It shows dust more than flake
A smooth, dark, glossy surface shows footprints and dust the way your gloss worktop does. Flake hides all of that, which is part of why we put flake in garages.
Metallic
Metallic epoxy gives you a floor nobody else has.
Metallic pigment is worked through clear resin while it is wet, so the pattern moves as it cures. That means the floor cannot be repeated, including by us. It suits showrooms, front-facing garages and basements you want people to notice. It is the system Brad gets asked to photograph.
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What Metallic Epoxy Flooring Looks Like
Like poured stone with depth in it. The pigment separates as the resin flows, so you get movement rather than a flat color.
Why every one is different
Your pattern comes from how the pigment moves in the wet resin. Temperature, how we work it and how much goes down all change it. Two floors poured the same day from the same tins do not match, and that is why you buy it.
Where it works best
Somewhere it gets looked at. Showroom floors, a garage that is part of the house, a finished basement, a retail space. Under good light it does the most work of any system we install.
Where it is the wrong choice
A working shop floor you are going to cover in shelving and a lift. The pattern is the reason to buy it, and a floor nobody sees does not need it.
Metallic Epoxy Durability and UV Stability
It is the same epoxy body we use on any other system, carrying pigment instead of chips, and we put a clear top coat over it.
The wear comes from the top coat
We seal the metallic layer under clear. What takes your traffic is the top coat, so when you ask about durability you are really asking what goes on last.
Sunlight is the thing to ask about
A clear epoxy top coat will amber where the sun lands on it, and on a metallic floor that shifts the whole color. If the room has a glass door or a window wall, the top coat needs to be UV stable. Say so when you get quoted.
Every floor on this page is one we poured
How a Metallic Epoxy Floor Is Installed
What makes it different from every other system is that we work it by hand while it is still liquid. That is where your pattern comes from and it is why it costs more.
Preparation is identical
We grind to bare concrete, cut and fill the cracks, patch the pits. A metallic floor over a badly prepared slab fails exactly as any other system does, and the pattern makes the failure more visible rather than less.
A solid base coat first
Usually black or a deep neutral. This is the color showing through your metallic layer and it changes the finished floor completely, so we choose it with you rather than assuming.
The metallic layer, worked wet
We pour pigment suspended in clear resin and then move it: rolled, brushed, air-blown or dragged. Every technique gives a different pattern, and this step is genuinely craft rather than process.
Cure, then clear
One or two clear top coats seal your pattern under a wearing surface. The metallic layer itself never takes traffic.
Why No Two Metallic Floors Are the Same
Not marketing. It is a consequence of how the material behaves.
The pigment separates as it flows
Metallic particles move at a different rate from the resin around them, so they gather and part as your floor levels. That movement is the veining.
Temperature and thickness change it
A warmer room cures faster and gives tighter patterning. More material gives deeper movement. We cannot control either to the point of repeating your floor.
Which is the reason to buy it
A floor nobody else has, including anybody who asks us for the same one. If exact repeatability matters, flake or solid color is the honest recommendation.
Where Metallic Works and Where It Is the Wrong Choice
It is the system you photograph, and it is not the right answer everywhere.
Attached garages and showrooms
Somewhere you look at the floor. A garage that opens into your house gets judged as a room.
Finished basements
Under artificial light the depth reads particularly well, and your basement usually has no competing floor finish.
Retail and reception
A floor that makes your customers look down is doing work a wall cannot.
Not a working shop floor
If you are covering it in racking, a lift and a parts washer, the pattern is money you spent on something nobody sees.
Sunlight is the question to ask
A clear epoxy top coat ambers in UV, and on a metallic floor that shifts your whole color rather than just dulling it. Glass doors and window walls mean we use a UV-stable top coat.
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 job on my shop Floor thanks again Brad
Floors came out great and the countertops too!
thank you Brad for the wonderful job on my garage floors
Living With a Metallic Floor
Same maintenance as any resin floor, with one thing worth knowing.
Grit is still the enemy
Sweeping matters more than any cleaner. Abrasion dulls the clear coat and the clear coat is what you are looking through.
Repairs blend less easily
On flake, our repair disappears into the chip pattern. On metallic we have to rework the veining by hand, which is doable and takes more skill.
It can be recoated
When the clear eventually dulls we prepare and recoat it, and your pattern underneath is untouched.
Metallic Color, Depth and Choosing a Combination
Two or three pigments over a base, and the combination changes your floor more than any single color does.
The base coat is half the result
Black gives you depth and contrast. A mid gray base gives a softer, more marble-like floor. Choosing your base is not a formality.
Two pigments read as stone, three as movement
More colors give you more complexity and can tip into busy. On a large floor, restraint usually reads better.
Metallics behave differently from each other
Some pigments separate hard and give sharp veining; others blend and give cloud. Ask which behavior you are choosing rather than only which color.
Light changes it completely
Your metallic floor under a window is a different floor at 8am and 6pm. See a sample in the room it is going in.
Metallic Floors in Commercial Spaces
Not only a domestic finish.
Showrooms and retail
A floor that makes people look down does work a wall cannot.
Reception and lobby areas
Hard wearing, seamless, and unlike anything a competitor will have.
Bars and restaurants
With the caveat that your kitchen behind it needs quartz rather than metallic.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No two metallic floors come out the same
Pigment is moved through the resin while it is still wet. That is why it is the one people photograph, and why a sample board only ever tells you half the story.
Get my free quoteQuestions people ask
Can you match a color I have seen in a photo?
Close, not exact. We can match your base colors. We cannot match the pattern, because it forms while the resin is moving.
Does it scratch?
The top coat scratches like any floor coating does. We repair it, and grit carried in on your shoes and tires causes most of it.
Is it slippery?
It is smooth by default. If yours is going somewhere that gets wet, ask us for grit in the top coat.
What is a metallic epoxy floor?
A clear resin layer carrying metallic pigment. We pour it over a solid base coat, work it while wet so the pigment moves and forms your pattern, then seal it under a clear top coat.
Can you match a metallic floor you have already done?
The base colors yes, the pattern no. It forms while the resin is moving and it cannot be repeated, including by us.
Is metallic epoxy durable enough for a garage?
Yes. Your wear is taken by the clear top coat, which is the same layer that protects a flake floor.
Does metallic epoxy scratch?
The top coat scratches like any floor coating. Grit carried in on shoes and tires causes most of it, and it can be recoated.
Why does metallic cost more than flake?
We work it by hand while the resin is moving, so it costs more in time as well as material. Brad prices it when he sees the floor.
How do I choose metallic epoxy colors?
Pick your base coat first, because it is half the result. Two pigments read as stone, three as movement, and light changes all of it.
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