When is the best time to install a garage floor coating?

Updated October 2023

You’ve probably seen ads for fancy garage floor coatings while browsing social media. They can turn a dirty, cracked and stained garage floor into something fit for an automobile showroom — with varying degrees of success and durability. But the real question is, can you coat your garage floor in the middle of a bitter New England winter? How about a humid Florida summer? Our garage floor coatings experts weigh in on the best time of year to coat your garage floor.

Your Hello Garage floor performs year-round, regardless of when it was installed.

It All Depends On the Type of Coating

To answer that question, you first need to decide what type of coating you want. Though similar in function, the most popular types of garage floor coatings— epoxy and polyaspartic — are different in terms of appearance, application, cost, durability and maintenance. For some types, air and floor temperature can affect the way it cures. During the winter, the concrete floor is typically colder than the surrounding air. Some floor coatings, like epoxy, won’t bond properly if the floors and air are too cold.

Epoxy has been used to coat garage floors for decades already. Until fairly recently, polyaspartic coatings — once only available for industrial applications — have come on the market. For our purposes here, we’re going to focus on that last category, because polyaspartic floor coating technology is the only one that resists cracking, peeling, hot-tire pickup and UV degradation and can be installed in just a day. It can cost slightly more upfront, but you’ll end up saving money over the life of the garage because it will last for decades if it's installed right.

Requiring professional installation is the only downside to polyaspartics, if you can even call that a downside. For a successful installation, the surface must be prepped by experienced professionals using specialized equipment. But that also brings us back to our topic: the best time to install a new garage floor.

Spoiler Alert: It’s always garage season with Hello Garage.

Polyaspartic coatings are the ideal choice in colder temperatures.

That’s right; so long as you hire a team of professionals with experience in the installation of polyaspartic floor coatings, you can turn your nasty old garage floor into one that approaches the look, feel and durability of polished granite any time of the year. Unlike epoxy floor paint, most polyaspartic floor coating products can be applied in very low temperatures. Another main benefit of polyaspartic coatings over epoxy coatings is its quick cure time. Most polyaspartic garage floor coating jobs can be completed in one day. Regardless of the time of year or weather, you can get an attractive, protected, slip-resistant garage floor with the application of a polyaspartic coating. This type of floor coating is the only one that resists cracking, peeling, hot-tire pickup and UV degradation.

• Driving rain? No problem.
• Heat and humidity? No problem.
• Snow and ice? No problem.

You’ll be warm and cozy inside your home while your garage floor is being coated by seasoned professionals.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for epoxy floor coatings. If you are considering epoxy for your garage floor, you might be wondering, “Can I epoxy my garage floor in the winter?” Epoxy doesn’t bond well in extreme temperatures, so it should be applied in mild weather, not in the middle of the winter or summer. For epoxy floor paint to cure and dry properly, the temperature of the concrete should be around 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) and the air temperature should be between 60 and 90 degrees. That gives you a much smaller window for application than polyaspartic formulas.

Our Professional Floor Coating Installation Process

From prep work to applying topcoat and clean up, we produce professional results at every step.

Our Dream Team of trained installers is equipped with the best tools and know-how to get your garage floor coating installed correctly.

1. Our team thoroughly prepares your floor using an industrial grinder. This isn’t something you can rent from your local home improvement store. We’re talking about a huge, industrial, monster of a grinder that takes two guys to get it off the truck. Using a high-end grinder is key to fully opening the pores of the concrete, which causes the coating to actually adhere to the concrete, becoming one with the garage floor.
2. We repair any cracks and damaged areas on your garage floor. All garage floor coatings will have a more difficult time bonding to the concrete when there are cracks and uneven surfaces, so our team does their best to create a completely even surface for the coating to be applied to. This is also the time where they fill in the control joints of the concrete floor if the customer has requested that service. (Filling in those control joints is simply an aesthetic decision and doesn’t impact the performance of our polyaspartic garage floor coating.)
3. The colored base coat is applied! Unlike the other guys, our base coat is made of polyaspartic too, ensuring maximum durability and protection. This is also the first step in applying the final floor coating “flavor” that you picked out during your free estimate.
4. The flake is broadcasted professionally all over your garage floor. It truly is an art. The color in the flake depends on that flooring “flavor” you picked out! We even offer custom flake colors available by special order for those who have a specific design in mind for their garage.
5. The clear polyaspartic topcoat is applied. To give you the best-looking garage floor coating around, our Dream Team ensures the topcoat is distributed evenly. Again, it's an art that our team has mastered.
6. This last step to your garage floor coating install is the most important one of them all…you get to admire your beautiful new garage floor without feeling worn out or tired because you didn’t have to install the floor yourself!

That’s really the only downside to polyaspartics. But lucky for you, we have our Dream Team here to help you, a.k.a. the best garage floor coating installers around. That also brings us back to our topic: the best time to install a new garage floor.

Stress-Free, One Day Installation

Your dream garage is within reach! Just call Hello Garage.

This means you can surprise a loved one with a brand-new garage floor for any occasion — whether it’s the holidays, Valentine’s Day, a birthday or… whenever! Plus, since it takes just a day to install, if you can get the recipient out of the house for 24 hours, they’ll return to the surprise of a lifetime: a totally renewed garage floor!

And, once you’ve renewed your garage floor, you’re going to want to do the rest. Paint the walls, install cabinets, other storage options and slatwall, organize your tools and other gear. Your garage will be transformed from what was once a dark and dingy cave you briefly traversed while moving from your car to your kitchen into a welcoming foyer for what is, let’s face it, your home’s true front door.

All you need to do is open up your calendar and pick a date…

Are you ready to book your free estimate? Visit HelloGarage.com or call 888.59.GARAGE now.