Best Garage Floor Paint Reviewed 2021

best garage floor paint

Of all the household surfaces that might need renovating and painting over time, it’s fair to say that the garage floor might not be the first thing that comes to mind, especially when we consider how a good lick of paint can be used to reinvigorate parts of the house. That said, it doesn’t mean a garage floor is immune to becoming cracked and ugly through use. Most garage floors are made from concrete, which as a material is prone to flexing, cracking and staining. And these visible imperfections risk developing into structural issues much further along, making adequate garage floor protection an important thing to consider and thus the garage floor paint you pick.

Garage floors do take a lot of wear, which is why concrete is the material of choice. Whether it’s the weight of a car, heavy power tools in a workshop, or even equipment for the times when garages become home gyms, the floor in the garage needs some sprucing up once in a while to make it look nicer, but ultimately to make sure it lasts longer.

So, a garage floor paint needs to dry to a nice finish for the aesthetic side of things, but also has to provide an extra layer of protection above the concrete. With that firmly in mind, we’ve rounded up the best examples of specialist garage floor paint that offer great protection while looking good.

NameCoverageDry TimeCost
Polar Floor and Garage Paint12 m2 /l4 hours££
Johnstone’s Speciality Garage Floor Paint8 m2 /l15 hours£££
T.A. Paints Multi Purpose Floor Paint10 m2 /l2 hours££
Paint Master Polyurethane Floor Paint8 m2 /l7 hours£
Blackfriar Professional Polyurethane Floor Paint14 m2 /l16 hours££

Polar Floor and Garage Paint

Polar Floor and Garage Paint

This specialist floor and garage paint from Polar is a great choice for protecting your garage floors. While Polar may not be as well known to home decorators, they’re a giant in industrial settings and it’s this application that highlights this as a really strong choice. Coming in a light grey colour, which is sure to suit almost every garage/workshop setting, it dries to a lovely satin finish with a mid sheen treading between flat and shiny for a smart, understated effect.

The hard-wearing formula of the paint gives it a great lifespan. This is thanks to the polyurethane content, which dries into a tough and highly durable finish. It’s also highly resistant to chemicals and so will be safe in the event of any unforeseen spillages. It’s typically touch dry in up to 4 hours, and fully dry in between 16 and 24 hours.

Pros

  • Hard-wearing
  • Resistant to spills
  • Smart satin finish
  • Goes a long way

Cons

  • May dry slowly/unevenly

Johnstone’s Speciality Garage Floor Paint

Johnstone's Speciality Garage Floor Paint

Seemingly, Johnstone’s have a paint for everything in and around the home. As part of their Speciality range, this specific paint for garage flooring has a host of design features that make it a competitive choice for the job. It dries to a semi-glossy finish, just shiny enough to look smart without being too over the top. It’s also available in 5 different colours, something less common with garage floor paints.

The formula of the paint means that it’s inherently resistant to common spills in the garage, including things like oils and greases. It even has a very fit-for-purpose feature which is a resistance to pickup from hot car tyres, wherein warm rubber sticks to painted surfaces. The hard-wearing surface is easily cleaned, and as such will last for a very long time. The coverage isn’t the best at 8 m2/l, though garage floor paint coverage does tend to be lower than paint used for other purposes.

Pros

  • Colour options
  • Spill resistant
  • Hot tyre pickup resistant
  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • More expensive

T.A. Paints Multi Purpose Floor Paint

T.A. Paints Multi Purpose Floor Paint

This polyurethane-based garage floor paint from British industrial paint suppliers T.A. Paints represents a great choice to renovate your garage. Naturally, it can be used to coat concrete surfaces, but also wood, metal and masonry, something which makes it a viable choice for even more applications than just the garage floor. Available in a whopping 27 different colours, it’s a great option for those of you a little bored with the overabundance of greys for paint of this type.

The paint has a gloss finish to it, which is as hard-wearing as you’d hope. It can also be applied directly to the flooring, as T.A. Paints claim it’s suitable for use without the need for a primer. It’s also remarkably quick to dry, achieving touch-dryness in a maximum of 4 hours. If a second coat is needed, it’s recommended to wait 12-24 hours, and then 7 days after that for complete dryness. It’s hard-wearing for regular foot traffic as well as common chemical/oil/grease spills.

Pros

  • Good finish
  • Lots of colours
  • Versatile
  • Relatively quick to dry

Cons

  • Thinner consistency

Paint Master Polyurethane Floor Paint

Paint Master Polyurethane Floor Paint

Available to buy in 15 colours, this polyurethane-based floor paint from Paint Master’s Professional range stakes its claim as a great option for good value garage floor paint. The 15 colours include a good variety to match the colour scheme of your garage space, giving you the chance to brighten things up a bit. It’s also a very hard-wearing paint, which makes it an ideal choice for an industrial environment as much as a home garage.

The paint is touch dry in around 6-8 hours and needs to be left for up to 24 hours to ensure that it’s totally dry. The polyurethane content of the paint works to protect, seal and colour multiple different materials including concrete, wood and stone flooring. It will also stand up to most common spillages in garage settings, including oils, petrol and grease. While it may only be available in larger volumes, the relative value compared to a lot of other similar paints really helps it stand out even more.

Pros

  • Great value
  • Lots of colours
  • Hard-wearing

Cons

  • Longer drying times

Blackfriar Professional Polyurethane Floor Paint

Blackfriar Professional Polyurethane Floor Paint

This polyurethane-based paint from Blackfriar Professional aims to help you transform your garage flooring with a smart and attractive finish. It’s a versatile and hard-wearing paint, suitable for multiple surfaces as well as concrete garage floors including wood, cement, metal and masonry. The polyurethane content means that once dry, a hard protective layer is formed that is resistant to a lot of common garage spills, including oil and grease.

Suitable for lighter foot traffic areas, it can even be applied to surfaces that have been painted previously, although it may be necessary to paint a couple of coats to achieve full coverage. It also comes in 6 bold yet understated colours which dry to a very pleasant medium sheen. Most impressively, it can also be used either indoors or outdoors, adding to its versatility of use.

Pros

  • Versatile
  • Hard-wearing
  • Protective polyurethane layer

Cons

  • Strong odour
  • Prone to separating

Which Garage Floor Paint To Go For?

A garage floor endures a lot of wear and tear, and so it’s imperative to paint it with the right stuff to give it sufficient protection that looks good. Good garage floor paint has some very specific requirements, which leads us to here and our roundup of the best overall garage floor paint, as well as the best value choice.

Best Garage Floor Paint – the T.A. Paints Multi Purpose Floor Paint is a clear choice for the best overall garage floor paint. It achieves this with exceptional quality and a great finish, versatility towards variable floor types and the capacity to go a long way, not to mention the wide array of colour options to inject a bit of life into the garage setting.

Best Value – for value, look no further than Paint Master Polyurethane Floor Paint. While the relative value of all of these paints has been based on the largest volume available, the Paint Master is simply the cheapest. That said, it nonetheless does carry exactly the kind of quality you’d look for in a floor paint, just at a slightly cheaper price point.

Garage Floor Paint FAQ

How to paint a garage floor

The first step to painting a garage floor is to remove everything from the floor. A very thorough clean is necessary, as concrete is naturally porous and as such susceptible to accruing dirt and grime. A high powered hose, or better yet a pressure washer, is the tool for this task. Any cleaning solutions that you use, however, should not be allowed to dry on the concrete. If there is any existing paint, you’ll need paint stripper and elbow grease before this step. Next, fill any cracks in the concrete with an appropriate filler, add a layer of primer and then, once that’s dry, begin painting. Try not to paint yourself into a corner, as well.

What’s the best garage floor paint?

The best garage floor paint is usually one that is epoxy-based, as this tends to last much longer than the other common choice, which is latex-based. Whichever you choose, just be ready to leave plenty of time for it to dry.

How to remove paint from a concrete garage floor

By and large, you’ll need 4 things to remove paint from a garage floor. Those things are a wire brush, some form of white spirit or paint stripper, a hose or pressure washer and finally some soft, clean cloths. Apply the paint stripper to the floor, then thoroughly scrub it to lift as much as possible. Then, use the hose to wash it away. Repeat as many times as necessary, and for especially tough spots, us a combination of the scrubbing brush and cloths.

What type of paint to use on a garage floor

Regular household paints, even the multi-purpose ones that are suitable for lots of different surfaces, are not an ideal choice for garage floor given the very specific wear and tear they experience. For garage floors, you can choose between a latex-based paint or an epoxy-based paint. The latter does tend to last longer.

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