Epoxy Flooring in Dearborn, MI

Epoxy flooring in Dearborn usually goes over concrete that has a history. Census-based housing figures put the median Dearborn home at 1952, and nearly three out of four housing units are single-family detached houses. That means a lot of garage slabs and basement floors poured in the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s, many of them painted, patched or sealed at some point since. A coating bonds to whatever is on the surface. Before we talk colors, we find out what that is.

Basements after the floods

Dearborn sits at the low end of a regional sewer system near the main treatment plant. In 2014, and much worse in 2021, heavy rain overwhelmed it. The city says the 2021 storm flooded some 20,000 homes in under 24 hours, and Michigan Public reported that about two-thirds of Dearborn homes got sewage water in their basements. Plenty of owners tore out carpet and padding afterward and were left with bare, stained concrete.

A resin coating is a sensible floor for a basement like that. It has no seams for water to wick into, it does not hold odors, and it can be mopped with a disinfectant if water ever comes back. It does not stop water from entering the house. The city is adding pumps, flap gates and sewer separation work, and a backflow device or a dry wall is a separate job. We coat the floor once the slab has dried out and the moisture reading says it is ready.

Salt, snow and the garage door

Dearborn averages about 31 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month at close to a foot. The roads get salted all winter, and every trip home brings brine into the garage. On bare concrete that brine soaks in and works at the surface. On a coated floor it sits on top, so you can squeegee it out the door. The first few feet inside the door usually show the most wear, and that is where we spend the most time on prep.

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What we check at the estimate

• Moisture: a reading on the slab, which matters most in basements and on floors that have flooded.
• Old coatings: paint, kit epoxy or sealer that must be ground off so the new system can bond.
• Cracks and pitting: settlement cracks, chipped control joints and salt pitting that need filling first.
• Oil and fluids: stains that have soaked in under the cars, which need degreasing or grinding out.
• Floor drains and slope: so the finished floor still sheds water toward the drain.
• Temperature: a cold garage in winter may need heat, or a coating that cures in the cold.

Picking a coating system

There are a handful of systems, and most floors suit one or two of them.

• Flake garage floors: a base coat with colored vinyl chips broadcast into it and a clear topcoat. The texture helps with wet tires and hides grit between cleanings.
• Polyaspartic topcoats and one-day systems: faster curing and usable in a wider temperature range. Good for a November or March install.
• Basement coatings: solid color or light flake, sometimes over a moisture-tolerant primer, for laundry areas, storage and finished rooms.
• Metallic epoxy: a poured, marbled finish for rec rooms, home gyms and dealerships.
• Shop and commercial floors: thicker 100% solids systems for lifts, carts and chemicals.
• Concrete repair: crack, spall and joint repair as a step of its own or ahead of any coating.

A note on the price

HomeGuide's national figures put installed epoxy at about $4 to $10 a square foot and polyaspartic at about $5 to $12. A one-car garage often lands between $1,200 and $3,900 for epoxy, and a two-car between $1,600 and $5,800. Grinding off an old coating, filling a lot of cracks or drying out a basement can push a job above the average. We give you one written number after we see the floor, and that number is the price.

We are based around Dearborn and work across western Wayne County and the Downriver cities. That includes Dearborn Heights, Allen Park, Melvindale, Lincoln Park, Wyandotte, Southgate, Trenton, Taylor, Romulus, Inkster, Westland, Garden City, Redford, Livonia, Canton, Plymouth and Northville. The floors change as you move outward. Dearborn, Melvindale, Lincoln Park and Inkster have some of the oldest slabs, from homes built for auto plant workers in the 1920s and 1930s. Southgate, Westland and Livonia are largely postwar. Canton grew mostly after 1970, so its garages tend to be newer and attached. Each town page lists what we know about homes and floors there.