New slab, builder sealer on top, a squat rack going in next month. We see that combination every week in Happy Valley.
Free In-Home EstimateThe garage in a 2015 house on Scouters Mountain or Eagle Landing is about to become a gym, a home office, or both. Before the rubber mats and the rack go in, the floor needs to be something other than a gray builder sealer over a slab that may still be drying out. That sealer is the first problem. It is cheap, it is thin, and nothing bonds to it. We take it off completely by diamond grinding or dustless shot blasting, picked for the space.
The second problem is moisture. Happy Valley is nearly all 2005 to 2024 construction, and machine-troweled slabs from the last several years carry both curing compound and high moisture. The meter comes out on the first visit. About 30 minutes down I-205 from our shop, so the estimate visit, the grind day, and the topcoat day are three easy trips.
A flake floor at 30 to 40 mils handles dropped dumbbells, a rack bolted through it, and the car that still parks on the other half. The polyaspartic topcoat resists the sweat and chalk and the hot tires equally. Rubber mats go right on top without staining it, which they will do to bare concrete. And when the gym phase is over and the garage goes back to being a garage, the floor is still the floor.
Underneath is the standard system: 100% solids epoxy locked into a diamond-ground or shot-blasted profile, a full flake broadcast, then the topcoat. If the moisture reading is high, which it often is on a slab under five years old, a moisture-mitigating primer goes down first. The Happy Valley hills get a little more rain and wind than the valley floor, and cool nights in spring and fall slow the cure, so we time the topcoat for the warm middle of the day.
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.
From Rock Creek to Altamont to the streets off Sunnyside Road, the garages are 2 and 3-car slabs that look perfect and are not ready to coat. The builder sealer has to be ground off, the curing compound underneath it has to be ground off, and the slab has to pass a calcium-chloride or RH test. When it does not pass, the mitigating primer takes care of it. We will ask about HOA work-hour rules at the estimate. Cool nights on the hill by Mount Talbert and Scouters Mountain slow cure from October through April. The drive is about 30 minutes on I-205.
Scouters Mountain, Eagle Landing, Rock Creek, Altamont, Sunnyside Road, Mount Scott
Every slab is different, so we price each floor after a free in-person inspection. Happy Valley builds are split between 2-car garages of 400 to 500 square feet and 3-car garages of 600 to 750. 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
No. That sealer is a thin acrylic that peels on its own within a few years, and epoxy over it peels with it. We take it off by diamond grinding or dustless shot blasting, picked for the space, along with the curing compound that is usually underneath, down to bare concrete. Then the epoxy bonds to the slab, not to a sacrificial layer.
Bumper plates on rubber mats will not touch it. A bare iron plate dropped from overhead onto the bare coating can chip any floor, so use a mat at the drop zone. Racks can be anchored through the coating without issues. Chalk and sweat wipe up off the polyaspartic topcoat.
It might be. Slabs vary, and a three-year-old floor on well-drained ground often passes, while one on a wet lot may not. We put the probe on it during the estimate. If the reading is high we add a moisture-mitigating primer under the epoxy and proceed. Either way the floor gets done.
Interior garage floors are almost never regulated, but HOAs in Happy Valley sometimes have rules about work hours, noise, and trailer parking. Grinding is loud for a few hours. Tell us your HOA's quiet hours at the estimate and we schedule around them.
Usually two to three weeks to the install date, then two days on site: grind and base coat, then topcoat. Walk on it after a day or two; the car, the mats, and the squat rack all wait about a week for full cure.
Builder sealer removed, moisture tested.
Request EstimateOr call (360) 685-7222 or text
