Warm summers, west-facing driveways, and a lot of peeling Rust-Oleum. Orchards is where hot-tire pickup shows up most.
Free In-Home EstimateHot-tire pickup is a specific failure. A car comes up Fourth Plain on an August afternoon, pulls into the garage, and the tires are 130 degrees. Cheap water-based coatings soften at that temperature, and when the tire cools it lifts the coating in a tire-shaped patch. Orchards sits east of the river breeze and runs warmer in summer than downtown Vancouver, so we see this on floors from Sifton to Covington more than anywhere else.
The fix is not a better version of the same kit. It is a different material. Our base coat is 100% solids epoxy over a ground slab, and the wear layer is polyaspartic, which does not soften under a hot tire. Orchards is about 15 minutes from our shop up Fourth Plain, and most of the garages here are 2-car slabs on split-levels and two-stories from the 70s through the 2000s, so the job is predictable and quick.
Three things. The kit was rolled over acid-etched concrete; we diamond grind or shot blast, which leaves a profile the epoxy locks into instead of a surface it sits on. The kit was a few mils thick; ours is 30 to 40 mils with a full flake broadcast in the middle. The kit's clear coat was water-based; ours is polyaspartic, rated for tire temperatures, and resistant to gas, brake fluid, and road salt. The first two keep it stuck to the slab and the third keeps it stuck under the car.
Most Orchards slabs are mid-age and in decent shape. What we find is control-joint cracking, moderate oil staining in the parking lanes, and either paint or a peeling kit that has to come off completely. The grind removes the coating and the oil at the same time. Cracks get polyurea. Then the system goes on, and the whole floor is under a 5-year workmanship warranty.
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.
The 1970s to 2000s subdivisions around Orchards Park, Burton, and Sifton are mostly split-levels and two-stories with 2-car attached garages. The slabs are 20 to 50 years old and sound: joint cracks, tire tracks, some previous coating. Along Padden Parkway there is newer townhome and apartment construction with fresh slabs that get the curing-compound and moisture check instead. Orchards is flat and a bit warmer in July and August than the river, which is what drives hot-tire failures on thin coatings. From our shop it is about 15 minutes up Fourth Plain, so an Orchards garage is a day for grind and base and a short second day for topcoat.
Orchards, Sifton, Fourth Plain, Padden Parkway, Covington, Burton
Every slab is different, so we price each floor after a free in-person inspection. Nearly every Orchards garage we see is a two-car, somewhere around 400 to 500 square feet. Grinding off a failed kit adds time and moves the price up. A bare, unpainted slab in good shape sits on the less expensive 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
Hot-tire pickup. Water-based epoxy kits soften under a warm tire, bond to the rubber, and lift when the car pulls out. Orchards summers are warm enough to trigger it on any west-facing driveway. Polyaspartic does not soften at those temperatures, which is why our floors do not do this.
No, and please do not sand it, the dust is not good for you. Any remaining kit is a weak layer that will let go and take the new floor with it. We take everything off to bare concrete by diamond grinding or dustless shot blasting, picked for the space, with dust collection on the grinders. That is the only prep we will put our warranty on.
No. Control-joint cracks are normal on a slab this age. We fill them with polyurea and grind them flush, keep the joint line so the slab can move, and the flake broadcast covers the repair. They stop collecting dirt once coated.
Same system, different prep. New townhome slabs usually have curing compound on top and higher moisture inside. We grind the compound off and meter the slab; if it reads high, a mitigating primer goes on first. The finished floor is the same 30 to 40 mils either way.
About a week after the topcoat goes on, when the coating reaches full cure. In summer it is usually the shorter end. Walking across it is fine after a day or two. Being about 15 minutes away, we are around if anything comes up during cure.
Free estimate, sample boards included.
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