One-car garage, 1952 slab, tilted toward the door, and you want to make it a gym. We do that a lot in Milwaukie.
Free In-Home EstimateThe typical Milwaukie garage was built for one 1950s car. It is small, often detached, and the slab is thin and sloped toward the door with at least one coat of old paint over 60 years of oil. Half the ones we look at in Ardenwald, Hector Campbell, and Lewelling are not going to hold a car again. They are becoming gyms, woodshops, art studios, and offices, and the owner wants a floor that is clean, sealed, and does not dust.
Flake epoxy is a good fit for a conversion because it seals the oil in, stops the dusting, and takes rubber mats, a workbench, or an easel without staining. It is also a good fit for the garage that stays a garage. The bridge trip is about 30 minutes via I-205 or through Portland, and a Milwaukie one-car is a short install, so we can often pair it with another job nearby.
Oil that has soaked into concrete for decades comes to the surface when you grind, and it will fight any coating that goes over it. Diamond grinding removes the saturated top layer along with the paint, and on a badly stained slab we degrease and grind again. Then 100% solids epoxy seals what is left. That is the difference between a floor that stays down and a kit that lifts over the oil spots in a year.
The slope toward the door stays. Epoxy at 100% solids holds on a small garage pitch without running, and a full flake broadcast with a polyaspartic topcoat gives a uniform 30 to 40 mil surface from the back wall to the threshold. Milwaukie sits low near the Willamette and stays damp through winter, so every one of these old slabs, none of which have a vapor barrier, gets a moisture test and often a mitigating primer.
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 Island Station down to Lake Road, the housing is 1940s to 1960s single-story homes on small lots, with detached one-car or small two-car garages and the occasional 1970s ranch. The slabs are thin and old, poured on damp ground close to the Willamette and Milwaukie Bay Park, and they read high on a moisture meter more often than not. Prep is paint removal, polyurea, a full grind past the oil, and a primer chosen by the test. Wet gray winters can add a few days to the week-long cure. Thirty minutes from Vancouver, and since these garages are small we can sometimes do two in the same trip.
Ardenwald, Island Station, Lake Road, Historic Milwaukie, Hector Campbell, Lewelling
Every slab is different, so we price each floor after a free in-person inspection. One-car garages here measure about 240 to 300 square feet. Sixty years of oil and paint means most Milwaukie slabs land 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. It seals the old concrete so it stops dusting, takes rubber mats without staining, and cleans with a mop. Chalk and sweat wipe off the polyaspartic topcoat. Bolt a rack through it without a problem. If the garage goes back to holding a car later, the floor is still right.
After the right grind, yes. We remove the saturated surface layer with diamond grinding, degrease the worst spots, and grind again if needed. Then the epoxy bonds to clean concrete underneath. Kits fail on these floors because they go over the oil instead of under it.
No. The epoxy has real body at 100% solids, and it goes down at a set thickness under a squeegee and roller. It stays where it is put on a small garage pitch. The threshold gets a clean edge and the floor drains toward the door like it always did.
Test it first. Old slabs on low ground near the Willamette read high on a calcium-chloride or RH test more often than not. When the number is high, the mitigating primer is the first coat down, and that primer is what keeps the floor down through the wet season.
The hours on site are shorter, but it still takes two days because the base coat has to set before the topcoat. Grind, repair, and base with flake on day one, topcoat on day two. Milwaukie gym owners can walk in after two days, but mats, a rack, or a car should wait one full week.
Gyms, studios, or plain garages.
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