The process
Step zero to six — how a floor that actually lasts goes down
A coating fails for one of three reasons: an untested slab, bad prep, or no real topcoat. Step zero happens before we quote. Steps one to six happen on your floor, in order, with nothing skipped — that is the whole method.
- 00Test
Moisture & hardness test
Before we quote a price we test the slab. A calcium chloride or RH probe tells us how much moisture vapor is driving up through the concrete, and a scratch-hardness check tells us how hard the surface is. Those two numbers decide the diamond tooling we bring and whether the slab needs a moisture-tolerant base coat. A crew that skips this is guessing — and a coating over a wet or soft slab is the one that fails.
- 01Prep
Diamond grinding
We grind the slab with diamond tooling to open the concrete pores and take the surface down to clean, raw profile. Skipping this step is why coatings peel — a floor that is only acid-etched or pressure-washed has nothing to bond to.
- 02Repair
Crack & joint repair
Cracks, spalls and chipped edges get filled with a rigid patching compound and ground flush. The first 13 linear feet of crack repair is included in every quote — no line-item surprises on install day.
- 03Bond
Epoxy base coat
A pigmented, direct-to-concrete epoxy goes down wet. Its wicking chemistry pulls into the slab and bonds several times harder than an ordinary primer, and it tolerates up to 8 lbs of moisture vapor emission — important on newer Austin-area slabs.
- 04Flake
Flake broadcast
Versatile® Blended Flake is hand-broadcast into the wet epoxy to full rejection — 100% coverage, no thin spots or bald patches. You pick the blend and the chip size before we start: 1/4" or 1/8" for the bold, classic look, 1/16" for a fine finish closer to polished stone.
- 05Smooth
Scrape & sand
Once the base coat has cured we scrape and vacuum the excess flake, then sand the surface flat. This is the slow, unglamorous step that separates a floor you want to walk barefoot on from one that feels like sandpaper.
- 06Seal
Polyaspartic topcoat
A UV-stable polyaspartic clear coat seals everything in. It shrugs off hot tires, road salt, brake fluid and Texas sun — the reason a proper system does not yellow, blush or peel the way an epoxy-only floor does.
Epoxy for the bond. Polyaspartic for the beauty.
They are two different chemistries doing two different jobs, and skipping either one is where cheap floors go wrong. Epoxy penetrates and grips the slab but ambers in sunlight and softens under a hot tire. Polyaspartic is UV-stable and hard as glass but does not bond to raw concrete the way epoxy does.
Used together in the right order you get both: a base that will not release from the concrete, and a topcoat that still looks new in five years. Never epoxy-only, and never a topcoat that cannot take the Texas sun.
Epoxy base coat
- Bonds directly to ground concrete
- Handles up to 8 lbs moisture vapor
- Carries the flake broadcast
- Ambers in UV — so we never leave it exposed
Polyaspartic topcoat
- UV-stable — will not yellow
- Hot-tire and chemical resistant
- Cures fast, even in cold weather
- Takes the abuse so the epoxy never has to
FAQ
Process questions
Still unsure about something? Call and ask — you will get the person who runs the crew, not a call center.
How long before I can park on it?
Your crew gives you the exact window before they leave — foot traffic comes first, vehicles 24 to 48 hours after the topcoat depending on temperature.
Do I need to be home?
Only long enough to confirm your flake blend and open the garage. Most customers give us access and go to work.
What do I need to do to prepare?
Clear everything off the floor, including the fridge and the shelving if it sits directly on the slab. We handle the rest, including the dust — our grinders run on HEPA vacuum shrouds.
What if my floor already has a failed coating on it?
We grind it off. That is the only honest answer — a new coating over a lifting old one fails exactly where the old one did. Mention it when you call so we schedule the extra grinding time.
See what your floor costs before you call anyone
The estimator prices the same system described on this page — testing, prep, repair and topcoat included.