When freezing rain hits the metro, it hits Gresham first and hardest. Your garage floor pays for it every winter.
Free In-Home EstimateThe Gorge east wind runs straight down I-84 into Gresham, and every winter it brings freezing rain and ice that Portland mostly avoids. That means road salt and deicer on the tires, and salt and deicer dripping onto the garage floor in Powell Valley and Kelly Creek all season. On bare concrete, salt wicks moisture into the slab and spalls the surface. A lot of the pitted, flaking garage floors we see in Gresham got that way from deicer, not from age.
Age does not help either. Most Gresham subdivisions went up between the 1970s and 90s, so the slabs are 30 to 50 years old with the full list: control-joint cracks, oil, old paint, and the salt damage on top. We are about 30 minutes southeast via I-205 and I-84, and a Gresham garage is one of the more involved preps we do, because we fix all of that before the epoxy goes down.
Once the slab is sealed under 100% solids epoxy, a heavy flake layer, and polyaspartic, the deicer never touches concrete again. It sits on the topcoat, dries to a white film, and rinses off with a hose. The polyaspartic does not react to salt, does not soften under a hot tire in August, and keeps its color in the sun that comes across the flats from Powell Butte. Thirty to 40 mils of it, warranted 5 years on workmanship.
Getting there means taking off everything the winters have done. Diamond grinding removes old paint and the salt-damaged skin of the slab down to sound concrete. Spalled areas get filled with repair mortar, cracks get polyurea, and the whole floor is ground flush. The east-wind grit that blows into every Gresham garage is the other reason to coat: on bare concrete it sands the surface into dust, on a flake floor it sweeps out.
Materials: 100% solids epoxy base, full flake broadcast, Flake Lock, polyaspartic topcoat
Thickness: 30-40 mils
Install time: 2-3 days
Walk on it: 1-2 days after
Park on it: about a week after
Warranty: 5 years on workmanship
Hot-tire pickup resistant. Chemical and impact rated.
Rockwood, Powell Valley, and Hollybrook are the 1970s to 90s subdivisions, and their garage slabs are the ones with salt spalling and paint. The 1940s to 60s houses near Historic Downtown Gresham have thinner, older slabs that need crack fill and a moisture test. Newer builds toward Kelly Creek have curing compound to grind off. The climate is the defining fact: ice storms and freezing rain more often than anywhere else in the metro, wind-blown grit off the Gorge, and hard freezes that can push cure past the usual week. Winter topcoats go on at midday with the door shut. Thirty minutes from our shop, so two install days is routine.
Rockwood, Powell Valley, Gresham Butte, Kelly Creek, Historic Downtown Gresham, Hollybrook
Every slab is different, so we price each floor after a free in-person inspection. The typical Gresham garage is a 2-car from the 70s, 80s, or 90s at 400 to 500 square feet. Spall repair and paint removal on salt-damaged slabs land most Gresham floors on the pricier side. Slab condition, old coatings, cracks, moisture and size are what move the price, and exact pricing comes after that inspection, with a written quote.
Inside the coating
Every floor starts with a properly prepared slab and is built up one layer at a time, each with a specific job.
For concrete floors
Yes. Salt spalling is surface damage. We grind the weak, pitted layer off to sound concrete, fill the deeper pits with repair mortar, and grind everything flush. The flake broadcast hides the repair completely. If the slab is pitted all the way through, which is rare, we would tell you.
No. Salt attacks concrete by wicking water into it and expanding as it freezes. It cannot get through a polyaspartic topcoat over 100% solids epoxy; it just sits on the surface. Hose the floor off a couple of times each winter and the salt is gone.
It affects bare concrete, which grit grinds into dust over time. On a flake floor the grit sits on top of the topcoat and sweeps out. The textured flake surface also hides the dust between cleanings, which is a real advantage on the east side of the metro.
If the garage can be kept above about 50 degrees, yes. Most attached garages in Rockwood or Hollybrook hold that with the door closed. During an ice storm we reschedule, both for cure and because I-84 is a mess. Late spring through fall is easiest.
About 30 minutes via I-205 and I-84 from our shop. It is a comfortable two-day install: grinding, repair, and base coat the first day, topcoat the second. People can cross it after roughly two days, Gresham cars return after about a week, and a freeze adds time.
Salt damage repaired, floor sealed.
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