If you’ve been looking for a way to improve the appearance and functionality of your floors, you may find yourself torn between DIY and professional floor coatings. One is cheaper but does not last as long, while the other is more expensive but can last years longer. It’s important to be aware of both the pros and cons of DIY and professional floor coatings when making your decision to ensure that you’re going into the process with as much information as possible. 

Your floors play a huge role in the overall appearance of a space, after all, and you want your floor coating to look good. Here is what you need to know about the pros and cons of DIY and professional floor coatings so that you can better decide which option you want to go with.

DIY Floor Coatings

If you’re someone who likes to take on projects yourself, you may be considering DIY floor coatings. It’s easy to find DIY floor coating options and they’re certainly more affordable than their professional counterparts. However, DIY floor coatings aren’t very durable and can be challenging to install.

Here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of DIY floor coatings.

Pros

Affordability

The biggest advantage of DIY floor coatings is their up-front cost. They can be mere hundreds of dollars compared to the thousands of professional floor coatings. However, there’s a reason for this, which we’ll get into in the Cons section below.

Easily Available

You can find DIY floor coating kits in many different stores and businesses. If you want to do a DIY floor coating, you can just head out to the store and pick one out.

Improved Appearance

DIY floor coatings can enhance your floors, making them look better. They come in a variety of different colors, so you can select the one that best suits your desired aesthetic.

Protection

DIY floor coatings can improve the damage resistance of your floors and make them easier to clean and maintain.

Cons

More Expensive Over Time

DIY floor coating kits may be cheaper up front than professional floor coatings are, however, because DIY floor coatings don’t last very long, you can end up spending a lot of money over time as you need to redo them over and over and over again.

Lack Of Longevity

As previously mentioned, DIY floor coatings don’t have the longevity professional coatings do. As such, they can start showing wear and tear in mere months.

Complex Installation

The installation process is a lot more complicated than most people realize. You need to prepare your floor and ensure that you keep yourself safe, in addition to actually applying the coating to your floors.

Lack Of Impact And Chemical Resistance

DIY floor coatings can protect your floors from dirt, but they aren’t very resistant to impact or chemicals, which is why they’re not recommended for garage floors.

Professional Floor Coatings

Professional floor coatings are more expensive than their DIY counterparts, but there’s good reason for this. They are more customizable, last longer, and the installation process is taken care of for you. Both DIY and professional floor coatings protect your floors and enhance their appearance, but professional coatings do a better job of this.

Here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of professional floor coatings.

Pros

Appearance

Professional floor coatings come in a variety of colors and blends so that you can customize them to look how you want. Since they’re applied by trained professionals, you can rest assured that they’ll look great.

Durability

Professional floor coatings greatly increase the strength and durability of your floors. They can protect them from all sorts of damages, such as from moisture, impact, chemicals, and more.

Longevity

While they’re more expensive than their DIY counterparts, professional floor coatings can last for years on end. Epoxy floor coatings typically last about 5 years while polyaspartic floor coatings can last for decades.

Easy Maintenance

Professional floor coatings are easy to take care of. All you need to do is sweep up any dirt and debris and wipe up any spills. 

Cons

Cost

When people are trying to decide between DIY and professional floor coatings, it’s often because they’re not sure if professional floor coatings are worth the expense. It’s worth noting that although professional coatings are more expensive, they last much longer and keep your floors better protected.

Slippery

Like DIY floor coatings, professional floor coatings can get slippery if they don’t have a grit additive.

You Need To Hire A Professional

For some people, the fact that you need to hire someone to apply floor coatings for you can be a con in and of itself.

Professional Floor Coatings You Can Count On

Both DIY and professional floor coatings can improve the appearance and functionality of your floors. If you’re trying to decide between DIY and professional floor coatings, Surface Bella Garage offers professional floor coating options that can be customized to look just the way you want them to. Contact us today to learn more about our floor coating services.

For years, epoxy has dominated the garage floor coating industry. Since the advent of polyaspartic coatings, though, there’s been a shift in the tide. Polyaspartic coatings are growing in popularity as more and more people learn about them and how they compare to epoxy floor coatings. Both epoxy and polyaspartic are beautiful, durable, and long-lasting, but there are some marked differences that can cause someone to pick polyaspartic floor coatings over epoxy floor coatings.

Here is what you need to know about some of the top benefits of polyaspartic coatings that are converting more and more people to utilize this type of coating for their space. Let’s dive in!

#1. 1-Day Application

You read that right. Polyaspartic floor coatings can be applied in one day, so that 24 hours later, you’re free to walk on them, without fear of leaving marks or anything. Epoxy coatings are renowned for their extensive application process – it can take anywhere from a few days to over a week for an epoxy floor to cure. This is very inconvenient, especially if you’re having to leave your car parked in your driveway or on the side of the road, where it’s vulnerable to sprinklers, rain, the elements, and more. 

With polyaspartic coatings’ fast cure time, you can have the floor of your dreams with only 24 hours of the aforementioned risks and inconveniences. 

#2. No Fading Or Changing Color

Epoxy coatings are stunning, but not when they’re been exposed to UV rays for an extended period of time, and have turned yellow or green. This is part of why epoxy floors are great for inside your home, but for your garage… Not so much. You don’t need to worry about fading or changing colors with polyaspartic coatings, though. 

This is because polyaspartic is a UV-stable material. That means that the color you select for your floor coating is the color it will stay for years to come, unless something strange happens, anyway. This is especially good for if you go custom with your floor coating, as it will look just the way you envisioned it for longer.

#3. Strong Without Being Brittle

Polyaspartic coatings are wonderful because they have all the durability of epoxy coatings, but without the risk of turning brittle that epoxy does. This is due to how it adheres to your concrete. With epoxy, it gets very hard, but it doesn’t expand and contract with your concrete during temperature fluctuations. This means that an epoxy coating is more likely to crack and suffer damage.

Polyaspartic coatings, on the other hand, are able to withstand concrete expansion and contraction. If you live somewhere with temperature swings from hot to cold, polyaspartic coatings are flexible, and thus able to weather your concrete’s natural process. 

#4. Increased Durability

Both epoxy and polyaspartic are lauded for their durability, especially in high-traffic areas, such as your garage. However, polyaspartic has a leg-up on epoxy here. Polyaspartic coatings are proven to be stronger and more resistant to abrasion and other such damages than epoxy coatings are. That makes them the superior choice for areas such as your garage that withstand high levels of impact and traffic.

After all, floor coatings are an investment. You want to ensure that the one you have installed is one that is made to last. Given the fact that polyaspartic coatings are both stronger and more durable than epoxy, you’ll want polyaspartic coatings for your floors, especially if durability is a non-negotiable for you.

#5. Environmentally Friendly

The problem with some types of floor coatings, such as epoxy, is that they can have high VOCs that lingers for days after installation. No one likes fumes, and the environment is no exception. However, polyaspartic coatings are solids. This means that they have little to nothing in the way of VOCs. This is better both for you and your health and for the environment and for the sake of sustainability. 

Environmentally friendly options grow increasingly more important as climate change worsens. Fortunately, when you opt for polyaspartic coatings, you’re choosing a floor coating option that is better for the environment than some of the other coatings out there. 

We Install Beautiful Polyaspartic Coatings

These are but a few of the many benefits of polyaspartic coatings. Surface Bella Garage provides exceptional floor coating surfaces that can transform your home in no time at all while lasting you a lifetime. To learn more about our polyaspartic coatings or to get a quote for your project, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Of all the areas of your home that likely would benefit the most from a floor coating, many people end up overlooking their porches and patios. They worry that a porch and patio coating wouldn’t be worth it and that they’d just be a waste of money. However, a porch and patio coating can be quite the smart investment, especially given the fact that porches and patios themselves are investments, and ones that you want to protect, at that. 

Here’s what you need to know about porch and patio coatings and how they can benefit you so that you can best determine whether or not you should get a porch and patio coating for your home.

What Is A Porch And Patio Coating?

A porch and patio coating is a type of floor coating made of epoxy or polyaspartic that provides a protective barrier between your concrete porch or patio and the elements, potential damages, and more. Surface Bella Garage offers professional porch and patio coatings that can be customized to the color and style of your preferences and that will keep your porch and patio in good condition for longer, as well as make maintenance of these outdoor areas so much easier.

Should You Get A Porch And Patio Coating?

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not you make any adjustments to your home, such as installing a porch and patio coating. Some people find them more than worth the money while others decide they’d rather leave their porches and patios as they are. Here’s what you need to know about how a porch and patio coating can extend the lifespan of your porch and patio and the various other benefits you can expect, so that you can decide for yourself whether or not you should get a porch and patio coating for your home.

#1. They Protect Your Porch And Patio From The Weather

Your porch and patio are outdoor areas of your home, which means that they’re constantly exposed to the elements. This can end up causing them quite a bit of weather damage, from UV rays, from rain, from snow, from hail, from buildup of dirt and debris and animal droppings, and more. A porch and patio coating keeps your porch and patio protected from the elements, as they form a protective layer to keep your porch and patio from getting damaged or experiencing wear and tear from the weather.

#2. They Defend Your Porch And Patio From Wear And Tear

Chances are, you use your porch and patio a lot, to spend time with your loved ones on and to host outdoor gatherings. This foot traffic can end up wearing down the surfaces of your porch and patio, leading them to need repairs sooner. A porch and patio coating keeps your porch and patio in good condition, even with all the use that these areas of your home see, so that you can enjoy them longer.

#3. They Make Maintenance Easy

Trying to maintain any outdoor area of your home can be quite the hassle. Cleaning in general can be difficult, especially when it comes to your floors and all the dirt that can get tracked all over them. Cleaning your exterior surfaces, such as your porch and patio? That can be even more challenging, especially since they’re outside, which means that they’re constantly getting dirty, even if you don’t use them.

A porch and patio coating makes maintaining these exterior surfaces so much easier. With most floor coatings, all that you really need to do is just wipe them down in order to clean them. That makes keeping them clean so much easier. The fact that porch and patio coatings protect your porch and patio from damages also reduces maintenance costs, since you won’t need to worry about shelling out so much money to repair damages and keep your porch and patio in good condition. 

#4. They Improve Your Home’s Appearance

Not only do porch and patio coatings protect these surfaces and make maintaining them easier, they also improve their overall appearance. Surface Bella Garage provides high quality porch and patio coatings that can be customized to the color and style you like. This gives these outdoor spaces fresh life and helps improve the overall curb appeal of your home.

Should You Get A Porch And Patio Coating?

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not you get a porch and patio coating. Should you decide that you’d like to have one installed, Surface Bella Garage provides professional floor coatings that can last a lifetime. To learn more about our floor coatings or to get a quote, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!