Epoxy Flooring in Ypsilanti, MI

Epoxy flooring in Ypsilanti often starts with concrete older than anyone living in the house. A settlement was established on the east side of the Huron River in 1823. The town became a village in 1832 and a city in 1858. Its historic district ranks second in Michigan among contiguous districts by size. Plenty of homes here have basements and garages that were added, poured or patched in stages over a long time.

Old concrete takes more prep

Old slabs rarely arrive bare. We find paint layers, tile mastic, chalky patches and spots where someone filled a hole with whatever mix was on hand. None of that holds a modern coating. So the first thing we do in an older Ypsilanti house is find out what is on the floor and how sound the concrete is underneath.

Our prep on these floors usually includes:

• Grinding off paint, adhesive and old sealer down to clean concrete
• Sounding the slab for hollow spots and loose patches
• Cutting out and refilling failed patches
• Leveling low edges near walls and drains
• Checking moisture in more than one spot

Basements in a river town

The Huron River runs through the middle of the city, with Ford Lake on its southern edge. Older basements in a river town often show signs of past water. You may see efflorescence, which is a white powder left behind when moisture moves through the concrete. You may also see stained walls or a rusted floor drain. That history does not rule out a coating. It does mean the slab gets tested first, and a damp floor gets a primer built to handle moisture. Floors that stay wet need the water dealt with before any coating can last.

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A city of renters

Census QuickFacts lists about 33.2% of Ypsilanti homes as owner-occupied, and the average household is under two people. Eastern Michigan University, founded in 1849 as the state's first normal school, keeps a large student population in town. Many basements and garages here belong to rentals. Landlords tend to want three things from a floor:

• A surface that mops clean between tenants
• Something that hides scuffs and furniture marks
• A short cure time so the unit is not empty long

A flake floor or a solid color under a polyaspartic topcoat covers all three.

Small garages, tight lots

Many older lots in town have one-car or narrow detached garages set behind the house. Small floors still need the full grind and edge work. In some ways they take more care, because there is less room to move equipment and the walls are closer. We plan the job around your driveway and alley access, and we tell you ahead of time when the garage will be out of use.

What fits in Ypsilanti

• Garage floor epoxy or flake for daily parking and winter slush
• Basement floor epoxy primed for damp concrete when the meter shows it
• Polyaspartic coatings for rentals and quick turnarounds
• Shop floor systems for small businesses and home workshops

When an old slab is not worth coating

Some floors are too far gone. A slab that has broken into loose pieces, sunk several inches or crumbles when scraped will not hold a coating for long. We would rather tell you that up front than sell you a floor that fails. In those cases the fix is concrete repair or replacement, and we can coat the new slab once it has cured.

Getting the quote

We visit, look at the floor with you and take moisture readings. You get a written price that spells out the prep, the coats and the total. If grinding uncovers something we could not see, such as a hidden patch or a layer of old adhesive, we stop and write it up before going on.