No one visiting your home will exclaim “My, what a nice garage floor coating you have!” Nonetheless, a garage floor paint or coating helps protect your floor against damage from chemicals, oils, heavy impacts and abrasions. It’s a protection that’s worth the investment.
A good garage floor paint can also be an aesthetic choice that makes everything more cohesive, whether it’s a uniform color or just hiding cracks and dents in the concrete. A smooth coating makes cleaning up messes much easier. And maybe most important, no one will say, “Your garage floor is a disgusting mess.”
An important thing to remember when applying your garage floor paint or coating is that preparation is the most critical and time intensive step. Make sure to do some research before you begin your project in order to determine the proper cleanup steps and calculate those efforts into the assessment of your overall project duration. And finally, almost every manufacturer coverage estimate is optimistic. If a certain number of gallons of this “just makes it” in terms of covering your garage floor, you’ll probably need one more.
- Rust-Oleum Concrete & Garage Floor Paint + Primer : Best Overall Garage Floor Paint
- Rust-Oleum Rocksolid Polycuramine Garage Floor : Best Quick-Drying Garage Floor Paint
- Performance Industries Epoxy Floor Kit : Best Epoxy Garage Floor Paint
- KILZ 1-Part Epoxy Acrylic : Best Value Garage Floor Paint
- INSL-X Hot Trax Paint : Best Also-Mention
Rust-Oleum has been a manufacturer of protective paint products for over 100 years. The brand first dabbled in protective paint when the founder recognized that fish oil prevents corrosion on metal decks. Needless to say, the Rust-Oleum formula is tried and true. That’s why the Concrete & Garage Floor Paint + Primer takes the title of best garage floor paint overall. This one-part, ready-to-use epoxy acrylic coating is durable and scuff-resistant. At only $47, you will get ample bang for your buck with 300-400 square feet of coverage per gallon. We believe this may be optimistic, so plan to need more. This paint is made specifically for concrete and will not stand up to expectations on other materials.
- Long-lasting durability
- Great brand
- Affordable cost
- Only applicable to concrete surfaces
- No decorative paint chips included
The number-two spot on our list also goes to a Rust-Oleum product. This heavy-duty floor coating is made from industrial grade polycuramine, which is more durable than epoxy. This paint stands up against salts, oils, gases and other chemicals to protect your garage floor for the long-term. Another benefit of polycuramine is that it has no volatile organic compounds which makes it safer for application and any later off-gassing. You may need more product than is sold here.
- High quality, durable material
- Protects against salts, oils, gases and other chemicals
- No VOCs
- Long application process
- Coverage is less than advertised
For those who believe in the durability and longevity of epoxy, this is the garage paint coating for you. This epoxy floor kit produced by Performance Industries, which makes the strongest epoxy coating most widely available on the market. Epoxy or polyepoxides are reactive polymers that form a high thermal- and chemical-resistant hard layer. Since this product is 100-percent epoxy, it only requires a single coat to achieve the strength of other epoxy paints on the market. When using a single coat, this three gallon bucket of epoxy coating covers up to 500 square feet of garage flooring. It’s expensive, but it goes pretty far.
- High quality, durable material
- Only requires a single coat
- Up to 500 square feet of coverage
- Very expensive
- Slippery when wet
- Requires pre-mixing
For a simple garage floor painting project, the KILZ 1-Part Epoxy Acrylic Garage Floor Paint is the best option on a budget. This water-based paint can be used for interior and exterior applications on concrete, masonry, stone and brick. It is also quick-drying so you can lay the second coat after just 24 hours and park a car on the surface in just 48. This one gallon of KILZ paint will stretch up to 500 square feet, which is far superior to market competitors. We suspect this is fairly optimistic, so plan to buy more—especially if your concrete is fairly porous.
- Best bang for your buck
- Versatile applications
- Up to 500 square feet of coverage
- Requires two coats
- Low durability
The INSL-X Hot Trax Paint prides itself on scuff resistance. This is an epoxy acrylic paint that is durable and resists hot tire marks. It can cover up to 400 square feet per gallon and can also be used for various applications such as brick or stone. This product comes in at a decent price and has received moderate reviews from customers. The main drawback with the INSL-X Hot Trax Paint is its exceptionally long dry time. The company suggests waiting five to seven days to park your car on the finished surface. With today’s technological advancements (and general lack of patience), that feels like an eternity.
- Scuff resistant
- Good price point
- Up to 400 square feet of coverage
- Long curing time
- Requires two coats
METHODOLOGY
In order to determine the best garage floor paint for your vehicle, we considered the products most accessible to the widest swath of consumers in the U.S. and evaluated them on performance, price and value.
We evaluate all garage floor paints on the following weighted metrics:
- Material Quality (20%)
- Durability (20%)
- Coverage Per Can (20%)
- Drying Time (20%)
- Ease of Application (10%)
- Cost (10%)