Garage flooring may take the harshest treatment of all the home surfaces. They bear the weight of cars, lawn maintenance equipment, storage shelves, and more. Garage flooring franchises do more than pretty up garage floors—they can make them last with concrete coating systems.
We’ll cover when to upgrade a garage floor, what types of floors franchise experts may offer, and why investing in garage floor franchises could be a lucrative option for savvy entrepreneurs.
Reasons to Upgrade Garage Flooring
The garage floor is only sometimes something we think about. Maybe the problem grows slowly over time, or they’re something inherited from the home’s previous owners.
When the garage floor does come to our attention, it might be time to consider a home improvement investment.
When to Consider a New Garage Floor
Garages are the ultimate indoor/outdoor room. Aside from vehicle use and storage, garage floors get dirty and greasy, and sometimes have chemical or automotive fluids spilled.
In cold climates, cars may bring in snow, which carries road salt that can damage the concrete. Fluctuating temperatures and moisture also contribute to the breakdown of the concrete.
If your garage floor shows:
- Cracks
- Pitting
- Uneven coloring or stains from spills or leaks
- Spalling (crumbling or flaking surface)
You may need to protect your garage floor with a new floor coating.
Types of Garage Flooring
Concrete Resurfacer
If the floor has only modest or superficial damage, a concrete resurfacer coating may be all that’s required. This type of floor coating is a mix of sand, cement, polymers, and a few additives. It’s applied with a brush, trowel, or squeegee.
Concrete resurfacers don’t have to remain boring gray; they can be livened up with pigments for a sharper, more intentional look.
However, this option repairs minor cracks and pitting only due to its thin application. For more robust correction of wider, deeper fissures, spalling, or extensive pitting, epoxy or polyaspartic floor coating is recommended.
Epoxy Floor Coating
A longer-term option to repair greater damage to garage floors is epoxy floor coating. Epoxy floor coatings are not paint.
They’re a combination of resins and hardeners that, when mixed correctly, simultaneously bond with each other and the floor. The process is called curing because the components cross-link. The hardeners provide strength, and resins provide durability.
Epoxy floor coating can be beautiful, easy to keep clean, and resist spills like automotive fluids or chemicals. It does, however, have drawbacks. If your garage floors see any welding duties, epoxy floors will show burn marks.
Epoxy floors are also not breathable. It’s great at keeping moisture out, but if your garage floors have trapped moisture or there’s moisture rising from below, the epoxy coating may delaminate over time. Not to mention their very moisture resistance makes them slippery when wet.
Polyaspartic Floor Coating
This type of floor coating is stronger than epoxy and is slip-resistant. Polyaspartic floor coating is another resin polymer coating with a higher volume solid percentage than epoxy coatings.
It’s used in heavily trafficked commercial spaces like showrooms, retail stores, and warehouses, to residential garage floors.
The benefits, such as a quicker drying time, greater durability, and better UV stability, are what make this floor coating last longer than epoxy floors.
Cost, however, can be considered when upgrading your garage floors. Polyaspartic floor coatings can be the priciest option available, coming in between $6.50 to $9 per square foot1 when installed by a contractor. Epoxy flooring can be less, between $3 and $12 per square foot2.
There are other types of garage floor coating, such as paints or sealants, but they’re temporary fixes rather than long-term solutions.
Painting will hide cosmetic flaws, and sealants will protect from future damage from water and spills, but they don’t fix what’s already damaged.
Investing in a Quality Garage Flooring Franchise
As a quickly growing industry now may be an ideal time to consider investing in a garage flooring franchise. Home improvement projects have become hobbies since the rise of renovation television shows, and people are always looking for unique ways to redo a space.
The garage is the last frontier for such ideas. Now could be the best time to consider a garage franchise.
What Should I Look For in a Garage Flooring Franchise?
You’ll want a brand that holds its own in the garage floor coating franchise industry. Consider expanding businesses in your area and offering a product you can get behind. It’s much easier to become part of a franchise system you are passionate about.
Ask for References and Do Your Due Diligence
Any franchise worth their investment will happily provide the names of other franchise owners for you to speak with about their experience.
Having conversations with previous business owners and taking time to review the franchise disclosure document can help you decide if the brand you’ve chosen will be a match for you.
How Long Have They Been in the Garage Flooring Business?
The years a concrete coating franchise has been in business can tell you many things about how they operate that business.
The length of warranty they place on their products and services can matter just as much as their proven business model and low start-up costs.
Being around to service their customers for the length of a warranty is a good indicator of the viability of that business.
Franchise Opportunities for Garage Flooring
Garage renovation franchises are part of a growing industry. Outside of the densest urban areas, nearly every home has a garage, and only a small number have treated concrete floors, not to mention any organization or thoughtful storage space.
The industry is just waiting for a break-out garage renovation franchise brand. Choosing to invest with the right garage remodeling franchise company is key. You want somewhere with extensive training, quality products, and services, with the right support and reputation.
Start Your Own Garage Flooring Franchise
Garage Living is a franchise brand with that reputation firmly in place. Not only do we install a proprietary polyaspartic garage floor coating that we stand behind, but we’re also seeking prospective franchisees for expansion in multiple states.
We do whole garage renovations, not just floors, and we stand by our products and installations with robust guarantees.
We’ve been in business since 2005, and we’re still growing in an industry moving in the right direction, doing residential garage remodeling with our customers leaving us rave reviews.
If you’re ready to be your own boss, contact us for more information about joining a great team and becoming a Garage Living franchisee.
