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If your garage floor has paint marks, chemical spills and dust balls everywhere, maybe it’s time to keep it clean by painting it. Painting your garage floor with the correct paint seals the concrete, lets you easily wipe up any spills, keeps the dust down and can add a splash of colour to the space.
Link to Polar floor paint used in the picture above
Our reviews look at a range of paints formulated for floors, especially garage floors, and gives their pros, cons and features along with our recommendations. Our Buyer’s Guide identifies the key issues to consider when deciding whether to paint your garage or workshop floor
BEST PICK
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Best Anti-Skid
Learn how to paint a garage floor first by Billshowto in this video
Best Garage Floor Paints Reviews
1. TA Paints Concrete Floor Paint For Garage & Workshops Floors
Best Pick
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No products found.TA Concrete Floor Paint for Garage & Workshops Floors is a polyurethane garage floor paint that also covers brick, metal and stone surfaces well. As it’s suitable for both indoor and outdoors, (and comes in a wide range of colours) your garage floor can match your outside patio and walkways.
The functionality of this garage paint is excellent. It resists chemicals, including strong industrial chemicals, and can handle frequent washing in case you (or your car) make messes often. The drying time is one of the shortest we’ve seen – at two to four hours – and the floor is usable (though not scratchproof) after three days. No primer is needed for the concrete floor as the first of the two coats acts as the primer.
Although we review the 5L British Racing Green option, there’s a wide selection of other sizes of cans/sets (1L to 20L) along with 26 colours to choose from. Whatever colour you choose though, the paint comes in a white tin without instructions. Full instructions are available on the manufacturer’s website.
One safety issue to note is, as this paint has a glossy finish, it can dry to be slippery.
Pros
- Oil-based polyurethane enamel paint for multi-purpose painting of metal, wood, brick, stone and concrete surfaces including garage floors.
- Comes in 26 colours including clear, and all have a gloss finish.
- Available also in 1L, 2.5L, 10L, 15L and 20L options in the same colour range.
- Resists industrial chemicals as well as weathering and frequent washing down.
- Suitable for indoor and outdoor use.
- Coverage is 8 to 10m2 per litre of paint.
- Dry to the touch in 2 to 4 hours and can apply a second coat within 12 – 24 hours.
- Floor can be used after 3 days of the final coat and it’s fully scratchproof after 7 days.
Cons
- Can be slippery because of gloss finish.
- No instructions on tin.
Our recommendation
TA Concrete Floor Paint for Garage, Workshops Floors has good coverage and needs just two coats and no separate primer. With its wide range of 26 colours and plenty of paint tin sizes, this fast-drying glossy paint is both functional and colourful.
The TA Concrete Floor Paint for Garage, Workshops Floors is our Best Pick of the garage floor paints in our review. We like the options it offers and the speed with which you can have a usable, painted garage floor.
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2. Blackfriar Anti-Slip Floor Paint for Indoor or Outdoor Use
Best Non-skid floor paint
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Blackfriar Anti-Slip Floor Paint for Indoor or Outdoor Use avoids the issue of a glossy finish that you may slip on by drying to a bumpy surface. However, it does have a semi-glossy sheen to it that reflects some light and resists oil and grease. This anti-slip paint is best for lightly used areas that don’t have much walking or driven traffic over them. Choose another paint to use on a heavily used workshop floor.
The coverage of this paint is OK to good at 6 to 10m2 per litre. It will dry in under six hours if it’s warm outside without excessive humidity so don’t paint on a cool, rainy day if you want to paint the next coat soon after. In addition to concrete, this paint is effective on wood and metal surfaces, indoors and outdoors, wherever you need an anti-skid ground, especially in winter.
We review the light grey colour that comes in 1L. You also have the choice of this colour in 2.5L and 5L sizes. In addition, your colour choice extends to a mid-grey and black in the same size selection.
Pros
- Anti-slip floor paint in a light grey colour suitable for indoors or outdoors surfaces.
- Works on concrete, tiles, wood and metal surfaces – indoors or outside.
- Has a semi-gloss finish and is oil and grease resistant.
- Best for floors that receive light traffic and people walking on them.
- Dries in 4 to 6 hours if the weather is around 20°C and dry.
- Covers 6 to 10m2 per litre.
Cons
- None
Our recommendation
Blackfriar Anti-Slip Floor Paint for Indoor or Outdoor Use provides a semi-gloss surface that you, and your equipment, won’t slip on. This paint is best for lightly used areas, both inside your garage or workshop and outside in your garden.
The Blackfriar Anti-Slip Floor Paint for Indoor or Outdoor Use is our Best Pick for anti-skid paint. It’s exclusively formulated for this purpose and its colour choices (grey or black) emphasise its serious purpose.
3. Johnstone’s 307947 Garage Floor Paint
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Johnstone’s 307947 Garage Floor Paint is a paint that’s specially formulated for the tough demands of garage floors. It also works well on brickwork, cement, stone surfaces, and tiles as long as you prepare them first.
The semi-gloss finish of the paint serves as a resist to oil and grease. The manufacturer states that hot vehicle tyres won’t pull the paint up from the floor to transfer to them. This paint does, however, take much longer to dry than others we review, at between 14 to 16 hours. You shouldn’t be in a hurry to use the garage and walk on the floor. But when the floor is all dry, it really stands up to a lot of cleaning.
We review the paint in a dark green colour but it also comes in black, dark grey, white and tile red. Online reviewers remark that the paint dries to be a lighter shade than is shown in the tin or computer monitor. You have a choice of 0.25L and 0.75L tins as well as the 2.5L one, in the same colour range.
Pros
- Garage floor paint with a semi-gloss finish.
- Resistant to oil and grease spills.
- Comes in five colours – dark green, black, dark grey, tile red and white.
- Resists transferring paint to hot vehicle tires.
- Also available in 0.25L and 0.75L sizes in the same colour range.
- Takes 14-16 hours to dry.
- Covers 28m2 per 2.5L tin of paint.
Cons
- Colours lighter than on the tin, especially the dark grey.
Our recommendation
Johnstone’s 307947 Garage Floor Paint is a specialist garage floor paint that also works well on other surfaces including brick and stone. It’s coverage is good at just under 10m2 per litre, though it does take quite a while to dry.
This is a good paint for your garage floor if you keep your car in there as it’s resistant to oil and grease.
4. Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint, 5 Litre Light Grey
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Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint is a paint that’s strong enough to resist industrial-grade chemicals. Even if you don’t use these in your garage, this paint handles all the DIY liquids and car fluids that end up on the floor. Use this anywhere indoors or outdoors you have a concrete or stone floor that needs that extra bit of protection.
Although we review the light grey colour, there’s a range of colours to choose from. Regular garage floor paint comes in black, sea-blue and yellow as well as light grey. However, anti-slip paint is available in blue and grey. Online reviews state that you should expect the colours to be lighter than shown, especially the light grey which appears almost white. So don’t expect dark colours from this paint.
You need two coats of either kind of paint for a smooth and semi-sheen finish to the floor. Coverage is advertised at an admirable 12m2 per litre of paint, though some online reviewers do complain that, in reality, it’s much less than that. Drying time of this paint is just two hours to dry to the touch, and you do have to wait 16 to 24 hours to put the second coat on.
Pros
- Protective solvent-based paint for interior concrete and stone floors.
- Polyurethane finish with a mid-screen appearance.
- Resistant to chemicals you might spill.
- Also comes in black, sea-blue and yellow.
- Anti-slip paint available in blue and grey.
- Also available in a set of four 5L cans and in a 10L size in the same colour selection.
- Takes two hours to dry to the touch and you can overcoat it in 16-24 hours.
- Needs two coats of paint.
- Covers up to 60m2 per 5L tin of paint.
Cons
- Less than 60m2 coverage with the 5L tin.
- Colours lighter than expected.
- Takes a lot longer to harden than instructions say.
Our recommendation
Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint is good in high traffic areas that receive a lot of wear and tear, as well as splashes of strong liquids. The drying time is longer than stated, so you do have to wait to go back into the garage after you’ve painted.
With a selection of a few colours and a choice of regular floor paint or anti-skid, Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint works hard to keep your garage floor clean and safe.
5. Paintmaster Polyurethane Floor Paint
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No products found.Paintmaster Polyurethane Floor Paint provides durability to garage floors and other interior floors, even in heavily used spaces. This polyurethane paint is very resistant to petrol and oil, so your leaking car won’t stain the painted floor.
Drying time for each coat is given as six to eight hours dry to the touch and completely dry in 24 hours. However, some online reviewers argue with this, reporting that their floors took about a week to dry and weren’t fully dry after a couple of months. The manufacturer, however, states that the drying times they give are dependent on well ventilated and dry conditions. So make sure that you paint in a dry season and use fans to move air across the painted floor.
You have a choice of 15 colours in this paint, including dark green, mid blue and orange. However you want your garage floor to look, there’s a colour for you. Light grey is reviewed to be really more of a beige colour, but this seems to be the case for several makes of garage floor paint in our review. Coverage is advertised at 6 to 8m2 per litre of paint, so it’s not the most coverage we’ve seen.
The manufacturer strongly recommends that you use its Polyurethane Floor Sealer with this paint.
Pros
- Polyurethane paint in a mid-grey colour for concrete, wood and stone floors.
- Available in an additional 14 colours including light blue, post office red and cream.
- Only for interior use.
- Comes in a 5L tin.
- Very resistant to petrol and oil.
- Covers 30-40m2 with a 5L tin of paint.
- Dry to the touch in 6 to 8 hours and completely dry in 24 hours.
Cons
- Light grey is really an off-white colour.
- Takes a long time to dry.
- Easily scratched.
Our recommendation
Paintmaster Polyurethane Floor Paint comes in a selection of 15 colours, so it’s a good choice if you need a particular colour of garage floor for safety or aesthetic reasons. Make sure your garage is well-ventilated when the paint is drying as that’s reported to make quite a difference to the drying time.
If equipment and machinery in your garage leak a lot, Floor Paint Paintmaster Polyurethane Paint is a good paint for you as it’s especially resistant to oil and petrol.
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Buyer’s Guide
You don’t need to make many decisions when buying paint for your garage floor, but there are some issues to be aware of. Our Buyer’s Guide covers the key points that it helps to know.
Type of paint
The garage paints in our review offer you two types of paint – regular paint and anti-skid paint.
Regular floor paint usually comes in one of two finishes. Semi-gloss or semi-sheen has a smooth finish and imparts a slight shine to the floor to reflect some light into the room. Paint with a glossy finish is very smooth to the touch and may also be a bit slippery when you walk on it.
Anti-skid or anti-slip paint usually has a slight bumpiness to it to create friction between your foot soles and the floor so that you don’t slip.
Preparation
Make sure you wash, vacuum and/or sweep the floor beforehand. Please remove all grease and oil spills, dust and dirt, bits and pieces of litter and any loose materials.
Read the instructions on the tin of paint to see if you need to apply a primer coat or a sealant to the floor first of all. Most paints say not to prime separately as the first paint coat acts as the primer. And sometimes a sealant prevents the paint from sticking.
Thinning the first coat
Floor paint tends to be quite thick, and more than a few online reviewers report that they thinned the paint for their first coat with white spirit. Check whether your paint’s instructions tell you to do this and follow them carefully. This helps to apply an even coat and lets the paint go further.
Drying times
Remember that the drying times given by the manufacturer depend on warm weather (usually around 20° C), low humidity and a constantly blowing breeze. Any change to these conditions lengthens the drying times, sometimes considerably. You can fake a breeze by using fans, but temperature and humidity are more difficult to control.
Also, know about the different drying times. There’s “dry to the touch” which means that when you put a finger on the surface of the paint it feels dry. But it still is probably wet and loose underneath. There’s the time until you can put on a second coat, when most of the paint layer is dryer. And the time until you can safely use the garage again and walk on the floor. One final drying time is the period until the paint is completely hardened, and that’s the longest time to wait of all.
If your paint starts to peel after a number of days or weeks, it’s because it didn’t dry properly.
New concrete floors
Don’t be in a hurry to paint your brand new concrete floor, to preserve its newness forever. Experts strongly recommend waiting for at least six months for the concrete to mature before painting it.
Final Conclusion
Painting your garage floor doesn’t take much time and makes it easier to keep the mess down in your space. Choosing the right paint to do this is key, and our review gives you a selection of the Best Garage Floor Paints available. Whether you want a non-skid floor, a heavy-duty one or perhaps an expanse of British racing green, all the paints in our review have something to offer.
Our Best Pick of garage floor paints is the TA Concrete Floor Paint. This oil-based paint is strong enough to resist industrial chemicals yet it comes in a choice of 26 colours.
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Our second Best Pick is for non-skid paint and it’s Blackfriar Anti-Slip Floor Paint. This paint comes in several grey colours as well as black, and its bumpy texture stops people and equipment skidding over the garage floor.
Now that your garage floor’s looking all spiffy, knowing how to keep it clean is as easy as checking out our The Best Tools to Keep Your Garage Clean – 3 Must Have Tools review.
And if you want to get all your tools and other equipment off your newly pristine floor, our Top 6 Best Wall Mounted Garage Storage Organiser Racks and the 5 Best Garage Shelving Units For Organising Tools and Equipment reviews are a great place to see the best of what’s out there to help you.
Last update on 2024-12-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
