Written by Terry Smith

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Best garage floor paint[UK]: Top heavy duty concrete floor paints compared

This article was last updated on April 23rd, 2022 at 1:42 am

Are you looking to paint your garage floor but not quite sure which paint or product to use? Well done you for taking the time to do a bit of research. Garage floor paint is nothing like the standard stuff you roll on walls, not even the good quality wall paint. It comes with the additional burden that you will be walking or driving on it, so needs to bond considerably firmer and be much stronger.

Not only that, the best garage paint needs to be formulated to withstand oil, grease, and dirt stains, allowing you to easily clean up. Throw in the the ability to withstand scratching and you have something totally different to your everyday paint. So what I’ve done is put together a list of the very best garage floor paint in the UK to help you decide what’s best for you and your circumstances

Our top picks for garage floor paint – editors pick:

Best garage floor paint overall in the UK: Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint

Best value for money garage floor paint: Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint

Best grey garage floor paint: Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint – Light Grey and Heavy Duty Hardwearing Polyurethane Concrete Industrial (20L Mid Grey) Floor Paint

Alternative dark grey floor paint: Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint, Slate,

Best black garage floor paint: Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint – BLACK

Professional and commercial garage floor paint: Heavy Duty Hardwearing Polyurethane Concrete Industrial Floor Paint

Longest lasting garage floor paint: Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint

Best outdoor floor paint: Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint

What you get in this article:

Garage floor paint price comparison table

What is the best garage floor paint and why is it different from standard paint?

The best garage floor paint reviewed in the UK

FAQs when buying garage floor paint

What is the best garage floor paint and why is it different from standard paint?

Unlike typical shed or garage paint, floor paint is far more durable and will take far more punishment before scuffing and breaking down. The best garage floor paint should hold up for a good five years or so, be scratch resistant within reason, and appropriately grip with anti slip properties to ensure you can walk safely. That is magically solved in one word “polyurethane“. This is the same stuff that bonds glass together forming air tight seals for twenty years plus. It sticks and bonds like nothing else I know. If you don’t see the word polyurethane in the formula then it is time to move on, and look for a different garage paint if you’re not worried about costs so much but more about longevity. Needless to say all the paint in my reviews either contain this, or are clearly mentioned if not.

So when you’re looking for a floor paint, once you’ve checked the contents, the main thing is that it contains polyurethane and it is solvent based. So that’s a great point to start from gauging which paint is best for your garage. It’s nothing like your standard paint at all! Had it been available I would have used the Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint but as it was, I chose Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint and to be fair it’s still in great nick a couple of years on so not bad going! Once you have the right quality polyurethane it is nearly a level playing field.

Top tip once you find the right garage floor paint to avoid disaster: Now it’s super important to realise that during the curing process, damp or humidity can be a disaster for polyurethane paint. It can literally ruin your coat of paint. So make sure your area stays free from moisture, at least while the curing process occurs. This differs considerably when compared to epoxy garage floor paint which cures differently but given it’s less resistant to scratch and scuffs I have steered away from those in this review to an extent. Polyurethane is better for most home use as well as commercial, it’s the type of paint you’ll often see in a garage – ideal to protect against spills of oil and grease – as you would expect from a garage floor paint!

Talking of moisture – remember fresh concrete has way too much moisture to paint on polyurethane so shelve those ideas for a few months but realistically much longer still, easily could be 12 months!

Here are my best garage floor paint reviews in the UK

Specification: Finish: Semi-Gloss, Touch Dry: 8-10 hours, Overcoat: 24-48 hours, Size: 20 L

Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint is my top pick for best garage floor paint in the UK. It is also one of the best value as well. The big thing that makes a quality floor paint as we discussed already is polyurethane which this is, and as expected solvent based. So don’t be surprised by the strong odour as it dries out! Their paint is semi sheen, its a semi gloss that isn’t too shiny. It looks lovely actually and once you follow the link you’ll notice this manufacturer has loads of different colours to choose from.

And what’s not to like about the price – it’s a steal at the moment. 20 Litres is huge and given you don’t get as much coverage as you would expect, no harm at all to buy a nice big tin. I used nearly ten litres of Polar when I did mine and it’s only 25m2. Granted I laid it on quite thick but still, two Polar 5 litre tins cost more than this paint when compared so this really is a bargain and justifies why I have chosen this as the best value for money garage floor paint in the UK.

In terms of application you know the score from reading my top tip – absolutely bone dry, and completely dust free. If it’s not dust free the paint adheres to the dust rather than the floor – pretty obvious but so important to get right. It’s recommended by most to roll on a concrete sealer first. Personally I never did this, I used PVA watered down, because its the exact same thing, but not following the manufacturer guidelines is always Russian roulette 😀

As you lay on your first coat of paint you’ll do so with a brush or roller. Roller is definitely favourable on large areas and don’t get too impatient. A full fay between coats is going to really help with the overall curing process. Looking back now, I would have definitely allowed 48 hours and tried to pick a run of warm dry weather and still used a heater fan!

The finish looks lovely though and a big thanks to Patricia for sending in some before and afters of using this paint with a grey pigment which looks fantastic:

As you can see this did a super job on pressed concrete and why I am kind of jealous this wasn’t available when I did my pressed concrete floor because when you compare this to the Polar I used, I feel this has my paint beaten hands down on price point. Once this has been on Amazon for another year I am willing to bet you never see this price again!

Pros:

  • Super pricing
  • Best quality and value floor paint in the UK at the moment
  • Doesn’t flake, bonds superb
  • Pretty easy to apply
  • Can be thinned down for application

Cons:

  • Hard to pick fault at this price and quality but needs plenty of drying time between coats.

Specification: Finish: Semi-Gloss, Touch Dry: 2-4 hours, Minimum Overcoating: 16-24 hours, Size: 5 L

First up is Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint. Given most of the paint in my review is polyurethane based they are nearly on a level playing field when you compare the chemical breakdown, but I quite like the semi gloss look of this paint with a decent range of colours (though only this light grey). When I first reviewed this a couple of years ago, when I used it, the price was much lower – it looks like all floor paints are way up on the last couple of years!

If it has one drawback it’s the coverage, there’s no way you’re getting 60m2 out of one tin. My garage is 25.5m2 and I didn’t even get close to two coats. I need to buy ten litres in the end which is fine but still don’t do your maths off their overly optimistic numbers. You’ll come up short and disappointed. I have to say though this is the general theme with all floor paints or so it seems. Whether it’s me or not I don’t know? It could well be that because the first coat used far more than the second…I also used a roller with a cut in brush, not sure if that changes the coverage, but anyway, that was my experience on pressed concrete that’s about fifteen years old.

As far as painting goes the key is preparation. Don’t sweep up, instead, hoover up. Make sure there is no overhanging cobwebs or anything that could fall into your paint for that matter. Have a really deep clean and vent the area well. Make sure it’s completely dry – polyurethane paint doesn’t like water at all during the curing process. So if it’s been raining outside the cure time between coats goes up dramatically.

If you had a heater it wouldn’t hurt either. It’ll help put a skin on the paint faster and should ensure you can lay another coat on the next day. Don’t rush that bit though, if the first layer isn’t cured you can trap in wet paint that’ll not cure until you smudge it with the wheels of your car 😀 Have you ever laid gloss too thick on a window or door frame? Well it never quite hardens fully and you can put your nail in it. That’s exactly what can happen to this paint too – so you don’t want to layer it too thick or too quickly. Talking of curing times, being solvent based, once this has a nights cure I’d have no hesitation getting as much air flow as possible. I didn’t stand on my floor for nearly a week. The fact I didn’t used thinners on my first coat and it takes a whole 24 hours to re-coat says it all. Yu’ve got to be patient and factor the correct time.

I wish I had used a bit of thinners on the first coat now, it would have definitely helped the cure time and had I checked the instructions carefully, that is actually recommended so I’ll say my fault on that one!

Pros:

  • High quality paint
  • Can drive on it
  • Doesn’t scuff or scratch easily
  • The mid-sheen grey finish is also gives a great look to the garage.

Cons:

  • No where near the coverage stated
  • Not the cheapest

Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint

Specification: Finish: Semi-Gloss, Touch Dry: 2-4 hours, Overcoat: 24-48 hours, Size: 20 L

When you compare this paint to my best pick for garage floor paint theres not much in these. They are both 20 litres, both quality polyurethane and solvent based. You look at the tin, then the price, and the similar semi gloss finish, and you start wondering if the paint is coming out the same manufacturers warehouse 😀 And jokes aside, that wouldn’t be a bad thing as if the top pick went out of stock here we have a backup plan at really great value for money too.

This paint is the real deal by the way, I hope my jokes didn’t put you off and send you to the top pick. This paint will dry rock hard and you’ll drive cars and forklifts over this with no problem at all. It’s so good I make this my top pick for industrial floor paint. The quality and price justify the pick, no question on that.

They suggest you’ll get as much as 200m2 our of a 20 litre tin. Like all guesstimates from manufacturers this is optimistic but theres no problem at all buying 20 litres of this and keep half when it’s cheaper than two branded 5 litre tins anyway. You can use this as fence paint, decking, any wood, and metal really so you’ll find a use – always better to have too much when taking on a project like this than too little!

Like all floor paint you want to PVA first, sorry use a specified concrete sealer that’s way more expensive than watered down PVA 😉 A little bit of research on substituting PVA for concrete sealer will have ones eyes firmly opened. Thank me later 🙂

You’ll love how deep the pigment is on this paint. You must put down two coats but you’ll notice just how great the floor is looking after one. Give it a good day or so between laying on a second so he paint has a decent bit of time to harden off and you’ll be good to go – if it’s warm and dry you can go the lower end of the recommended times but mine I left for a week after the second coat!. Application is a doddle too, just mix it up and away you go, no hardeners etc just be aware that solvent will hang about and it’ll need a good bit of venting for some weeks to come and you can’t go wrong!

Dry conditions as with any polyurethane paint is an absolute must, do a little research beyond my top tip is worth the ten minutes it’ll cost you.

Overall this is a definite buy and the best garage floor paint for commercial use at sensible money and pretty much like for like with my top pick, so I’d go with whichever is better priced at the time.

Pros:

  • This slip resistant paint dries and comes out as a beautiful light to medium grey colour
  • Super value
  • Hard wearing
  • Can drive on it
  • Long lasting

Cons:

  • Less feedback when compare to the top pick

4. Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint, Slate, 5 Litre

Specification: Finish: Satin, Touch Dry: 2-4 hours, Overcoat: 16-24 hours, Size: 5 L

I tell you straight up the truth, I used the Leyland water based primer undercoat to seal in wood as it’s really really thin and blast it on with a paint sprayer with ease. The lack of quality on the first coat is a strange blessing, I don’t need to water it down or do anything – just blast and being so thin it doesn’t clog either :D. However, the Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint is nothing like that watery stuff. It is super quality and made solvent based with polyurethane. So then, one of the top quality garage floor paints and how it made it to my list.

I reviewed this paint a coupe of years ago when I first made this review. It had been around a while but not on Amazon long. I already knew it was top draw so had no problem including it. Unsurprisingly as time has passed more and more positive feedback has piled up and its turned into one of the best selling and respected garage floor paints online in the UK. It literally is the highest rate garage floor paint in the UK at 4.6 Average over hundreds of reviews and ten of thousands of purchases. The good news is the value is still there for the quality when you compare it to a directly similar paint like the Polar with exception this can be used outside as well. All the same I couldn’t buy it because a slightly less quality paint (my top pick) is three times the value and not all that far behind in terms quality that it is a deal breaker!

Make sure your surfaces are literally sparkling. As with this range you’ll want to PVA to seal in your concrete first. Then give that some time to cure. Lay on your coats with a roller and a cutting in brush unless you’re a gluten for punishment 😀 and want to go at it with a four inch brush. Just so you know, if you decide that route you want get quite as nice finish – at least that’s what I found when I use some remainder I had on a garden gate with smooth timber. The hard foam roller came out much nicer! Oh and the other thing, I decided I’dd chill out and have a nice glass of wine while I did this. Massive mistake, the smell put me right off my wine, it even felt like I was drinking it (yuck). So yeah, it’s smelly, get the job out the way breathing in as little as possible and then shower, then relax with glass of wine or three 😀

Don’t panic if you notice the smell lingering for a few weeks, when you compare this to the other paints in the review it is totally normal, you should be pretty much smell free after about a month or so.

Overall it leaves a lovely finish, it is probably the actual best garage floor paint money can buy and also longest lasting, but at the value I just can’t rate it top overall.

Pros:

  • The best quality in the UK and longest lasting
  • Application is easy like normal paint
  • Looks superb in Slate grey
  • Lovely satin finish
  • Ideal for heavy loads

Cons:

  • Too expensive to ignore the top picks in this article.

Specification: Finish: Gloss, Touch Dry: 2-4 hours, Overcoat: 12-24 hours, Size: 20 L

TA Paints Floor Paint for Concrete Garage Workshops is a lovely quality paint. My biggest gripe though is the cost. When you compare it to the first pick ‘Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint’ you quickly realise there’s no way you can buy this paint without at least giving the top pick a go first. The cost difference is just too great and inline with Leyland and Polar.

Now don’t get me wrong, you often get what you pay for. But in this rare rare case I still think better value comes from the product that I believe is equal to the job: used as a garage floor paint no less! So let’s look at other differences. The list of applications for this paint is practically endless but to name a few that will be useful in the garage: Concrete, Stone, Brick, and Breeze Block – you could coat the entire garage if you like!

You’ll note this needs thinning for easier application. That’s a bit of a giveaway there’s more pigment per litre so it’s clearly going to be a bit better quality. But since the thinning is to just 10%, it’s pretty realistic to assume there isn’t a whole 300% difference 😀 from 10% thinning down…

If you do decide to go this route make sure you give ample time before heavy traffic, a week is probably the best but under the right conditions you can really reduce this considerably.

Pros:

  • Excellent quality in line with Leyland maybe even better when compare for hard wearing finish
  • Easy to lay on
  • Leaves a really lovely look

Cons:

  • Too costly for my money

Garage floor paint price comparison table

Comparison table: Best garage floor paint[UK]: Top heavy duty concrete floor paints compared

ProductWhat We ThinkPrice

Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint, Slate, 5 Litre

Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint, Slate, 5 Litre

Pros:

  • The best quality in the UK and longest lasting
  • Application is easy like normal paint
  • Looks superb in Slate grey
  • Lovely satin finish
  • Ideal for heavy loads

Cons:

  • Too expensive to ignore the top picks in this article.

Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint

Pros:

  • High quality paint
  • Can drive on it
  • Doesn't scuff or scratch easily

Cons:

  • No where near the coverage stated
  • Not the cheapest

Heavy Duty Hardwearing Polyurethane Concrete Industrial (20L Mid Grey) Semi Gloss Floor Paint

Pros:

  • This slip resistant paint dries and comes out as a beautiful light to medium grey colour
  • Super value
  • Hard wearing
  • Can drive on it
  • Long lasting

Cons:

  • Less feedback when compare to the top pick

Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint

Pros:

  • Super pricing
  • Best quality and value floor paint in the UK at the moment
  • Doesn't flake, bonds superb
  • Pretty easy to apply
  • Can be thinned down for application

Cons:

  • Hard to pick fault at this price and quality but needs plenty of drying time between coats.

TA Paints Floor Paint for Concrete Garage Workshop

Pros:

  • Excellent quality in line with Leyland maybe even better when compare for hard wearing finish
  • Easy to lay on
  • Leaves a really lovely look

Cons:

  • Too costly for my money

FAQs when buying garage floor paint

There’s a whole myriad of questions people are asking everyday; what’s the best garage floor paint in the UK, Can you get anti slip floor paint? But the most frequent is how to actually get the job of painting done from start to finish. So unusually in this FAQ I use those individual questions I get to walk you through the entire process. It’s worth the 3 minute read you can be sure to pickup a top tip or plan better as a result.

How to apply garage floor paint correctly?

Carefully following these instructions and fine tuning them to the manufacture guidelines will save you serious stress. Trust me when I say this can go seriously wrong to the point the paint never even dries! Yes it can actually go that wrong. However, following this advice will give you the absolute best shot at not having that horror situation crop up for you as it has a few people online I’ve read. And to be honest, they may well blame the paint but reading between the lines I can see obvious mistakes on some of those that could have been avoided! Anyway let’s not worry about their balls up walking through mushy plastic paint! 😀 Let’s get it right first time!

Firstly you don’t want to do anything other than take a good look at where you are with your project. Measure the size, and look at the weather. Disregard anything you think you’ve read in terms of coverage from sellers and listen to my long experience of this. You want to work on a basis of about 3m2 squared per one litre for two coats. Factor anymore than that, and you should be prepared for disappointment. Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint will give you a little more than that but why stress yourself. Now you want to consider the weather. Moisture can destroy a polyurethane paint floor. So make sure you do this on a good run of weather and make sure your concrete or surface is bone dry.

Time wise you need to PVA the floor (or use a pre sealer as recommended by most manufacturers). You also need two coats. In the perfect world you would have heaters turned on and 48 hours between each process. So it could literally take a week. If you can afford the time lapse then you’ll get the best results. Even in excellent conditions you need all of 16 hours minimum for a polyurethane paint to be re-coated. Really believe me, you can’t rush a good finish on this. So with the timelines understood you can begin to plan how you’ll apply your garage paint and when the project best suits you.

How to prepare the surface for garage floor paint?

Get rid of any dust or debris, even cobwebs from your ceiling and walls first. You need to methodically work from the top down to ensure a super finish. Look at this way so its not quite the chore: we have a great opportunity to clear the garage and have it spot on for the first time in years!

Once you’re dust free, and by dust free I mean completely hoovered meticulously then it’s time to give the floor a scrub. Use washing up liquid and give it some welly. You don’t want to paint over grease or dirt at all if avoidable. Some bedded in is fine, but it must be really bedded in! Here’s one cleaned up:

Garage floor cleaned up ready for painting

How to paint your garage floor?

Once that dries over up again and water down some PVA. Go for a 1-1 or 2-1 mix and roll that on. Or, if you prefer follow the manufacturer guidelines and use pre sealer for concrete. Word of warning. I don’t think I’ve ever bothered trying to wash PVA out of a roller – a I bet theres a trick for it if you google but a cheap two quid throw away quits me better.

Give it a night to set and roll on your first coat of garage floor paint. depending on what paint you choose, you may want to thin it down. The Leyland Trade 264619 Heavy Duty Floor Paint and the Polar Heavy Duty Garage Floor Paint will want a bit of thinning. If you choose Super Strong Durable Oil Based Floor Paint then I wouldn’t bother.

Give this plenty of time to set. I would say your best bet is a minimum of 48 hours. Cut this too short and you’ll find yourself with a mushy floor! Manufacturers normally recommend from about 16 hours onward but I can te you in my experience they must have had some sweltering weather when they worked that out. Because mine has never set so fast fully that I was confident.

How long until garage floor paint is touch dry and completely dry?

Give this plenty of time to set. I would say your best bet is a minimum of 48 hours. Cut this too short and you’ll find yourself with a mushy floor! Manufacturers normally recommend from about 16 hours onward but I can tell you in my experience they must have had some sweltering weather when they worked that out. Because mine has never set so fast fully, that I was confident to layer again!

Once times elapsed properly go for a second coat. I’d give this a week myself to cure fully. Again manufacturers say far less and fee free to follow but just like the coverage, they are all extremely optimistic numbers!

How to make anti slip garage floor paint?

An absolute belter of a tip I picked up along the way was to add some fine sand to your paint. Now, obviously forget a smooth looking finish but I much rather a little extra rough than landing on my backside! Also another drawback is the sand protrudes and obviously wears away much more quickly guaranteeing you’ll need to coat again far sooner. But, with those draw backs it really does give you a fair bit more purchase.

The best thing to do is experiment on a test patch with how much sand you want to add, and workout a sensible balance of aesthetics, durability, but also that crucial Anti Slip garage floor paint property that is hard to come by!

I hope you liked our review of the best garage paints and feel free to chime in with any we’ve missed. The more we can share for the community the better informed our decisions and the happier we all are 🙂


About Terry Smith

I’m Terry Smith from gardentoolbox.co.uk, a professional landscape designer, hobbyist gardener, and barbecue fanatic with 20 years experience building and restoring. So as you go through my site you'll watch me document some of the professional garden installs I make as well as the major projects I take on at home. While sharing those experiences and guiding you, I'll be recommending some great tools I use to enable this along the way so you can really buy in confidence. Always feel free to pop me a message: info@gardentoolbox.co.uk

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