from coming in. Any time you drive your cars or bring in other machinery, their tires introduce dirt and chemicals that then sit on your epoxy floor. You’ll want to do some combination of vacuuming with a soft bristled shop vac and also dust mopping. We tell our customers that the best practice for this is to mop and vacuum your garage floor at least once a week.
After you mop and vacuum your garage floor, you’ll scrub the floor with the ammonia solution we talked about earlier. You can use a power washer to do this if you want, but a deck brush or soft scrub brush is a better option. Even when used properly and cautiously, power washes can cause accidental damage to the epoxy floor coating.
The last surefire way to keep your epoxy coated garage floor in pristine condition is to give your entire garage a deep cleaning at least every other month. This ensures that any dirt and dust hiding out are removed, and all the nooks and crannies of the garage are kept clean and shiny and any extra junk is taken out.
Protect The Floor From Damage
Like we mentioned already, prevention is always better than the cure, and it’s actually the best form of maintenance. Your epoxy garage floor coating is a big investment, so like any big investment, it’ll need protection.
The first step in protecting your epoxy coated garage floor is to keep the area free of debris that could scratch it. This debris can be all manner of things, from dirt to cat litter to sand, snow, or even kid’s toys. This is especially important when you’re placing or moving heavy loads on your garage floor. Plywood and mats also provide great protection from rolling jacks that might scratch the epoxy as you’re moving stuff around.
A great way to protect your epoxy coated garage floor is to use mats and plywood. These materials create a great barrier between the garage floor and whatever is resting on it. Additionally, you’ll want to cover the entire welding area with a welding mat. This shields the epoxy coating from heat and splatters.
A high quality household floor wax is the perfect protective finish. This kind of floor wax protects the epoxy coating, makes the whole floor cleaning process easier, and additionally gives your floor a great shine.
Spot clean as needed
Deep cleaning anything is a huge undertaking! And it’s really time consuming. So we like to tell our customers that instead of doing a deep clean of their garage every day, it’s way easier to just spot clean any areas that need some help.
For the small spaces with dry dirt, just sweep it or vacuum up the dirt. For spilled liquids, you’ll want to first remove any solid debris and accumulated dirt before spot cleaning with a degreaser and shop towel. After that you’ll mop the area with hot water. Since epoxy floors and epoxy floor coatings are water resistant, as long as your floor system is installed properly, you’ll find it really fast and easy to clean.
If you discover any stains on your epoxy garage floor, just use a soft scrubbing pad. This will effectively remove the spots and stains. Just make sure you don’t scrub too hard because you might accidentally dull some of the epoxy’s glossy finish.
Another type of stain that’s really common to see in a garage is rust. Rust just goes along with vehicles, heavy equipment, and any excess moisture. But you don’t need to freak out about rust spots because they’re pretty easy to remove. Just pick up any commercial rust, lime, or calcium remover (cleaner), mix up a 1:1 ratio of the cleaner and warm water. Then grab a deck brush with nylon bristles and get to work. Remember, though, you don’t want to use steel wool because that can take the gloss right off the epoxy coating.
Erase tire marks
Tire marks make your garage look way dirtier than it actually is, especially if the marks have been building up and not removed for weeks. But the good news is that tire marks, like most things on epoxy garage floors, are easy and straightforward to get rid of.
At Amazing Garage Floors, we think the best product to get rid of tire marks is a concrete degreaser like Simple Green. It’s one of the most commonly used degreasers on the market and it works great because it lifts the oil stains and tire marks right off the epoxy floor. The best part about it is you don’t have to scrub every inch of the floor.
Just drip the degreaser directly onto the tire marks and other stains and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes depending on how bad the marks are. The cool part about Simple Green and other degreasers is that once the liquid dries, a powder is left in its place. All you have to do to remove the powder (and the dirt and tire marks it lifted up) is use a soft nylon brush to gently scrub away the tire marks. For harder to remove tire marks, use a broom instead of a brush.
Clean Up Chemicals Properly
Both residential and commercial/industrial garage floors will always have chemicals spilled on them, no matter how careful you are. Epoxy garage floor coatings are extremely strong and resistant to wear and tear, stains, and chemical spills, but no floor is immune. Even the ultra-heay-duty epoxy coating used on industrial garage floors can be damaged by chemicals.
Regardless of what kind of garage they’re spilled in, chemicals can and will cause headaches, respiratory issues, allergic reactions, and even scarier health problems. In addition to these scary health issues, chemicals spilled on the floor will stain or damage the epoxy coating.
Gasoline, diesel, antifreeze, brake fluid, carburetor fluid, and many other substances are found on garage floors. These will damage the floor. Something interesting that not many people know is that even all-purpose cleaners, course liquids, and paints also cause lasting damage to epoxy floor coatings if left too long. Another big culprit is battery acid, which quickly discolors and damages the epoxy coating as well as the concrete below the epoxy coating.
Luckily it’s easy to stay on top of cleanup and ensure you and your family, or your business stays safe and healthy, and that your epoxy coated garage floor looks great for years to come.
Some good paper towels or multi-purpose shop towels should always be kept on hand so you can spot clean chemical spills. You’ll also want to have a neutralizing agent in your garage because where there are vehicles, there will be chemical spills. You need to make absolutely certain that before washing any chemicals with water, you first use a neutralizer to prevent unwanted and potentially dangerous reactions from concentrated chemicals. As a final step, use a chamois cloth or a rubber or foam squeegee to remove any remaining liquid.
Amazing Garage Floors Epoxy Garage Floor Cleaning Tips And Steps
You know that we value customer education at Amazing Garage Floors. To cut down on your time and inevitable stress, we put together the following list of cleaning steps, tips, and procedures. Oil, Auto Fluid, And Stubborn Stains Clean up these spills as soon as you see them! Use a soft rag or shop towel to spot clean, and then apply a degreaser like Simple Green. For more stubborn stains that don’t respond to this spot treatment, you’ll want something with more scrubbing power. You can grab a soft scrubbing pad and put some more degreaser on it, or even use a tiny bit of Dawn dish soap. Be really careful with the dish soap though and don’t use too much! Also be sure that you don’t scrub too hard because this could scratch the epoxy and remove some of its glossy finish. Thoroughly rinse off all the soapy residue and wipe the floor dry with a soft cloth or microfiber towel. When it’s time for routine cleaning or maintenance of the entire floor, our preferred method at Amazing Garage Floors is to use a dust mop to remove all solid debris like grass, leaves, dirt, twigs, and whatever else has collected on the floor. We have an Amazing Garage Floors epoxy floor coating cleaning product that we recommend as the next step. However, if you don’t have it, that’s ok. Just dilute an ammonia based cleaner in hot water. Pour the mixture on your garage floor and agitate it with some kind of scrubbing brush or stiff bristled broom. Do this until any salt film, residue, and debris is completely detached from the floor. Next, you’ll pour cold water directly onto the floor to rinse it. The best step of all? Now your epoxy coated garage floor is sparkling clean . Take a minute to enjoy it and then inspect it for any damaged areas. If you find any, repair them as soon as possible in order to limit the damage. Our Amazing Garage Floors typically come with a great warranty, so be sure to take advantage of that and call your local installer. We’ll come out and get the situation repaired as soon as possible! Remember! Regular cleaning is the most important thing you can do to maintain the overall look and longevity of your epoxy garage floor!
Epoxy Garage Floors Are The Best
Epoxy garage floors look good and are easy to clean. They’re heavy duty and resilient. But that doesn’t mean they’re indestructible! Keeping your epoxy coated garage floor clean is the single most important thing you can do to protect your investment. Don’t neglect this!
Epoxy floors will deteriorate over time if they’re not kept clean, well maintained, and appropriately protected. But don’t stress! Epoxy floors are resistant to dust, liquid, and dirt, so taking care of them is hassle-free.
Contact Amazing Garage Floors Now
If you have any questions or would like to install an epoxy coated garage floor in your home or business, call Amazing Garage Floors today at (913)901-7139. You can also contact us using our contact form.
A couple other articles of interest:
How Much Does It Cost To Epoxy Garage Floor?
How to Maintain a Clean Epoxy Floor – Brew Floors (brewfloors.com)
Key Topics: epoxy floor, Simple Green, Clean Epoxy Floor, hot water, Marks, Scrub, Stains, streak marks, cleaning product, salt film
Outline:
- Maintaining a clean epoxy floor is not as hard as it seems…
- Mopping the Floor
- Cleaning Products
- CONTACT US
5 Steps to Make Your Epoxy Flooring Look Like New (garagefloorz.com)
Key Topics: epoxy floor, Scrub, Stains, hot water, soft cloth, Do not use, Epoxy Coating, Prevent Damage, heavy-duty cleaning, Rubber
Outline:
- 5 Steps to Make Your Epoxy Flooring Look Like New
- Prevent Damage to Your Epoxy
- Perform Routine Maintenance Cleaning
- Remove Tough Stains
- Make Your Floors Shine Like New
- Trust the Professionals