Metallic epoxy floors
Pearl pigments moved through clear resin so the floor reads like poured stone. No two are the same.
The build-up, step by step
Every metallic epoxy garage floors job Shanks installs follows the same order, because skipping a stage is how floors fail. Taylor is on site for all of it.
Grind and prime
The slab is ground and primed so the metallic layer sits on a uniform, non-porous base. Any variation underneath will telegraph through.
Base color
A solid basecoat in the dominant tone, which decides how light or dark the finished movement reads.
Metallic pour
Pigmented resin is poured and then moved with a squeegee, roller and blower. This is the part that cannot be undone, and it is why the installer matters more than the product.
Clear topcoat
A clear coat over the top for abrasion and, outdoors or near glass, UV stability.
Right room, right system
Basements, finished garages, showrooms, salons and entryways. Anywhere the floor is meant to be looked at.
Where it is the wrong call
Heavy shop floors where forklifts and dropped steel will scar the clear, and anyone who wants a perfectly uniform color.
Back in service: Foot traffic next day, full cure and vehicles at seven days.
Compare the other systems
Why this floor costs what it costs
A quote on this work is really a quote on preparation. Here is what Taylor is looking at when he walks a floor:
Condition of the slab
A clean, sound slab grinds in a morning. One carrying old paint, carpet glue, or a failed coating can take a full day longer before anything can be applied.
How much repair it needs
Cracks, spalled edges, pitting and old anchor holes are filled and ground flush before coating. A slab that needs a lot of this can add a day on its own.
Size and shape
Bigger floors cost less per square foot, because the setup, the mixing and the cleanup are much the same whether the room is 400 or 1,400 square feet. Cut-up rooms with lots of edges take longer than open ones.
Which system you choose
Build thickness and the chemistry of the topcoat are the two biggest material costs. A heavier commercial build genuinely costs more than a residential one.
What Alabama slabs do
Alabama humidity is the quiet variable in this work. Resin cures on a temperature and dew-point window, so a floor is scheduled around the weather rather than squeezed in before a storm rolls over Talladega.
Most of the housing around Anniston, Oxford and Jacksonville was poured between the sixties and the eighties, and those slabs were hard-trowelled to a tight, closed surface. They look clean and they take a coating badly until they are properly ground, which is why a store-bought kit so often lets go here within a year.
Where the trailer goesWhat the days actually look like
Knowing the shape of the week takes most of the worry out of it. A typical job runs like this:
Before Taylor arrives
The room has to be completely empty, including anything mounted low on the walls if the coating is being coved up. Freezers and fridges need somewhere else to live for a few days, and the breaker for the room should be reachable.
Grinding day
The loudest day. Grinders run on HEPA vacuums so dust stays contained, but it is not quiet, and it is worth knowing that in advance if somebody works from home.
Coating days
Once resin is down, the room is closed. Pets and children need to stay out, and doors get taped so nobody wanders in overnight.
Getting it back
Foot traffic the next morning. Vehicles wait the full window, and putting a car back early is the one shortcut that visibly damages a new floor.
Keeping it looking new
Dust mop it more than you would a chip floor, because a smooth gloss shows grit. Neutral cleaner only, and wipe spills rather than letting them dry. The clear is the sacrificial layer here: when it eventually dulls in the traffic path, it is scuffed and recoated and the metallic layer underneath is untouched.
Anything Taylor installs comes with a walk-through at handover covering exactly this, plus what to avoid in the first two weeks while the coating reaches full hardness. If something does go wrong later, tell him about it rather than living with it.
The owner is the installer
Shanks Concrete Coatings is Taylor and Heather Shanks, working out of Anniston. Taylor trained directly with Brian Phillips, The Epoxy Dude, in southern Indiana, and he runs the grinder and pulls the squeegee on every job himself. Licensed and insured, Alabama #2602341.
If a metallic epoxy garage floors floor is not the right answer for your room, he will tell you that on the first visit rather than sell it to you. More about how Shanks works, or send over the details of your floor.
Metallic Epoxy Garage Floors questions
Will mine look like the photo?
No, and that is the point. The movement is created in the moment with a squeegee and air. Taylor will show you finished floors in the same color family so you know the range.
Can it go in a garage?
Yes, with a harder clear on top. It shows tire marks more than flake does, so it suits a garage that is more workshop-and-showroom than daily parking.
Is it slippery?
A metallic clear is smooth by nature. If the room needs grip, a fine aggregate goes into the topcoat.
What if I do not like the pattern?
The pour is reviewed before the clear goes on. Adjustments happen at that stage, not after.
Can you do a dark floor?
Yes, and dark bases show the pearl movement most dramatically. Worth knowing that a dark gloss also shows dust and footprints more than a mid-tone does, which matters in a room you walk through daily.
Four questions worth asking any installer
Ask these of Shanks and of whoever else you are talking to. The answers separate a floor that lasts from one that looks good for a season, and a straight installer will not mind being asked.
How are you preparing the slab?
The only acceptable answers involve a diamond grinder or a shot blaster. Acid etching and a scrub with degreaser is not preparation, and it is the single most common reason a coating lets go.
Are you testing for moisture?
On any basement or ground-level slab this should be a yes with a number attached. Vapor pressure will push a coating off no matter how good the product is.
Who is actually on my floor?
Worth asking whoever quotes you. With Shanks the person who quotes it is the person who grinds it and coats it, and that is not true everywhere.
What is the topcoat?
A UV-stable polyaspartic or aliphatic urethane holds its color. A cheap job leaves a standard epoxy as the top layer, and it will amber in daylight within a year or two.
Other systems for the same room
Metallic Epoxy Garage Floors is one of twenty-two systems Shanks installs. If the room is telling you something different, these are the closest alternatives, and Taylor will happily point you at the cheaper one if it is the right answer.
Flake Epoxy
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Garage Floor Epoxy
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Grind and Seal
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Start with a look at the slab
Square footage, what the room is used for, and what the slab looks like now. That is enough to get you a real number on metallic epoxy garage floors.