Garage flooring installation
A coating is only as good as the concrete under it
The garage is the hardest working floor in the house. Hot tires park on it, oil drips on it, sand blows in under the door and it gets swept, hosed and scraped more than any other slab you own. Bare concrete soaks all of that up and stains for good.
A coated floor changes that. It wipes clean, it brightens the whole garage because it throws light back instead of swallowing it, and it stops the dusting you get off open concrete. Done properly it holds on to the slab rather than sitting on top of it.
Michael has held a California license since 1989 and does the floor work himself, from the grind to the final clear coat. We coat garages in La Quinta and out across the valley, including garages around Palm Desert.
Why does a garage floor coating peel?
Almost always because nothing was done to the concrete first. A finished slab is sealed and slick on top, and a coating rolled straight onto it has nothing to grip. It looks fine for a season, then it lifts in sheets the first time a hot tire sits on it or a patch of it gets wet. Every one of our floor coating systems starts below that surface.
So we open the surface up. The slab gets ground with diamond tooling until it has a proper texture and the old sealer, paint and glue are gone, oil spots get degreased and pulled out, then cracks and pits are filled and the whole floor is vacuumed clean. We also check for moisture coming up through the slab, because that pushes a coating off from underneath. Grinding concrete throws silica dust, so it is done with dust collection on the machine, the way OSHA sets out.
Flake systems or metallic epoxy?
A flake floor is the workhorse. Color goes down, vinyl flake is broadcast into it while it is wet, then the whole thing is sealed with a clear top coat. The flake gives you grip underfoot, it hides dust and small marks, and it takes daily use better than a plain color. Ours come in tan, gray, gray and black, gray and white, and a blue gray.
A metallic floor is the showpiece. Pigment is moved through a clear coat so the finish swirls like stone or poured metal, and no two floors come out the same. It is smoother than flake and it suits a garage that is on show, a shop floor or a room inside the house. Both belong to the same family of work, and you can see the range on our epoxy flooring page.
Free estimate on your garage floor
Flake and metallic floor coatings across La Quinta and the Coachella Valley, ground back to clean concrete first.
Call (949) 233-1242What desert heat does to a garage floor
A closed valley garage in July is brutal. Summer air runs past 110 degrees outside and a garage holds it, so the slab can be far hotter than the room next door. Heat speeds a coating up while it is curing, which shortens the working time and can leave roller marks if the floor is rushed. It also means a cheap coating goes soft, and a hot tire sitting on soft coating lifts it right off the slab.
We work around that. Floors go down early in the day in the hot months, the product is mixed in small batches so nothing goes off in the bucket, and we use a top coat that handles hot tires. Then the floor is left alone: light foot traffic after a day or so, vehicles back on it after several days, and we tell you the real dates before we begin. The same heat rules apply outside, which is why pool deck and patio coatings get booked for the cooler end of the day as well.
Why choose M R Miller Painting for your garage floor?
Because the same person grinds the floor, mixes the product and lays the coats. Floor coatings punish a rushed prep more than almost any finish, and prep is the part that gets skipped when a job is passed down a chain of people. Here there is no chain.
Michael holds CSLB #566071 in C33 Painting and Decorating, licensed in California since 1989, with a $25,000 contractor bond. Estimates are free and he comes out to look at the slab first, because the condition of your concrete decides the price and the schedule. He also paints the rest of the house, so the garage and the rooms inside can be done on one visit.
Ask the contractor doing the work
Straight answers about floors and paint in the desert
How long does a garage floor take?
Most single or double garages are a two to three day job. Grinding and repairs come first, then the color and flake, then the clear top coat, with drying time between each stage. Michael gives you the dates before he begins.
When can I park on it again?
You can walk on it the day after the final coat, and vehicles go back several days later once it has cured through. Putting a car on it early is the fastest way to mark a new floor.
Do I have to empty the garage?
Yes, the floor has to be completely clear so the grinder can reach every inch, including under the shelving and along the walls. If you need a hand working out where everything goes for a couple of days, ask and we will talk it through.
Will it handle hot tires?
A properly prepared and top coated floor will. Hot tire pickup happens when a coating was thin, soft, or laid on concrete that was never ground, so the tire grips the coating harder than the coating grips the slab. Prep is the answer.
Can you coat a floor that already has old paint on it?
Usually yes. Old paint, sealer, glue and failed coatings are ground off as part of the prep. If the slab underneath has bigger problems, like heavy moisture coming up through it, Michael will tell you what he finds before any product goes down.
Is a flake floor slippery?
Less than bare sealed concrete. The flake and top coat give the surface texture to grip, and where a floor gets wet often we add more grip to the final coat. Tell us how the garage gets used.