Why a painter coats floors
Floor coatings are a finishing trade
Michael Miller is a painter first. He has held CSLB #566071 in C33 Painting and Decorating since 1989, and you can check that license yourself on the California license board site. Floor coatings came out of that work rather than sitting apart from it.
The reason is simple. A coating, like a coat of paint, is only ever as good as the surface it is going onto. On a wall that means filling, sanding and a clean primed face. On a slab it means grinding the concrete open, pulling the oil out, filling the cracks and pits and checking whether moisture is coming up from below. Get that part right and the finish holds. Skip it and no product on the market saves you.
So every floor we coat is prepped the same careful way, whether it is a garage, a shop or a pool deck, and one person does the whole thing from the grind to the last clear coat. Have a look at the three kinds of floor work we take on below.
What we coat
Floor coating work across the valley
Garage Flooring Installation
The everyday floor, and the one we do most. Color goes down, vinyl flake is broadcast into it wet, then a clear top coat locks the whole thing in. You get grip underfoot, a surface that wipes clean instead of staining, and a garage that feels brighter because the floor throws light back at you. Flake hides dust and small marks better than a plain color, which matters when sand blows in under the door all summer. Colors run through tan, gray, gray and black, gray and white, and a blue gray. Here is how we build a garage floor, from the grind to the final coat.
Metallic Epoxy Floors
The showpiece finish. Metallic pigment is moved through a clear coat while it is still open, so the floor ends up with depth and movement in it, closer to poured stone or hammered metal than to paint. No two come out the same, which is the point of them. They suit a garage that gets shown off, a shop floor, an office or a room inside the house where a plain color would look flat. The surface is smoother than flake, so we talk through where it is going and how it will be used before we choose the top coat. Tell us what you have in mind and we will come out and price it.
Decorative Concrete and Pool Deck Coatings
Concrete does not have to stay gray. A decorative coating puts color, pattern and a finished surface onto a slab that was only ever poured to be functional, which changes how the whole space reads. Around a pool the job is a bit different again, because the deck is walked on wet and in bare feet, it bakes in full valley sun all summer and it has to shed water rather than hold it. That means the right texture and the right top coat, not just a color you like. Here is how a pool deck coating goes down, from the grind to the sealed top coat.
Free estimate on your floor coating
Garage floors, metallic epoxy and decorative concrete across La Quinta and the Coachella Valley. Licensed since 1989.
Call (949) 233-1242Ask the contractor doing the work
Straight answers about floors and paint in the desert
What is the difference between epoxy and a flake floor?
Flake is a system rather than a different product. The color coat goes down, vinyl flake is broadcast into it, and a clear top coat seals it in. So a flake floor is an epoxy floor with texture and color built into the middle of it.
Do you have to grind the concrete first?
Yes, every time. A finished slab is sealed and slick, and a coating laid on top of that has nothing to hold. Grinding opens the surface, takes off old sealer and paint, and is the single biggest reason a floor lasts or fails.
Can you coat a floor inside the house?
Yes. Metallic and decorative coatings work well in a den, an office, a laundry or a shop space. Michael will look at the slab, talk through how the room gets used, and pick a finish and a top coat that suit it.
How hot does it have to be before you stop?
Heat does not stop us, it changes how we work. In the hot months floors go down early in the day and the product is mixed in small batches, because a hot slab shortens the working time and a rushed floor shows it.
How long before we can use the floor?
Light foot traffic is usually fine about a day after the final coat, and vehicles or furniture go back on several days later once it has cured through. We give you the real dates for your floor before any work begins.
Which areas do you coat floors in?
La Quinta is home base, and we work right across the Coachella Valley: Palm Desert, Indio, Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Cathedral City and Coachella.