Epoxy Flooring FAQs for the Piedmont Triad
Straight answers on cost, crawlspace-home garages, humid-summer installs and where we work.
Triad Homes, Climate & Epoxy
Yes. Even when the house sits on a crawlspace, the garage floor is poured concrete on grade, which is exactly what epoxy and polyaspartic coatings are made for. That is the normal Triad setup: most homes in Greensboro and High Point sit on a crawlspace rather than a basement or a slab, so the garage is the one big piece of concrete on the property. On a house from the late 1980s that slab is 35 to 40 years old, usually stained and often pitted, and resurfacing slabs like that is the core of our garage work. The crawlspace itself changes nothing about the coating; we still test the slab for moisture, diamond-grind it and repair cracks and spalls before anything goes down.
Not a properly coated one; bare concrete is what brine damages. Before a winter storm, NCDOT and the City of Greensboro pre-treat major roads such as Wendover Avenue, Battleground Avenue and Gate City Boulevard with salt brine, then spread rock salt after plowing, and every car in the Triad carries that slush into the garage. On uncoated concrete, salt plus freeze-thaw causes scaling: the surface flakes off in patches, which is why so many older Triad garage slabs look pitted near the door. A polyaspartic topcoat keeps the brine on top of the coating instead of in the concrete, and it rinses off with a hose. If your slab is already scaled, we grind and repair it before coating; a coating alone does not fix damage that is already there.
Most days, if the timing is right. Greensboro's muggy season runs from late May to late September, and what governs a coating install is not the heat, it is the gap between the slab temperature and the dew point. When a cool slab meets warm, damp air, moisture condenses on the concrete, and a coating applied over it will blush or lose adhesion. So in humid months we start in the morning, check slab temperature and humidity on site before we mix, and plan the day's cure window around the readings rather than the clock. When the numbers do not line up, we tell you and reschedule rather than force it.
Yes, and that describes a lot of the Triad's older garage slabs. Scaling from years of brine, pitting, oil stains, red clay tracked in from a job site or a ball field, hairline cracks and the remains of a failed DIY kit are all prep problems, not deal-breakers. We diamond-grind the surface to sound concrete, cut out cracks and spalls and fill them with a crack-repair compound ground flush, and grind off old paint or peeling coatings rather than coating over them. Deep pitting sometimes takes a skim coat before the base coat. The one thing that can stop a job is a slab that reads high on the moisture test, and even that usually means a mitigation primer and more drying time, not a no.
Cost & Pricing
Typically $2,000 to $4,000 for most two-car garages. A standard flake system with a one-day polyaspartic topcoat runs about $4.50 to $8 per square foot installed, and a two-car garage is usually 400 to 500 square feet. Solid-color epoxy runs about $4 to $6 per square foot, and metallic or quartz finishes $8 to $12 or more. Slab condition moves the number: crack and spall repair adds roughly $100 to $500 and up, and a moisture-mitigation primer adds about $1 per square foot when the slab test calls for it. These are typical ranges, not a quote; you get a written price after we test and measure your slab.
It depends on the system, so we quote commercial floors after a site visit. As national ranges, a standard two-coat epoxy runs about $3 to $5 per square foot, polyaspartic or polyurea systems $5 to $12, and urethane mortar for commercial kitchens and breweries $8 to $15. Square footage, the amount of prep and the downtime you can afford drive the final number more than the material does. Those are national figures, not Triad quotes; for a showroom, a shop bay or a warehouse suite, send us the square footage and we will come measure.
Usually, yes. An old slab even has one advantage over a new one: it finished curing and settling decades ago. It may still have gone in without a vapor retarder, though, so it gets the same free ASTM moisture test as a new pour. A stained, pitted 1980s slab is not a reason to skip the coating, it is the reason to do it, because scaling and pitting get worse every brine season on bare concrete. Once the slab is ground, repaired and coated, you have a seamless floor that wipes clean, hides the old stains and stops the surface from deteriorating further, with a written 25-year warranty behind it. The exception is a slab with structural cracking or heaving, which we would tell you about at the estimate visit rather than coat over.
Installation & Process
Most two-car garages are one day on site. We arrive in the morning, grind, repair, and lay the base coat and flake, and the polyaspartic topcoat goes on the same day. With the polyaspartic topcoat we install, walk-on is usually within hours and vehicles typically the next day or two, depending on the system and the weather; epoxy-only systems need several days. You get the exact walk-on and drive-on times for your system in writing before we start. Commercial floors typically run two to five days and industrial floors three to seven, depending on square footage and the system, and we phase the work around your hours. The one variable that stretches a schedule is a slab that reads high on the moisture test, which means more drying time or a mitigation primer rather than a rushed coating.
They are three related coatings that do different jobs. Epoxy is the thick, hard base coat: it bonds well to prepared concrete and builds a strong layer, but it cures slowly, is fussy about humidity and yellows in sunlight if used as the top layer. Polyurea is a fast-curing family of coatings; polyaspartic is the UV-stable member of that family, and it is what a good garage floor should be topcoated with, because it will not amber at the garage door, resists brine and hot-tire pickup, and cures fast enough to make a one-day install possible. What we install is a hybrid: a base coat for adhesion, flake or color, then a polyaspartic topcoat. You will see franchise ads claiming polyurea is "20 times stronger than epoxy"; that figure comes from a single lab property of the cured film, so it is real on paper, but in practice the prep and the topcoat decide how long a floor lasts, not the label on the base coat.
Yes, completely. We diamond-grind and coat the full slab, including the edges and the floor under where the shelving stood, so everything has to come out: cars, shelving, freezers, bikes, the works. Most homeowners need an hour or two the evening before. If heavy cabinets cannot move, tell us at the estimate and we will plan around them. For commercial spaces we build a phased plan around your hours so the work does not shut you down.
Yes, as a secondary service. Basements are uncommon in Greensboro and High Point, where most houses sit on crawlspaces, but Winston-Salem has noticeably more basements than Greensboro or High Point, so that is where we expect most basement work to be. A below-grade slab gets the same ASTM moisture test as a garage, and the reading matters more down there; if it runs high we use a moisture-mitigation primer or advise waiting. To be clear about what a coating does and does not do: it gives you a hard-wearing, cleanable floor, but it is not a waterproofing system and we will not sell it as one.
Durability & Maintenance
With the prep done right and a UV-stable topcoat, decades; on garage and home floors the written 25-year warranty covers delamination, peeling, cracking and adhesion for exactly that reason, and commercial floors get the warranty for their system in writing before you sign. The floors that fail early are almost always the ones coated over an untested, unground slab, or finished with a straight epoxy topcoat that ambers and chalks at the door. In the Triad the two things that shorten a floor's life are moisture in the slab and brine sitting on bare concrete, and a proper install deals with both before the first coat. A high-traffic shop or showroom floor wears faster than a home garage and may want a recoat down the line; we will tell you what to expect for your use at the estimate.
Almost nothing. A dust mop or broom and an occasional damp mop with a neutral cleaner is the whole routine; there is no waxing, sealing or refinishing. The one Triad-specific habit is winter: after an ice storm or a brine day, hose or mop the slush off the floor so the salt does not sit and dry in the tire lanes. Red clay tracked in from a job site or a ball field wipes off a coated floor. Skip acidic cleaners, steel-bristle brooms and anything abrasive, which can dull the clear coat.
Service Area & Company
Greensboro first, then the rest of the Piedmont Triad. Our primary service area is Greensboro, High Point, Jamestown, Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Gibsonville, Kernersville, Thomasville, Burlington and Winston-Salem, plus the towns between them: Browns Summit, Whitsett, McLeansville, Colfax, Stokesdale, Pleasant Garden, Archdale, Trinity, Elon, Graham and more. Downtown Winston-Salem is about 35 to 40 minutes from central Greensboro, and Clemmons, Lewisville and Pfafftown, west of Winston-Salem, are the far western edge of our service area.
Fair question. We are newly serving the Triad, so there are no Triad reviews yet, and we would rather give you proof you can check than ask for trust. Blake's crew has done this work in ten other markets before Greensboro, and the job photos on this site are floors that crew installed. Before you sign, you get the process in writing, a written warranty you can read line by line (25 years on garage and home floors), and a written quote you can check against the typical price ranges published on this site. See the moisture reading on your slab at the free estimate visit, read the warranty, and decide with all of it in front of you.
No. Ascent Epoxy Greensboro is one market in the Ascent Epoxy network, not a franchise. You'll know the name of the crew lead on your floor (Blake) before the estimate visit, the process, price and warranty are in writing before you sign, and every call or form gets a callback the same business day.
Ask to see it in writing before you sign anything. A real warranty spells out what is covered, what voids it, how long it runs and how to file a claim. For a Triad garage, check that delamination and peeling are covered, since moisture in the slab is the most likely cause of failure here, and read the exclusions and the claim process, not just the headline term: a "lifetime" warranty you cannot read before you sign is a promise, not a document. If a contractor cannot produce a document with specific terms, treat it as a red flag. On garage and home floors, ours is a written 25-year warranty covering delamination, peeling, cracking and adhesion, and commercial floors get the warranty for their system in writing; we bring it to the estimate visit and walk you through every line.
You get a call back the same business day. We confirm the scope and ask a few questions about the slab: its age, stains, pitting, any old coating, and whether the house is on a crawlspace or a slab. Then we set a free on-site visit, take a moisture reading and measure, and you receive a written quote with the coating system, the price and the warranty spelled out, including a moisture-mitigation primer if the reading calls for one. The full ASTM moisture test is run before any coating goes down. Nothing is owed and there is no pressure to book.