Winter is upon us and with it comes the harsh elements like rain, snow, hail, and freezing temperatures. All of this is very hard on your entire home but have you ever thought about the damage it could be doing to your garage floor?
In the winter, your car tracks in a lot of water during the winter and once it starts snowing, de-icing chemicals are sprayed on the roads to melt the ice, which you then track into your garage when you park at the end of the day. Those chemicals are used to prevent freezing on the roads and they don’t freeze on your garage floor, instead seeping into the pores of the concrete and expanding and moving with the fluctuating temperatures, which break apart the concrete. And if you have longs winters, then this is happening for months and by the time spring comes along, your garage floor is seriously damaged.
So to help you prevent this from happening, here are a few tips on how to winterize your garage floor this winter!
- If you need a solution ASAP, you can run out and grab some floor mats or even cardboard boxes and lay them on the ground to protect your floor from snow and icing dripping off your car. They will collect all the snow, ice, deicing chemicals, and salts and can be tossed or cleaned as needed. This is a quick and easy solution for preventing water damage to your concrete floors.
- For even more protection to your floors, it might be a good idea to seal them. There are many sealing solutions that will prevent the liquids and chemicals from seeping into the pores of your concrete floor and aren’t hard to use. There are many options to choose from, from siliconate, polyurea, polyaspartic acrylic, or epoxy. Keep in mind that this project should be done as soon as possible because some sealants like epoxy cannot be installed in cold temperatures.
- It’s not a bad idea to have a broom or squeegee close by in the garage so that when you park at the end of the day or track in a bunch of snow on your boots, you can easily brush it out of the garage before it melts. Removing as much of the melting water from sitting on your garage floor will greatly help prevent damage. You can also install a fan to turn on for a bit at the end of each day to help dry out the garage for the night.
Precision Door is your friendly, professional neighborhood garage door service company. Whether you need repairs, installation, or replacement, we are here to help! Call us 24/7 and take advantage of our same day service, with our professionally trained technicians and fully stocked trucks!
