Epoxy flooring
One sealed floor, bonded into bare concrete
Epoxy is a two part resin. The resin and the hardener sit apart until they are mixed, and once they meet they cure into a hard layer that grips the concrete instead of sitting on top of it. Paint dries on the surface. Epoxy cures into the floor.
Rick Chase has been putting resin on concrete in western Pennsylvania since 2004, and he looks at every floor himself. The slab decides the job: it gets ground back to open pores, the cracks and pinholes get filled and leveled, and only then does any resin come out of the bucket.
Want to know what your slab needs? Call Elite Concrete Floors and Rick will come take a look.
Why does epoxy hold when garage paint peels?
Because of what happens underneath. Floor paint rolls onto a smooth, steel troweled slab, so it grips the hard skin on top of the concrete and nothing below. The first hot tire that parks on it lifts it in sheets. Epoxy bonds mechanically instead, which means the slab has to be opened up with a diamond grinder so the resin can sink into the pores and lock in. That grinding pass is the backbone of every job our Wexford flooring contractor crew takes on.
How rough the surface needs to be is not a guess either: the International Concrete Repair Institute publishes concrete surface profiles for exactly this work.
Metallic, flake or solid color?
Three looks, one build underneath. Decorative flake is the workhorse: color chips are broadcast into the wet basecoat until the floor is full, a clear topcoat locks them in, and the light texture hides dust and tire marks. Metallic is the showpiece, and it is what most people find us for. Pigment is moved through the wet resin so the floor has depth and movement in it, and no two ever come out the same. Solid color is the plainest, one flat shade wall to wall. Rick brings samples out so you pick off a real chip. It is the same set of choices on any floor inside a house.
Turn that stained slab into a floor you show off
Diamond ground, crack filled and coated by Rick and his crew, right here in western Pennsylvania.
Call (724) 313-7520Does epoxy only belong in a garage?
No, and our own photos say so. We have put metallic floors through kitchens, living space in brick loft conversions, finished basements and around an indoor pool. Anywhere there is concrete under your feet, there is a floor that can be finished instead of covered up. It is one sealed surface with no grout lines, no seams and nothing to lift, which is why it suits a room where water gets spilled. Most of it still starts at the garage door though, and that build is on our garage flooring page.
How does an epoxy floor handle a Pennsylvania winter?
Far better than the bare slab does, as long as it goes down properly. Two things test a coating here. The first is road salt. It comes in on the tires, sits in a puddle of meltwater on the concrete and works into any pore it can find, which is what pits an unsealed garage slab over a few winters. The second is freeze and thaw: water that has soaked into concrete expands when it freezes and pops the surface off. A sealed floor stops both, because the water never gets in. Below grade, we also check the slab for moisture first: see basement floors.
Ask the guy doing the work
Straight answers about your concrete floor questions
How long does an epoxy floor take?
Most home floors are a one to two day job. Grinding and repairs take the first stretch, the coating goes down after that, and cure time between coats sets the rest. You get the plan for your slab before any work begins.
Can you coat a floor that already has paint on it?
Usually yes. The old paint gets ground off first, all of it, because a new floor is only ever as good as what it is stuck to. If the grinder turns up a problem underneath, we stop and tell you.
Will epoxy cover the cracks in my concrete?
We fill cracks and pinholes and grind them flat before coating, so they disappear into the finished floor. If a slab is actively moving, no coating can hold it together, and Rick will say so rather than hide it.
How do you clean an epoxy floor?
A dust mop and a wet mop. The surface is sealed, so oil, salt and spilled paint sit on top instead of soaking in. Wipe spills up when they happen and the floor keeps looking the same.
Is an epoxy floor slippery when it gets wet?
A smooth topcoat can be. Decorative flake builds texture into the surface, and we can add a non slip additive to the topcoat if the floor sees water or you simply want more grip underfoot.
Where do you install epoxy floors?
Across Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Mercer and Westmoreland counties, so Wexford, Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, Gibsonia, Franklin Park, Zelienople and the towns around them. We finish concrete that is already there, we do not pour it.