Somebody will happily tell you a coated garage floor returns seventy percent at resale. They made that number up. There is no reliable industry data on garage floor coatings specifically, and anyone quoting a percentage is quoting a percentage they invented.
Here is what we can say honestly.
What it does not do
It does not add its cost to the appraised value of the house. Appraisers work from comparable sales, square footage and condition. A coated garage floor is a finish, and finishes do not move an appraisal the way an added bathroom does.
If your reason for doing this is purely financial return at sale, that is a weak reason and we will tell you so.
What it does do
It removes an objection. A pitted, stained, dusty garage floor is a visible defect. Buyers notice it, and a defect they can see makes them wonder about the ones they cannot. A clean finished floor closes that line of thinking.
It shows the house has been looked after. Garages are where deferred maintenance is most visible, because nobody stages them. A finished garage floor reads as an owner who dealt with things.
It helps in photographs. Listing photos of a garage are usually terrible because the floor is grey and stained. A coated floor photographs well, and more listings include garage photos than used to.
It stops the slab getting worse. This is the one with actual money in it. Spalling that is caught early is a coating. Spalling left for five more winters is a coating plus significant repair, or eventually a replacement slab. Doing it now is cheaper than doing it later regardless of whether you sell.
When it genuinely pays
You are selling in the next year or two and the floor is visibly bad. Fixing a visible defect before listing is a well established idea and this is a straightforward version of it.
The slab is deteriorating. Then the calculation is not resale, it is preventing a bigger bill.
The garage is part of the house's story. A workshop, a car enthusiast's space, a home gym. In those cases the floor is part of what is being sold rather than an afterthought.
When it does not
You are selling next month and the floor is fine. Spend the money on something the buyer will actually look at.
You are hoping to price the house higher because of it. You will not get that, and pricing on it will just extend your time on market.
The honest recommendation
Do this because you want the floor, or because the slab needs protecting. Both are good reasons. Resale is a genuine but secondary benefit and it is not one anybody can put a number on.
Related
- What it costs here, published, so you can do your own arithmetic
- What road salt does if you leave it
- How long the floor lasts
Reference
The case for acting early rests on how concrete deteriorates rather than on resale data. The mechanism is described by the Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association in its technical sheet on scaling.