How Much Does It Cost to Paint a Garage Floor (Estimated Cost)

Covering your garage floor with paint is an effective way to improve the durability and look of the garage. However, just like all painting tasks, painting the garage floor will also cost you a bit of cash. So, how much does it cost to paint a garage floor?

On average, it costs between $100 and $400 to paint a garage floor by yourself and between $500 and $2000 to hire a professional painter. Of course, this price is relative to the cost of the paint and other products in your location.

One major advantage of painting a garage floor is that you do not need to spend much on the task. Garages are used as a parking space, a workspace, or a storage area. This means you do not need a costly paint job on the floors. You just need to apply a few coats of paint to provide a long-lasting and durable finish.

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What Type of Paint Is Used on Garage Floors?

Most garage floors are covered with two-part epoxy paint. Generally, there are two types of paint commonly used on garage floors. You can either use latex acrylic paint or epoxy paint. Epoxy paint is regarded as the best paint for garage floors because of its impressive durability and finish. Epoxy paint can withstand the heavy use and traffic of a garage floor.

Garage floors are prone to wear and tear because of the heavy traffic of people, bicycles, motorbikes, and vehicles moving on the floor. This means you need not just a fine finish but most importantly, a durable finish.

Epoxy will also give the floors a durable and stain-resistant finish which makes it easier to clean oil spills and other products off the floor. Though epoxy paint is regarded as the best paint for garage floors, not all epoxy paint will give you the same finish and durability.

There are two types of epoxy paint for garage floors. You can either go for the one-part epoxy paint or the two-part epoxy paint. One-part epoxy paints have a small amount of epoxy mixed in the formula but they can’t compare with the two-part epoxy. The two-part epoxy is the best choice for garage floors.

The two-part epoxy paint has epoxy resin and a hardener, usually a polyamine hardener. This allows the paint to withstand the wear and tear of a garage floor more than the one-part epoxy paint.

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How Many Gallons of Paint Do You Need for Your Garage Floor?

The amount of gallons needed for a garage floor depends on the square feet of the garage and the coverage of the paint. To calculate how many gallons you need, you have to first measure the square feet of your garage floor and then check the coverage of the paint you want to buy. You can get the square feet by multiplying the width and length of the room.

For instance, two-car garages usually range between 9 and 14 feet in width and between 18 and 22 feet in length. Let’s assume your two-car garage has a width of 12 feet and a length of 21 feet, which gives you a total of 252 square feet.

The next thing to do is to check the instructions indicated on the paint container you pick. Paints that are advertised as “for garage floors” usually have the coverage per square feet of the paint written on the container.

If the container states that one gallon of that paint can cover 200 square feet of a garage floor, that wouldn’t be enough for your two-car garage floor that measures 252 square feet.

This means to use that paint on the garage floor, you will need an extra gallon of paint to cover the extra 52 square feet since one gallon can only cover 200 square feet. Of course, you will have more paint than you need when you get an extra gallon but it’s better to have more than less when it comes to painting.

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Is It Possible to Calculate the Cost of Painting Your Garage Floor?

It is a bit difficult to estimate the exact cost of painting a garage floor especially if you want to paint the floor by yourself. This is because of unexpected changes like a sudden spike in the price of an item or an item you forgot to add to your list.

Though estimating the exact amount seems impossible, you can still round up the figures to a close estimate. So how do you do that? Let’s find out.

For any painting task, there are two ways to go about it. You can either paint yourself or hire a professional painter. This is the same thing for painting a garage floor. You can either paint the floor by yourself or hire a professional painter to do it for you. The estimated cost for painting the same garage floor will vary based on the method you choose to go for.

If you choose to paint the floor yourself, then you need to know how to calculate the cost of the task. But if you choose to hire a professional, the total cost for painting the floor will be made known to you by the painter.

Regardless of the method, learning how to calculate the cost of painting your garage floor would help you make better financial decisions. So let’s go deeper.

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How Much Does It Cost to Paint Your Garage Floor by Yourself?

If you decide to paint the garage floor by yourself, the main factor that determines the total cost of painting the floor is the cost of the supplies needed.

Since you wouldn’t be paying anybody, all you need to do is to calculate the cost of the supplies needed. For instance, let’s assume you want to paint your two-car garage, your estimate will look like this.

The Cost of the Required Paint

The cost of the paint needed will take about half of the total cost. For the paint, you need to decide the type of paint you want to use and the number of gallons needed.  Let’s assume you go for two-part epoxy paint. For your two-car garage, you will most likely need about 2 gallons of epoxy resin and 2 gallons of hardener. It’s usually advised to have more paint than you need.

A gallon of epoxy resin will cost you between $20 and $80. A gallon of epoxy hardener will cost between $30 and $100. The prices vary based on the product you buy and the cost in your location. Let’s assume you buy a gallon of epoxy resin and epoxy hardener for $40 each.

That price multiplied by the gallons needed (2 gallons each) equals $80 for the epoxy resin and $80 for the epoxy hardener. That’s a total price of $160 for the paint required.

The Cost of the Primer

Garage floors are not always primed. However, priming the floor before painting is a great way to improve the quality of the finish. Primers are usually not expensive. Since most garage floors are made of concrete, you will need a primer recommended for use on concrete floors.

If your garage floor wasn’t made from concrete, then get a primer recommended for whatever material the floor was made from.

A gallon of primer for concrete floors costs between $10 and 30$. The price varies because there are different products out there with different price tags. Let’s assume you buy the primer for $20. That brings our total to $180 (The cost of the paint and the primer).

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The Cost of Other Supplies Needed

Painting a garage takes a lot of prep work. Garages are usually packed with different objects and junk. You need to get everything in the garage out to successfully paint the floor.

You also need to clean and wash the floor, prime the floor, make repairs, and then paint. You will need different supplies to do this such as a pair of work gloves, a respirator, eye protection, scraper, a broom, a vacuum, a paint roller, and the likes.

You may be lucky to have some of these supplies in your home or garage, and you might need to buy or rent some. Of course, the cost of renting a tool will be cheaper than the cost of buying a new one. Regardless, the cost of the supplies needed can be as low as $20 or as high as $150.

When you add the cost of the paint needed ($160) and the cost of the primer ($20), you have a total cost of $180.

That’s the total cost without taking into account the cost of the supplies needed. At the end of the day, the total estimated cost of painting the garage floor by yourself can be up to $300 or more. The bright side to this is that it will cost more than $300 to hire a professional painter to paint the same garage floor.

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How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Professional Painter to Paint Your Garage Floor?

The cost of hiring a professional to paint your garage floor ranges between $500 and $2000. The total cost is usually more than the cost of painting the floor yourself because of the extra cost of labor.

When you hire a professional painter, he or she will examine the garage and tell you the total cost of painting the garage floor. The total cost will cover:

• The cost of the paint and other supplies needed
• The cost of repairs if necessary

Different painters have different ways of charging for a paint job. The painter can charge you per hour used. This means in addition to buying the supplies needed, you will pay the painter for each hour he or she used while working on your garage floor. Some painters will charge you per square foot of the garage floor and some painters can charge you per hour used and per square foot.

A rough estimate per hour will be like this. Let’s assume you buy the same gallons of paint and primer as we calculated earlier. That is a total price of $180.

If the painter is charging you per hour, you need to calculate the hours used. Let’s assume he or she charges you $40 per hour and uses 6 hours on the floor, that’s a total cost of $240. Some painters will charge more than $40 per hour. The price charged depends on the painter’s expertise and the difficulty of the job.

When you add the cost per hour to the cost of the paint and primer, you get $420. That’s without the cost of other supplies like concrete filler to make repairs to damaged concrete. Eventually, you could be staring at a total cost of up to $600 if not more.

Disclaimer: The prices above are not to be used as accurate figures for your garage floors. The illustration above should be used only as a guide to calculate the total cost of painting your garage floor.

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How Can You Reduce the Total Cost of Painting a Garage Floor?

Getting a garage floor painted can cost a bit of cash especially if you hire a professional painter. So how can you get a nice paint job without spending too much?

• Paint the Garage Floor Yourself: By painting yourself, you will be removing a large chunk of the total amount a painter will charge you.
• Buy Cheaper Products: One great thing about painting is that you have a wide array of products to choose from. You can always cut costs by buying cheaper products. This doesn’t mean you should sacrifice quality for the price. You can still get products that will do a good job for a cheaper price.
• Buy Used Tools: For the supplies needed, you can cut costs by buying used tools. Used tools are always cheaper than new ones. Ensure you buy in hardware stores where you get a warranty and or a receipt.

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So there you have it. If you have any questions or comments about the topic, you can leave them below and I’ll attend to them as soon as possible.