Full broadcast versus partial
Full means we throw chips until your floor rejects more. Partial means a scattering with base color showing between. Partial is faster, uses less material, and is what most cheap flake floors are.
Flake
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.
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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 color. 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 color 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 Color Blend
We mix blends from several chip colors. 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 color goes down wet, and it is only partly a color 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 color 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.
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 tire 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.
Colors 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 color 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 color. 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 color garage floors. A blend absorbs your normal use visually in a way a flat color 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 color.
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.
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 color 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 color.
What to ask
Ask whether the broadcast is to refusal. It is a phrase that separates contractors quickly.
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 color 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.
What's under your finished floor
We put down four layers, and each one has its own job. Scroll and we'll take your floor apart so you can see them.
- Polyaspartic top coatWe finish with a UV-stable, hard-wearing coat that takes your tires, your chemicals and the sunlight so the color underneath doesn't.
- Color and flake coatOur body coat carries your flake blend or metallic pour, so this is the layer you picked.
- Primer and moisture barrierWe work it into the opened concrete, and it locks everything above it to your slab.
- Concrete substrateYour slab. We diamond grind it back to bare concrete so everything we put on top has something to grip.
Coatings we install
We install six systems, and most floors we put down combine two of them.
Flake
- Where it fits
- Garages and basements
- How it looks
- Vinyl chip broadcast into the body coat. Busier blends hide more of a working slab.
- Where we use it
- The garage floor we put down most.
Solid color
- Where it fits
- Workshops, warehouses, basements
- How it looks
- One flat color, sealed and cleanable.
- Where we use it
- Floors you need easy to clean, where we can add line marking.
Metallic
- Where it fits
- Attached garages, showrooms, countertops
- How it looks
- Pigment moved through the resin while it's wet, so no two floors come out the same.
- Where we use it
- Floors you look at as part of the house, which is where we get asked for it most.
Quartz
- Where it fits
- Commercial kitchens and wet areas
- How it looks
- Colored quartz aggregate for a hard, textured floor.
- Where we use it
- Floors where we have to meet a slip specification.
Polyaspartic
- Where it fits
- Top coat over any system, patios
- How it looks
- A UV-stable clear coat that cures in hours.
- Where we use it
- We use it for sunlight, cold weather and fast turnarounds.
Anti-slip
- Where it fits
- Pool decks, ramps, plant floors
- How it looks
- A coarse broadcast texture in the surface.
- Where we use it
- We put it where your floor gets wet or sits outdoors.
How your epoxy floor gets done, from first call to parking on it
Three steps, and Brad does every one of them himself. Most residential floors are finished in a day.
- 1
You call, text or send the form
Tell us the room and roughly how big it is. We'll talk you through the range and book a time to come and look, often the same day. Weekends count, and there's nothing to sign.
- 2
Brad reads your slab and you pick your finish
He checks for cracks, old coating and moisture, then measures up. You choose your flake blend or metallic against your own floor, not a brochure. Your written quote comes back the same day.
- 3
We grind it back and build your floor up
Your slab goes back to bare concrete under a diamond grinder with dust extraction. Then the primer, the body coat with your flake or metallic, and the top coat. You get your walk-on and park-on times with the quote.
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 color?
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 color 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 color 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