Why Can’t You Get A Floor Coating On Your Driveway?

Garage floor coatings can transform your garage into a safer, more aesthetically pleasing space. They can show off your cars and other vehicles with showroom shine and beauty. Plus, they can withstand all the impact garage floors face.

If you’ve looked into a garage floor coating, you may have also wanted to get a floor coating on your driveway – only to learn that you can’t do this if you want an epoxy coating. This may be confusing to learn, because you can get pool deck coatings and patio coatings.

So, since you can already get a floor coating installed in outdoor spaces, why can’t you get a floor coating on your driveway? Surely a floor coating would improve your driveway’s safety, durability, and aesthetic appeal, the same as it would your garage or your patio or your pool deck, right?

Here’s what you need to know about why garage floor coating professionals advise against getting an epoxy floor coating on your driveway. 

Why Can’t You Get A Driveway Coating?

If it’s epoxy? It’s inadvisable to get a driveway coated with epoxy due to the fact that epoxy isn’t meant for outdoor applications. If you have a professional floor coating with an epoxy base with polyaspartic with the proper additives mixed in, then you can have your patio coating or your pool deck or what have you. 

If you had enough additives mixed into your epoxy coating, then you may be able to coat your driveway with epoxy – keyword there being may. However, you will need to leave this job to the professionals. When your safety is at risk, the last thing you want is to take on a DIY project. 

If ever you have any questions, it’s always best to schedule a consultation with a professional. That way, you can get clear-cut answers from the experts for your specific situation, as well as personalized advice for what you can do in order to bring your vision for your home to life.

Why You Don’t Want To Epoxy Coat Your Driveway

Epoxy floor coatings are beautiful. Glossy, durable, and oh-so-customizable. However, these are best suited to indoor applications. Take them outside, and the cure time alone can leave you with a completely destroyed floor coating before it’s even had the chance to cure.

Here are some of the reasons why you really don’t want to epoxy coat your driveway.

#1. The Cure Time

We just mentioned it, but it’s a significant factor here. Epoxy is famous for many things, and one of them is the fact that it can take days to even weeks in order to cure properly – and this is just indoors. 

When you’re waiting for your floor coating to cure, you shouldn’t walk or drive on it. You generally want to ensure that nothing gets on it at all so that the end result is picture perfect.

However, if you epoxy coat your driveway, you can guarantee none of this. Your driveway is constantly subjected to the elements. It may rain, debris may get blown across it, or you may end up having to take a beloved pet to the vet to get uncured epoxy off their paws if they tried to walk across it. You would have to take a lot of preventative, protective measures in order to try to help your epoxy coating cure without incident. The risk alone simply isn’t worth it.

#2. It Fades

One of the reasons people adore epoxy floor coatings is because of how beautiful they are. However, epoxy fades with exposure to UV rays, and ends up turning yellow. If you ever get an epoxy garage floor coating, you’ll likely notice it turning yellow after a few years because of this. Since your driveway is always in the sun? Unless you want your driveway to be yellow, you can kiss the idea of your epoxy coating maintaining its beautiful color goodbye.

#3. It’s Prone To Cracking And Peeling

Epoxy is durable, yes, inside. However, the outside world is an entirely different situation. The epoxy would be constantly subjected to all sorts of harm, from UV rays to weather to debris to traffic and more. Epoxy already has hot-tire pickup, which means that it can stick to your car’s tires when it’s hot out.

If you epoxy-coat an outdoor surface, especially one that sees as much wear and tear as your driveway? You had better be ready to have it reapplied much sooner than you would in other areas of your home. 

Epoxy is beautiful, yes, and durable. But it simply isn’t made for outdoor applications. If you would like to learn about floor coatings that can withstand outdoor applications, like polyaspartic, please don’t hesitate to contact Solid Garage Floor Coatings Of Montana. We’re happy to consult with you about your project!