Painting a garage floor not only makes the garage look cleaner, it helps keep the inside of your home clean, offers some floor protection and is relatively inexpensive.

Here are the best garage floor paint options to consider, depending on your project.

What Kind of Paint Should I Use on My Garage Floor?

The key when choosing the best paint for your garage floor is to choose the right formulation for the best wear. All Garage Floors notes there are generally two garage floor paint options to choose from: Latex acrylic paint for concrete floors and pre-mixed 1-part epoxy garage floor paint. “Hands down, your best choice between the two is the 1-part epoxy paint,” the company notes. The epoxy mixed in with the paint helps create “a paint that is more resistant to mold and mildew, chemicals, gasoline stains, oil, scuff marks and chipping.”

Garage Floor Paint Reviews

Here are three of the top-rated garage floor paints from Amazon.

• Rust-Oleum’s RockSolid Metallic Floor Coating Kit

Review: “Love, love, LOVE this product. The finish, the shine, the metallic additive gives it almost a 3-D dimensional look. I recommend after applying the product thoroughly, to give it a design so when it moves while it settles, the finished product will have a one of a kind look.”

• Coloredepoxies Clear Epoxy Coating

Review: “It’s tough to find an epoxy you can trust with a lot of money potentially at stake. I went with Coloredepoxies for a project and they did not let me down. They have an excellent product and thorough instructions on how to use. My finished result is just beautiful.”

• United Gilsonite Lab Drylok

Review: “Worked perfectly in my garage. I live in a dry, hot climate and I could walk on this stuff in 30 minutes. I worried that two coats wouldn’t cover as one coat looked pretty thin but two coats was the ticket. The platinum color is a very light gray which I was happy I’d chosen over the standard gray.”

Garage Floor Paint Colors

When choosing a garage floor paint color, think about what’s important to you. If you don’t want to see tire marks and want to try and hide any stains, go with a darker color. If you’re looking to lighten up your garage space, try a lighter gray.

Concrete floor paint is either latex and oil-based. Concrete floor paint is just a tougher version of the paint that goes on walls and is by far the least expensive coating for a garage floor. You roll it on just like other types of paint; there are no tricky, unfamiliar steps. It’s also easy to touch up damaged areas or re-coat the floor completely.

Latex floor paint is easier to apply and clean up than oil-based paint. It dries to a low-sheen, flat finish while oil dries to a high gloss. Oil-based paints must be used with a primer coat and are generally more durable than latex. Overall, floor paint isn’t as tough as other garage floor coatings and is especially vulnerable to road salt and other chemicals. Under typical conditions, you’ll have to touch up areas of the garage floor every year or two.

Cost: 15 cents or less per square foot for one coat. Available at home centers. Look at online reviews to decide the best garage floor coating for your needs.

What is the Best Coating for Garage Floors?

In addition to garage floor paint, consider these other garage floor coatings:

Concrete Stain

Concrete stain is a translucent decorative coloring that soaks into the concrete and creates a pigmented, marbled appearance that resembles natural stone. It typically requires two coats and is applied with a roller or sprayer and then immediately worked into the concrete with a nylon scrubbing brush.

The stain itself doesn’t protect the concrete, so after it dries, you rinse the surface and then apply one or two coats of urethane sealer to protect against moisture, chemicals and stains. Depending on the traffic your garage floor gets, you may need to wax the sealer annually and touch up the stain and reseal the floor every two years.

Cost: 20 cents to 85 cents per square foot for one coat (not including the price of the urethane topcoat). Available at home centers and online retailers.

Two of the most popular garage stains are VIVID Acid Stain, which stains concrete to a rich walnut color and Eagle Rustic Interior/Exterior Concrete Acid stain, which transforms plain concrete into a marbled texture.

Concrete Sealer

Concrete floor sealers come in clear and tinted versions. Sealers are like floor paint, but tougher. After paints, they’re the least expensive coating and they’re very easy to apply with a brush or roller. They dry to a clear satin or semigloss finish depending on the product. There are water-based and solvent-based concrete floor sealers.

“The product cost is going to vary based on the type of concrete sealer that is used. If you are using a decorative concrete sealer, like an acrylic or urethane, the product cost can vary anywhere from 25 cents to 50 cents a square foot. If you are using a penetrating concrete sealer the cost ranges anywhere from 20 cents to 75 cents a square foot,” according to Concrete Sealer Reviews.

Acrylic/Latex Concrete Sealer

Like floor paint, acrylic/latex sealer is vulnerable to chemicals and isn’t as tough as an epoxy product, so it’ll benefit from an annual protective waxing or reapplication every few years. Acrylic/latex sealer will stick better to a concrete floor than urethane sealer, which is why it’s sometimes used as a primer for oil-based floor paint or epoxy.

Cost: 20 cents or less per square foot for one coat. Available at home centers and online retailers.

Urethane Concrete Sealer

Urethane sealer is significantly tougher than acrylic/latex sealer, but it doesn’t bond well with bare concrete. It provides a clear, high-gloss finish that resists chemicals better than epoxy alone and is less likely to yellow in sunlight, which is why it’s used as a seal coat over epoxy and concrete stain. However, urethane sealer is more expensive than acrylic sealer, and solvent-based versions require the use of a respirator during application.

Cost: 25 cents to 50 cents per square foot for one coat depending on the product. Available at home centers and online retailers.