Metallic Epoxy Garage Floors in Orchards, WA

Orchards runs hotter through July and August than the neighborhoods along the river, and the hot-tire failures on thin coatings prove it. A car comes in off Padden Parkway with tires at 130 degrees, sits overnight, and pulls up a patch of water-based paint when it leaves. A lot of the metallic calls we get from Sifton and Burton start with that patch. The owner is done with cheap and wants something that does not come up.

Metallic does not come up, and it does not soften under a tire either, because the wear layer is polyaspartic, not paint. But it also is not the budget option. It is priced above flake because the slab must be ground and leveled to a standard where a clear coat looks right, and because the pour is hand work over two or three days. On a 1980s split-level garage with a kit on it, that is a real amount of prep.

What Changes When You Go From a Kit to a Metallic

The kit was a few mils of water-based epoxy over an acid-etched slab. The metallic is 40 to 60 mils of clear 100% solids epoxy with pigment in it, poured over diamond-ground concrete, then topped with a polyaspartic that does not blink at a hot tire. That is the durability side. The other side is that the pattern is worked by hand on your floor and cannot be repeated, so the garage stops looking like a garage.

Being a clear system, it needs the slab flatter than flake does. Orchards slabs from the 1970s through the 2000s are mostly sound, but split-level garages sometimes have a settled corner or a cold joint at the step, and a low spot shows as a dark pool in the pigment. We run a straightedge before quoting and skim anything that would read wrong. That is the step most metallic disappointments skipped.

Our Metallic Epoxy Floors System

Materials: Metallic pigment, 100% solids clear epoxy, polyaspartic topcoat
Thickness: 40-60 mils
Install time: 2-3 days
Walk on it: 1-2 days after
Park on it: about a week after
Warranty: 15 years

Glass-smooth finish. High-gloss topcoat. High-traffic rated.

Split-Levels, Padden Parkway Townhomes, and Summer Heat

The subdivisions around Orchards Park and Covington are split-levels and two-stories with two-car attached garages on 20-to-50-year-old slabs. Control-joint cracks get filled and ground flush, oil comes out with the grind, and any kit or paint is removed to bare concrete before we check flatness. Newer townhomes along Padden Parkway are fresh slabs with curing compound on top and moisture inside, so those get metered and sometimes primed. Summer heat keeps the cure on schedule at about a week before parking, but it also means we keep the door shut during the pour so the pigment does not skin over before we finish shaping it. Fifteen minutes from our shop, up Fourth Plain.

Orchards Neighborhoods We Cover

Orchards, Sifton, Burton, Covington, Padden Parkway, Fourth Plain

Orchards Two-Car Garage Metallic Cost

Almost every Orchards garage is a two-car at 400 to 500 square feet. Nine dollars a foot makes the bottom $3,600 and sixteen makes the top $8,000. A slab with a kit to grind off and a low corner to skim runs in the upper half; a bare, flat slab can come in near the bottom. A one-car conversion of 250 square feet is $2,250 to $4,000. On-site measurement gives you the real number.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my Rust-Oleum floor peel where the tires sit, and will metallic do the same?

The kit softened under a hot tire and stuck to the rubber. Orchards summers are warm enough to do that to any water-based coating. A metallic is topped with polyaspartic, which does not soften at tire temperature, so the failure mode is gone. We still grind the old kit off entirely first.

Can you pour metallic over the part of the kit that is still stuck?

No. Under a clear coating the old kit would show as a different color even if it held, and it will not hold. All of it comes off with grinders and dust collection. Please do not sand it yourself; the dust is not something you want in your lungs.

My split-level garage in Sifton has a step and a cold joint. Does that matter?

It matters for metallic more than for flake. A cold joint can be a low line where pigment collects. We fill it flush and skim if needed so the pattern flows across it. Tell us about it at the estimate and we bring the straightedge.

How hot is too hot to pour a metallic in an Orchards garage?

Above the mid-80s in the garage we start early and keep the door closed, because heat shortens the time we have to shape the pigment. It is workable; it just takes planning. Even in that heat, plan on walking on it after a day or two and parking in about a week.

Do townhome garages on Padden Parkway get a different process?

Same coating, different prep. New slabs carry curing compound and higher moisture, so the compound gets ground off and the concrete gets metered. A high reading means a mitigating primer under the metallic so vapor cannot cloud it. The finished thickness is the same 40 to 60 mils.

Nearby Cities Where We Also Install Metallic Epoxy Floors