Worked case: a 3-car flake epoxy garage with cracks and oil stains in Glen Eagle Ranch — steps and price

The scenario

The house dates from the early 1990s and has a three-car attached garage. The first two bays have been the family's parking for thirty years, and the third holds a workbench and a tool chest. The slab has never been coated.

Two things show on the floor. Hairline shrinkage cracks run across the first bay, and a dark oil stain sits under the spot where one car has been parked for years. A wider crack near the door tracks sideways and is priced as an extra repair area.

The stain changes the grinding plan. Oil sits in the pores of the concrete, so the spot is degreased and ground a second time, which is why the oil condition adds to the rate.

The owner chooses a blue-gray flake mix with white for the main floor and asks that the stem wall under the garage doors be coated to match.

What the job involves

1. The owner clears the garage and the installer maps the cracks, the oil stain and the stem wall.
2. A degreaser is worked into the oil stain, and a dust-shrouded diamond grinder grinds the whole floor with a second pass on the stain.
3. Hairline cracks are cut, filled and ground flush; the wider crack gets a second fill and a check for movement.
4. A moisture test is made on bare spots, and the readings are kept with the job notes.
5. The pigmented epoxy base is rolled out in sections and flakes are broadcast by hand to full coverage.
6. After the base cures, loose flakes are scraped and vacuumed and a clear top coat goes on.

Materials and prep

• Dust-shrouded diamond grinder and HEPA vacuum
• Degreaser, crack-chasing tool and repair filler
• Pigmented epoxy base, vinyl flakes and a clear top coat
• Rollers, scrapers, spiked shoes and a brush for the stem wall

Add-ons often paired with this job

• Custom flake blend — +$100–$300. A custom blend is priced as a separate line.
• Moisture-vapor barrier primer — +$400–$1,000. A vapor-barrier primer is added only if the readings call for it.
• Moving garage contents out and back — +$100–$300. Moving the workbench and tool chest out and back is a separate line.

Why it is done this way

A three-car garage is mostly a question of area, and the extra lines are small by comparison. The cracks and the oil together add a modest surcharge per square foot, and the wide crack and the stem wall are flat amounts.

The top coat matters when a door faces the afternoon: epoxy can amber in sunlight, and aliphatic polyaspartic or polyurethane top coats are generally more UV-stable.

The same example also shows why the installer looks at the crack map twice. A crack that is the same width at the end of grinding as it was at the start is a shrinkage crack; one that has changed gets a call to a concrete or foundation professional.

What would change the price

• A moisture test reads high and a vapor-barrier primer is added.
• Old paint is found on part of the floor and needs removal.
• The third bay is switched to a solid color with grit for the workbench.
• One crack has one side higher than the other and a concrete professional is asked first.
• The garage is a four-car at 840 square feet.