Metallic Epoxy Floors in Salmon Creek, WA

There is a specific garage floor we see over and over in Salmon Creek, Klineline, and Pleasant Valley: a 1990s or 2000s builder slab with a Rust-Oleum kit somebody rolled on fifteen years ago, peeling in tire-shaped patches. Owners who lived with that are usually the ones who call about a metallic, because they want the next floor to be something they never think about again, and something that looks nothing like paint.

The kit comes off first, all of it, ground to bare concrete. Then the control joints, which have cracked the way control joints do on a 25-year-old slab, get filled and ground flush. That second step is where metallic differs from flake. Flake hides a joint line. A clear coat shows it, so the fill has to be dead level and color-matched or it reads as a stripe across the pattern.

Why the Prep Under a Metallic Is Harder Than Under Flake

A metallic is clear 100% solids epoxy with pigment stirred in and then pushed around by hand until the floor looks like stone or moving water. Because it is clear, the slab is part of the picture. Every ghost of old paint, every trowel mark, every patch shows through unless we grind it uniform. Salmon Creek slabs are structurally sound, so this is a surface job, but it is a careful one.

Wooded lots along the creek and the greenway stay shaded and damp into June, and a north-side garage there will meter wetter than a sunny Mount Vista cul-de-sac. Vapor under a clear floor leaves a milky haze. We test every slab and put a mitigating primer under the ones that need it. On top goes a polyaspartic that takes hot tires and spilled oil, at 40 to 60 mils total, and then the floor sits about a week before cars return.

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.

1990s Builder Concrete, Control Joints, and Creekside Shade

The two-story subdivisions around Salmon Creek and Klineline went up fast during the growth years, and the slabs are consistent: vapor barrier underneath, saw-cut control joints, moderate tire staining, and very often a peeling coating on top. For metallic we grind the old coating off, fill the joints with a rigid filler that can be ground flush and will not telegraph, and check the floor for flatness before any pigment goes down. Newer infill near WSU Vancouver and the hospital is fresh concrete and gets the curing-compound grind and a moisture check. Being about 15 minutes north of our shop, we can meter a creekside slab the day before we start.

Salmon Creek Neighborhoods We Cover

Salmon Creek, Klineline, Pleasant Valley, Mount Vista, the WSU Vancouver area

What Metallic Costs in a Salmon Creek Three-Car Garage

Plenty of Salmon Creek homes have three-car garages of 600 to 750 square feet. Multiply that by $9 and you get $5,400; by $16 and you get $12,000. Two-car versions at 400 to 500 square feet run $3,600 to $8,000. Grinding a failed kit off and leveling the joints puts most of these mid-range rather than at the bottom. Firm number after we measure.

Frequently Asked Questions

The old kit on my Klineline garage floor is mostly stuck. Can you pour metallic over it?

No. Even the bonded kit is a weak layer, and a clear coating would show it as a different color anyway. We grind every bit of it off to bare concrete with dust collection. It is the slowest part of the job and the reason the floor will still be there in fifteen years.

Will the control-joint lines show through the metallic?

Faintly, if you look for them, because the slab has joints and we do not hide that. We fill them with a rigid filler, grind flush, and the pigment flows over the top. What you will not see is a dark groove or a crack line. Some owners like the joints as a grid in the pattern.

Our garage near the Salmon Creek Greenway stays damp. Is that a problem for a clear floor?

It can be. A clear metallic over a wet slab develops a milky haze from underneath, and it does not go away. We meter shaded creekside slabs before quoting. If the number is up, a mitigating primer goes on first. The typical Salmon Creek slab has a barrier under it and reads fine.

How long will we have the bikes and gear out of the garage?

About a week and a half. Two or three days on site, then roughly a week of cure before the bikes, gear racks, or the car go back in. The kids can cross it on foot once a day or two has gone by, so you can still cut through to the house. Most families stage everything on the driveway under a tarp.

What does a metallic look like in a garage lit by one overhead bulb?

Flatter than it should. The pattern has depth that shows in good light, so we suggest adding LED shop lights if you are spending this kind of money on a floor. We bring sample boards so you can see how the pigment reads under the light you have now.

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