Commercial flake epoxy
The durability of a chip system with a finish that hides the traffic a business puts on a floor.
The build-up, step by step
Every commercial flake epoxy job Shanks installs follows the same order, because skipping a stage is how floors fail. Taylor is on site for all of it.
Prep to spec
Grind or shot blast to the profile the system requires.
Pigmented base
A base tuned to the flake blend so wear points do not read as bare patches.
Full broadcast
Chip to refusal, which is what makes a commercial floor forgiving about scuffs and repairs.
Double clear
Two clear coats where the traffic justifies it, giving a sacrificial layer that can be refreshed.
Right room, right system
Showrooms, service bays, breakrooms, retail back-of-house, kennels and light production.
Where it is the wrong call
Rooms needing full washdown to a drain, where quartz coved to the wall handles it better.
Back in service: Foot traffic next day, vehicles and racking at five to seven days.
Compare the other systems
Why this floor costs what it costs
Two floors the same size can land a long way apart on price. These are the variables that decide it:
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.
Access
A walk-out basement with a door at grade is straightforward. Carrying equipment down a flight of stairs, or working around a building that has to stay open, adds time.
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.
What Alabama slabs do
Freeze-thaw cycling here is mild compared with the north, but it is real, and it is what turns a hairline crack in a porch or a garage apron into a spalled edge over a few winters. Cracks get filled before they are coated, not after.
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
People are usually more anxious about the disruption than the floor. Here is what the days actually look like:
Planning the shutdown
The sequence is built around your operating hours first. Most commercial floors here are done in sections or overnight so the business keeps running.
Clearing and protection
Racking, stock and equipment move out of the working section, and adjacent areas are sheeted so dust and overspray stay put.
Prep and application
Grinding or shot blasting, repair, then the build. Each section gets handed back on a stated day, not a vague one.
Return to service
Foot traffic in about 24 hours, racking and vehicles at the full cure window for the system chosen.
Keeping it looking new
Sweep it, and mop it with warm water and a neutral cleaner. Skip anything with citrus or ammonia, since both attack the topcoat over time. Felt pads under anything with a metal foot, and a mat under the jack stand if you work on vehicles. Years down the road the clear coat can be scuffed and recoated, which brings the gloss back without touching the flake underneath.
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 commercial flake epoxy 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.
Commercial Flake Epoxy questions
Why flake instead of solid color in a business?
A solid color shows every scuff and repair. A chip field breaks up the surface visually, so it looks maintained for far longer.
Can a damaged area be patched?
Yes, and that is a real advantage. A chip floor can be repaired in an area and blended in a way a solid color cannot.
Is it slip resistant enough for a shop?
With the right topcoat and aggregate, yes. The requirement gets set before the topcoat is chosen.
How disruptive is the install?
Grinding is dust-controlled but loud. Work is usually staged room by room so the business keeps running.
Can our brand colors go into the blend?
Within the range vinyl chip comes in, closely. A blend is mixed and laid on a sample board in your own lighting before the floor is committed, because showroom lighting changes a blend more than people expect.
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
Commercial Flake Epoxy 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.
Commercial Epoxy
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Commercial Polishing
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Novolac Epoxy
Another system Shanks installs across the same sixty-mile area.
Talk to the person doing the work
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 commercial flake epoxy.