A garage that finally matched the rest of the house
This homeowner in Lititz reached out because their garage was the one part of the house that never got any attention. The concrete had been bare since the day the house was built. It was dusty most of the time, gray and blotchy where oil had dripped over the years, and it tracked dirt into the mudroom every time someone walked through with shoes on.
None of that is unusual. Most garages in Lancaster County are exactly like this: structurally fine concrete that was simply never finished. The floor works, but it does not look or feel finished, and it gets worse looking every year without ever actually being broken.
What we did
Every garage floor coating job starts the same way, no matter what color flake the homeowner picks. We grind the concrete with diamond tooling before anything else touches the slab. This is not the same as sanding a deck or scuffing up a floor with a mop and some vinegar. Diamond grinding actually opens up the pores of the concrete so the primer has something to grip onto. Skip this step, or do it halfway, and the coating will look fine for a few months and then start lifting at the edges, usually right where a tire rolls over it every day.
Once the slab is ground and vacuumed clean, we check it for moisture and go over it for any cracks or low spots that need attention before coating. Concrete that looks dry can still be holding moisture underneath, and coating over that moisture is one of the most common reasons a DIY epoxy kit fails within the first year.
After that we roll on a polyaspartic base coat. This is a different chemistry than the epoxy kits sold at home improvement stores. Epoxy takes a long time to cure and can go soft in heat or yellow in sunlight over the years. Polyaspartic cures much faster and holds its color, which is part of why it has become the standard for garage floors rather than a novelty.
While the base coat is still tacky, we broadcast the flake by hand across the entire floor, all the way to full coverage, not just scattered here and there. Full broadcast does two things: it gives the floor a slightly textured, non-slip surface, and it hides small imperfections in the concrete and future scuffs a lot better than a flat, solid color would. Once the flake has set, we scrape off any high spots and vacuum the loose material, then apply a clear polyaspartic topcoat over the whole thing. That topcoat is what actually takes the abuse: hot tires, road salt, oil, gasoline, and whatever gets dragged across the floor on a bad day.
For this floor we went with a charcoal and white flake blend. It is one of our more popular combinations for a simple reason: it hides dirt and small stains extremely well, which matters a lot in a garage that sees two vehicles parked side by side every single day.
What to expect on install day
On install day, the garage needs to be completely empty, vehicles, tools, shelving, storage bins, all of it, so the crew can grind and coat every square foot without stopping to work around anything left behind. Grinding does create dust, so we run vacuums attached to the grinding equipment to keep it contained rather than letting it spread through the garage and into the house. Once the topcoat is down, the floor needs to stay clear for the rest of that day. Most homeowners park in the driveway for a day or two while everything fully cures.
What affects the price of a job like this
The biggest factors that affect price on a garage floor are square footage, the condition of the existing concrete, and the flake blend chosen. A one car garage with a clean, crack free slab is the least expensive version of this job. Cracks that need to be routed and filled, stains that take extra grinding to remove, or a larger multi car garage all add time and material, which is reflected in the price. We do not quote sight unseen over the phone for exactly this reason: two garages that look similar in photos can need very different amounts of prep work once we actually grind the surface and see what is underneath the stains.
How this floor holds up around Lititz
Lancaster County winters are hard on an unfinished garage floor. Road salt gets tracked in on tires and boots for months at a time, and bare concrete soaks that salt in, which is part of why so many older garage floors end up stained and pitted near the door. A polyaspartic coating seals the surface so salt and moisture sit on top of the floor instead of soaking into it, and a quick sweep or rinse is enough to clear it out before it does any damage.
Taking care of the floor
Cleaning this floor day to day is about as simple as it gets: a broom or shop vac for dust, and a mop with warm water and a mild degreaser or dish soap for anything oily. Avoid harsh acid based cleaners and steel wool, which can dull the topcoat over years of use. There is no yearly resealing or waxing required the way there would be with a painted or bare concrete floor.
How this compares to other flooring options
Homeowners looking at garage floor options usually end up comparing three things: leaving the concrete bare, painting it with a roll on epoxy kit, or going with a professionally installed flake system like this one. Bare concrete is free but keeps staining, dusting, and looking unfinished no matter how often it gets swept. A do it yourself epoxy kit looks decent for the first few months, but most kits skip real diamond grinding, which is the step that actually determines whether a coating bonds for years or peels within one winter. A professionally ground and coated flake floor costs more up front than a kit from a hardware store, but it is built to actually last, which is the whole point of doing this kind of project in the first place.
Questions we get asked about this kind of floor
How long before I can park in the garage again?
For a job like this one, the floor is walkable within a few hours and ready for vehicle traffic the next day. Full chemical cure takes about a week, so we usually tell homeowners to go easy on harsh chemicals or heavy equipment for the first several days even though regular parking is fine almost right away.
Will hot tires damage the finish?
No. This is actually one of the main reasons polyaspartic replaced epoxy for garage floors. Epoxy can soften slightly under a hot tire and pick up a permanent mark called tire tracking. Polyaspartic stays stable at much higher temperatures, so hot tires coming straight off the highway are not a problem.
Does the floor need to be resealed every year?
No. Unlike a bare concrete floor with a penetrating sealer, this system does not need annual resealing. As long as it is not gouged by something like a dropped engine block or dragged metal, it should look the way it does today for many years.
Can you match this color blend in a different garage?
Yes, charcoal and white is one of our standard blends and we can order it for another job. If you have seen this floor and want something close to it, just mention it when you request an estimate and we will bring samples.
What is the flake material actually made of?
The flake is a colored vinyl chip, not paint chips or sand. It is broadcast into the wet base coat so it becomes part of the floor rather than sitting loose on top, then sealed under the clear topcoat.
Is there a warranty on the work?
Yes, we back our installations against peeling and delamination when the floor is cared for normally. We can go over the specifics for your situation when we quote the job, since it can depend a little on the condition of the original concrete.
Our honest take
We get asked fairly often why we do not just sell the cheaper roll-on epoxy kits instead. The short answer is that we have seen too many of them fail. A kit from a hardware store is a thin film sitting on top of concrete that usually was not ground first. It looks similar to a professional flake floor for the first few months, and then it starts peeling at the tire tracks or the spot where the garage door seal drags. A full flake system, ground into the concrete and sealed with a real polyaspartic topcoat, is a different product built to actually last.
Project details
- Installed in about one day
- Charcoal and white full flake blend
- Resists oil, road salt, and hot tires
- UV stable topcoat that will not yellow
FlakePro Coatings installs the same polyaspartic flake system in garages, basements, patios, sunrooms, and commercial buildings all over Lancaster County and the towns around it. If you want to see more of our work or get a quote for your own floor, here are some good places to look next.
High-Performance Garage Transformation with Polyaspartic Flake Coating
One-Day Garage Floor Coating in Ephrata, PA
See our full project gallery.
Read more about our floor coating services.
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