The City spreads pickle, a mix of 3% salt and 97% fine gravel, when road surfaces drop below -15°C, and it rides into the garage on tires all winter with the meltwater. Add hot tires lifting at the tire paths and you have the test every garage coating faces. That is why we grind the concrete to open it up, repair cracks before coating, and finish with a topcoat built for abrasion and salt.
The coating name is not enough to define the installed system.
Review age if known, current coating, contamination, repairs, cracks, joints and surface hardness.
State how moisture risk is evaluated and which limits apply to the proposed materials.
Define grinding or other approved profiling, edge work, cleaning and dust control.
List primer, base or build coats, flakes or pigments, topcoat and slip-resistance choices.
Provide product-specific timing for foot traffic, storage, vehicles, cleaning and full service.
Review coating history, damage, joints, contamination and moisture, and run an adhesion test on any existing coating before deciding whether it comes off.
An epoxy base coat for bond and build, a polyaspartic topcoat for hot tires, grit and sunlight, and a flake broadcast with anti-slip additive for grip when wet.
Diamond grind the slab rather than acid etch it, grind off any peeling coating, then fill static cracks and grind them flush. Cracks that are still moving are pointed out before the quote.
Apply primer, base coat, flake or colour and topcoat in sequence. Vehicles go back on only when the topcoat data sheet allows at the slab temperature, so a winter garage stays heated through the cure.
The concrete must provide the clean, sound texture required for the selected coating to bond.
A dry-looking surface does not replace the evaluation required by the system specification.
Wear, chemicals, sunlight exposure, cleaning and slip resistance influence the final layer.
Our rates in Canadian dollars. The condition of the slab moves the final number more than the finish does.
$5-$12 per sq ft
Ground concrete, primer, pigmented base coat, flake or colour, and a clear protective topcoat.
$1-$3 per sq ft
Peeling or failed coatings ground off back to sound concrete.
$2-$6 per sq ft
Low areas and uneven sections corrected before the coating goes down.
Priced per job
Cracks, spalls and joints filled or treated so the coating sits over a sound slab.
Every epoxy and coating system goes over concrete that has been mechanically ground, with cracks repaired and the slab checked for moisture, because the bond to the concrete decides how long the coating lasts.
A Calgary garage floor coating has to handle hot tires, meltwater and road grit all winter. The City spreads pickle, a mix of 3% salt and 97% fine gravel, when road surfaces drop below -15°C, and it rides into the garage on tires and boots. Peeling at the tire paths is a bond failure, which is why preparation matters more than the product name.
A complete garage floor coating is built in layers: a primer that soaks into the ground concrete, a pigmented epoxy base coat, a decorative flake broadcast, and a clear topcoat chosen for abrasion and UV resistance.
We diamond-grind the concrete to open the surface and remove laitance, sealers and old coatings; acid etching does not produce the same profile and leaves residue. Cracks and spalls are filled with a repair material compatible with the coating, and joints are treated so they can still move. Slabs get a moisture check, and failed coatings are removed by grinding before anything new goes down. See concrete grinding.
Choose a full flake finish for garages: it hides dust and tire marks, adds texture for grip and disguises small slab imperfections. Choose solid colour for shops and workspaces where cleaning comes first, and metallic epoxy for basements and showrooms where the look leads. An anti-slip additive goes into the topcoat in any area that gets wet.
A complete epoxy or resin coating system, installed, costs $5 to $12 per square foot in Canadian dollars. Removing a failed existing coating adds $1 to $3 per square foot, and slab levelling $2 to $6 where needed. We charge based on your written quote. The condition of the slab moves the final number more than the finish does. Our epoxy garage floor cost guide breaks the price down by garage size and finish, and the flooring cost page covers other floors.
Foot traffic, stored items and vehicles return at three different times, taken from the data sheets for the exact products and the temperature during cure. Cold slabs slow curing, so winter garage work in Calgary needs the space heated during application and cure. The vehicle date is always the last of the three.
For shops and industrial slabs, see warehouse floor coating; for a coating-free finish, see concrete polishing.
A garage floor coating is the application; epoxy is the material in most of them. A typical garage system uses an epoxy base coat with a polyaspartic or polyurethane topcoat for abrasion and UV resistance.
Use both: an epoxy base coat bonds to the ground concrete and builds thickness, and a polyaspartic topcoat cures faster and resists yellowing from sunlight. The topcoat takes the hot tires and winter grit.
Only after an adhesion test. A coating that is peeling, chalky or lifting at the tire paths is ground off first, and removal costs $1 to $3 per square foot.
We grind. Diamond grinding opens the concrete surface evenly and removes sealers and weak surface layers; acid etching does not give a consistent profile and leaves residue behind.
Yes once the cracks are repaired. Static cracks are filled and ground flush. Cracks that are still moving can reappear through any rigid coating, so we tell you which cracks those are before quoting.
When the topcoat data sheet allows vehicle traffic at the cure temperature, which is always later than foot traffic. Cold slabs cure slowly, so in winter the garage needs heating through application and cure.
A smooth gloss coating is slippery when wet. A flake broadcast and an anti-slip additive in the topcoat give it grip, and we add both in garages and entries.
A complete epoxy coating system, installed, costs $5 to $12 per square foot in Canadian dollars, and removing a failed coating costs $1 to $3 per square foot.