Flake is what we put in most garages and here is why.
We broadcast vinyl chips into the wet base coat until your floor is covered, then seal it under clear. The chips give you texture underfoot, hide what your slab looks like, and stop every mark from showing. It is what we put in most garages and it sits at our base rate.
Free, no obligation, and nothing to sign. We answer the same day, weekends included.
Why Flake Epoxy Suits Garage Floors
Because your garage floor is a working floor. Flake handles the three things that make garage floors look bad.
It hides the slab
Most garage slabs are patched, stained and uneven in colour. We broadcast flake to full coverage, so your finish does not depend on what was underneath.
It gives you grip
The chip edges break the surface, so a wet floor from a car in the rain is not an ice rink. You can add more grit to the top coat if the floor slopes.
It does not show everything
A solid colour floor shows every drip and every scuff. A flake blend breaks the surface up visually, so your normal use does not read as damage.
Choosing a Flake Epoxy Colour Blend
We mix blends from several chip colours. The mix decides how busy your floor looks and how well it hides marks.
Busier hides more
A blend with strong contrast hides dirt and wear better than a quiet one. If the garage is genuinely used, go busier than you think you want.
Match the room, not the sample
Chips look different across a whole floor than they do in your hand. Ask to see a blend on a job or on a sample board, not in a bag.
Every floor on this page is one we poured
How a Flake Epoxy Floor Goes Down
The step that defines it is the broadcast, and the phrase worth knowing is to refusal.
Grind, repair, prime
Bare concrete, cracks cut and filled, pits patched. We prime where your slab is porous or where moisture needs managing.
Pigmented base coat
Your colour goes down wet, and it is only partly a colour decision: it is what shows in the gaps between chips if coverage is anything less than full.
Broadcast to refusal
We throw vinyl chips into the wet base until your floor will not take any more. Not scattered, not dusted. Full rejection is what gives you an even floor with no base colour showing through.
Scrape and vacuum
Once it has cured we take the loose chips off and knock back the sharp edges standing proud, so your surface is flat enough to coat.
Clear top coats
One or two, and this is where we put grit if your floor needs traction beyond what the chip texture gives.
How a floor goes down
Three stages. You get your walk-on and park-on dates at the quote, not on the day.
- Tell us what you have gotCall, text, or send the form. Tell us the room and roughly how big it is and we will talk you through the range, then book a time to come and look. Same day, weekends included, and nothing to sign.
- We look at your concrete, you pick your finishBrad checks your slab for cracks, old coating and moisture, measures up, and you choose your flake blend or metallic against your own floor instead of a brochure. Your written quote follows that visit.
- We grind it back, then build your floor upYour slab goes back to bare concrete with a diamond grinder running dust extraction. Then the primer, the body coat carrying your flake or metallic, and the top coat. Brad tells you your walk-on and park-on times when he quotes, so you can plan around it.
Choosing a Flake Blend
The decision you will spend longest on, and the one with the clearest practical answer.
Busier hides more
High contrast in the blend breaks up the surface visually, so normal wear, dust and tyre marks do not read as damage. On a working garage, go busier than you think you want.
Chip size changes the texture
Larger chips give you a coarser look and slightly more grip underfoot. We use quarter-inch in most garages; smaller reads more like stone.
Colours look different across a whole floor
A blend in your hand is not a blend across two hundred square feet. Ask us for a sample board or a finished floor rather than a bag.
The base colour still matters
If a chip ever lifts, or at an edge, your base is what shows. Choosing a base that works with the blend rather than against it is worth thirty seconds of your time.
Why Flake Is the Default for Garages
Three reasons, and they are all practical rather than aesthetic.
It hides the slab underneath
Most garage slabs are patched, stained and uneven in colour. Full chip coverage puts a new surface over all of that.
It has grip built in
Chip edges break the surface, so your floor is not slick when a car brings rain in. You need no additional product for normal use.
It does not show every mark
The single biggest complaint we hear about solid colour garage floors. A blend absorbs your normal use visually in a way a flat colour cannot.
And it is repairable invisibly
Our chip repair on a flake floor effectively disappears, because the pattern hides the join. That is not true of a plain colour.
What customers wrote
4.7 from 15 Google reviews. We publish every one of them on the reviews page, including the one star and what came of it.
Great experiwnce with brad thanks for the great floor
great job on my garage floors thanks again
great job on my Epoxy floors and countertops
Flake Coverage, Density and Why Full Broadcast Matters
The single biggest quality difference between two flake floors you are choosing between, and it is invisible in a photograph taken from standing height.
Full broadcast versus partial
Full means we throw chips until your floor rejects more. Partial means a scattering with base colour showing between. Partial is faster, uses less material, and is what most cheap flake floors are.
Why it matters beyond looks
Full coverage gives you a thicker, more consistent build and hides any later chip loss, because there is no contrasting base colour to show through.
How to tell
Look at a finished floor from close up and at an angle. On a full broadcast you cannot find the base colour.
What to ask
Ask whether the broadcast is to refusal. It is a phrase that separates contractors quickly.
Epoxy or polyaspartic
How the two differ on what buyers ask about. Most Atlas floors use both. We are not selling you one of them.
| What you are deciding | Epoxy | Polyaspartic |
|---|---|---|
| Cure time before you can walk on it | A day or more, and longer when it is cold | Hours, which is what makes a fast turnaround possible |
| Working temperature | Wants a warm slab, so winter work gets scheduled around it | Goes down in cold weather when epoxy will not |
| Colour under direct sun | Ambers over time in a doorway or a south-facing bay | UV stable, which is why it goes on patios and pool decks |
| Build and depth of finish | Thicker build, and the depth metallic pours need | Thinner film, applied as the top coat over an epoxy body |
| Cost per square foot | The lower of the two, and where most garages land | Higher, and worth it where speed or sunlight decide it |
| How Atlas usually uses it | Body coat and the flake or metallic layer | Top coat for abrasion, chemical and UV resistance |
Flake Floors Over Time
What actually happens to one over years of use.
The top coat dulls before anything else
Gradually, in your traffic path. It is the sacrificial layer doing its job and we renew it.
Chips do not come out
Not on a floor we sealed. If they do, the top coat has worn through or was too thin to start with.
Repairs vanish
The chip pattern hides a patch better than any other system. You will struggle to find our repair on a flake floor afterwards.
Recoating restores it
We abrade it and put a fresh clear coat on. Your colour and chips underneath are untouched and the floor looks new again.
Flake in Commercial and Light Industrial Use
It is not only a garage system.
Workshops and trade counters
Hides marks, grips, and takes a heavier top coat where you need one.
Gyms and studios
Impact from dropped weights and a surface that cleans.
Where it is not enough
Forklift traffic and wash-down. Both point at quartz.
Flake hides a working slab
Vinyl chip broadcast into the body coat, then locked under a clear top coat. A busier blend hides more, which is why it is what most garages get.
Get my free quoteQuestions people ask
Do the chips come loose?
Not once we have sealed it. They are locked under the clear coat, which is the layer taking your traffic.
Can flake go in a basement?
Yes, and it is a common choice there. We answer the moisture question in your basement first, whatever system goes down.
Is it rough on bare feet?
It has texture. If yours is a pool deck or anywhere you go barefoot, say so and we adjust the top coat.
What is flake epoxy flooring?
We broadcast vinyl chips into a wet pigmented base coat until your floor will take no more, then seal it under clear top coats.
Do the flakes come loose?
Not once sealed. They are locked under the clear coat, which is the layer that takes the traffic.
Is flake epoxy slippery when wet?
It has texture built in from the chip edges. If your floor gets a lot of water, we put more grit into the top coat.
Can flake epoxy go in a basement?
Yes, and it is a common choice there because it hides a slab that has had decades of your storage on it. The moisture question comes first.
How do I choose a flake colour?
Busier blends hide more. Ask us to show you a sample board or a finished floor rather than a bag. A whole floor reads differently from a handful of chips.
Is flake the same as a garage floor kit from a hardware store?
No. A kit is a thin coating rolled onto an acid-etched slab with chips scattered into it. We grind your slab, broadcast to full coverage, and put a separate wearing top coat on.
What is full broadcast flake?
Chips thrown into the wet base until your floor will take no more. Partial broadcast leaves base colour showing between the chips, and it is what most cheap flake floors are.
Do flake floors need recoating?
Eventually the clear top coat dulls in your traffic path. We abrade and recoat it without touching the colour or chips underneath.
Related
Ready to stop looking at that floor?
Tell us roughly what you have and we'll come and look at it. The quote is free, there's nothing to sign, and you'll know what your floor costs before you commit to anything.
Get Your Free Quote Call or Text (203) 496-6386