Epoxy Floor Coatings
Seamless, chemical resistant, and laid over a moisture vapour barrier every time. The right answer when you need colour, chemical resistance, or the slab is past polishing.
What an epoxy coating is
Epoxy is a two-part system. A resin and a hardener are mixed on site and react with each other, the same chemistry as epoxy glue. Once it cures it is thermosetting, which means it will not soften and re-flow the way a thermoplastic coating does.
The important thing to understand is that it is a coating. Unlike polished concrete, which is the slab itself, epoxy is a layer bonded on top of the slab. That is what gives you colour, a seamless surface and chemical resistance. It is also why preparation decides whether it lasts.
When epoxy is the right call, and when it is not
Epoxy earns its place when you need something polished concrete cannot give you. Colour across the whole floor. Chemical resistance in a workshop or a plant room. A seamless surface with no grout lines and nowhere for anything to collect. Or a slab too far gone to polish, where a coating covers what grinding would only expose.
It is the wrong call in two situations
The slab could be polished instead
Anything laid on top of concrete can eventually lift. Polished concrete has nothing to peel because there is nothing on top. If you do not need colour or chemical resistance, polishing gives you a floor with no coating to fail and no recoating cycle to budget for.
The preparation cannot be done properly
Epoxy has to key into open concrete. If the floor cannot be ground back to bare slab, the coating sits on whatever is already there and takes that surface with it when it goes. A cheap quote almost always means the preparation was cut.
The three finishes
They look different and they are built differently. The coat count is worth knowing, because it is where quotes diverge.
Solid colour
One coat of epoxy vapour block, one coat of urethane. Even colour, seamless, easy to keep clean.
Metallic
Two coats of epoxy, one coat of urethane. The extra epoxy coat creates the movement and depth in the finish. More material, more time, more cost.
Flake chips
One coat of epoxy vapour block, one coat of urethane, with flake broadcast into the surface. Hides marks better than solid colour and adds texture underfoot.
Where a floor takes heavy traffic we add an extra polyurethane coat to boost protection, and on solid or metallic we can add a further epoxy coat for flooring correction. Both change the price, so both belong on the quote rather than in a conversation afterwards.
Moisture and the vapour barrier
Concrete moves water. A slab on grade draws moisture up through it, and that vapour has to go somewhere. Where it meets a coating with nowhere to escape, it builds pressure underneath and lifts the coating off in sheets.
This is the most common reason epoxy floors fail, and it is preventable. We put a moisture vapour barrier under every epoxy floor we lay, and we test the slab before we quote rather than after.
Modern barriers hold far more hydrostatic pressure than the products available a decade ago, which is why moisture no longer decides between coating and polishing. It decides which barrier goes down first.
The process
- Assessment and moisture testing. What is on the slab, what is under it, and how much vapour is coming through. This sets the barrier and the build.
- Grinding back to bare concrete. The whole floor, not just the bad areas. On a large slab this is most of the job. On our Gardena warehouse the grinding and repair took more of the seven days than the coating did.
- Repair. Cracks and joints get filled and levelled once the slab is open, so the coating goes over a flat surface rather than bridging a gap.
- Vapour barrier. Down first, every time.
- Epoxy. One or two coats depending on the finish, with cure time between them.
- Polyurethane. The top coat. It carries the wear and the chemical resistance, and it is what you are actually walking on.
Commercial
Before, during and after on a commercial epoxy floor.
What it costs
Commercial epoxy runs $6 to $15 per square foot. Garage epoxy runs the same, and a typical two-car garage lands between $1,800 and $4,500.
Slab condition and the finish you choose move the number more than square footage does. Metallic costs more than solid because it carries an extra epoxy coat. A slab that needs heavy grinding and repair costs more than a clean one.
The quote comes after we have seen the floor and tested it for moisture. Nobody can price a coating over the phone without knowing what is coming up through the slab.
Projects that used it
- Epoxy Coating, Gardena Industrial Warehouse. 9,500 sqft in seven days, where the preparation took longer than the coating.
- Epoxy Coating, Redondo Beach Ballroom
- Epoxy Coating, Los Angeles Industrial Warehouse
Common questions
How much does an epoxy floor cost in Los Angeles?
Commercial epoxy runs $6 to $15 per square foot. A typical two-car garage lands between $1,800 and $4,500. The finish drives part of it, since metallic carries an extra epoxy coat, and slab condition drives the rest.
Why do epoxy floors peel?
Two reasons, and both are preventable. Either the slab was not ground back far enough for the epoxy to key into, so it bonded to whatever was already there. Or there was no moisture vapour barrier and water coming up through the slab lifted it off.
What is the difference between solid, metallic and flake?
Solid colour is one coat of epoxy vapour block and one of urethane. Metallic is two coats of epoxy and one of urethane, and the extra coat is what creates the depth. Flake is built like solid with chips broadcast into the surface, which hides marks and adds texture.
Do you test for moisture before quoting?
Yes. Vapour coming up through a slab is the most common cause of coating failure, so it is tested before the quote rather than discovered afterwards. A moisture vapour barrier goes under every epoxy floor we lay.
Is epoxy better than polished concrete?
Neither is better. Epoxy gives you colour, chemical resistance and a seamless surface, and it works on slabs too damaged to polish. Polished concrete has nothing on top to peel and no recoating cycle. If you do not need what epoxy adds, polishing is usually the longer-lasting answer.
Is an epoxy floor slippery?
A high-gloss epoxy is slick when wet. Where water or oil is expected we add an anti-slip additive to the top coat, or use a flake finish, which has texture built into it. Tell us how the room gets used and we will specify accordingly.
Book a site visit
We measure, test the slab for moisture, and look at whatever is down now. You get straight answers on the spot. The written quote follows within two business days.