Garage floor epoxy · Kelowna, BC
Garage Floor Epoxy Coating in Kelowna
Every winter, slush, sand and road salt ride into Kelowna garages on your tires and sit on bare concrete until spring. Pacific Painting Kelowna installs epoxy and polyaspartic floor coatings in home garages throughout Kelowna, and from Lake Country down to West Kelowna and Westbank First Nation lands. Our crews have more than 15 years of experience in coatings, and we treat a garage floor as a surface preparation job first and a coating job second.
This page covers home garages: single and double attached garages, detached garages, and the workshop or gym space many owners carve out of them. Our clients are homeowners who want a clean, bright floor that sweeps easily, sellers finishing a house for listing, and builders who want a new home's garage done before possession. Shops, warehouses and other business floors are covered by our commercial epoxy floor coatings service.
Most failed garage floors we see were acid-etched and rolled with a hardware-store kit, then peeled where hot tires sat or salty slush pooled through the winter. We diamond-grind the concrete, repair cracks, test for moisture and use a multi-coat flake system with a UV-stable topcoat. Our installers are licensed, insured and covered by WorkSafeBC, and every floor carries a written 1-year labour warranty.
Why Garage Floor Coatings Peel
Garage coatings rarely fail because of the product on the label. They fail because of the concrete underneath and how it was prepared.
Acid Etching Instead of Grinding
Acid etching is fast and cheap, but it leaves an uneven profile and can leave residue in the pores. It also does nothing about sealers, oil or the weak top layer of the slab.
Moisture Vapour From the Slab
Concrete on grade can push moisture up from below. Coat over a damp slab, and that vapour builds pressure under the film until it blisters and lets go.
Hot Tire Pickup
Tires come off Highway 97 hot, and the rubber softens thin or under-cured coatings. When the car leaves, it can pull patches of coating up with it.
Thin One-Part Kits
Many DIY kits are water-based epoxy or epoxy-fortified paint at a fraction of a professional film thickness. They look fine for a season, then wear through at the tire paths.
Concrete Prep: Grinding, Crack Repair and Moisture Testing
Prep takes most of the first day, and it is the part that decides how long the floor lasts.
- Clean and degrease. Oil, tire marks and old sealer are scrubbed out. Deep oil stains are degreased and spot-ground so the coating can bond there too.
- Test for moisture. We tape plastic sheets to the slab as a first check and take meter readings across the floor. Borderline results get a calcium chloride or relative humidity test, and high readings call for a moisture-tolerant epoxy primer.
- Diamond grind. A dust-controlled diamond grinder opens the surface to a profile similar to medium sandpaper, which coatings grip far better than an etched slab. Edges and corners are done with a hand grinder.
- Repair cracks and spalls. Cracks are chased and filled, and pitted or salt-damaged patches are rebuilt with an epoxy or polyurea repair compound, then ground flush.
- Vacuum. Every bit of grinding dust is vacuumed up, because dust left on the slab becomes a weak layer under the coating.
Control joints, the straight saw cuts in the slab, are usually left in place and coated through, since they are there to let the concrete move. We discuss filling them if you prefer a seamless look.
Flake, Solid Colour and Polyaspartic Topcoats
A garage floor coating is a system of layers. The base bonds to the concrete, and the topcoat takes the abuse.
| System | Look | Strengths | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-broadcast flake with polyaspartic clear | Speckled, granite-like texture | Hides dirt and imperfections, good grip, tough topcoat | Flake colour is hard to change later |
| Solid-colour epoxy with clear topcoat | Clean, uniform colour | Bright and easy to sweep | Shows dust, tire marks and scratches more |
| Epoxy with no topcoat | Glossy at first | Lower cost | Yellows in sunlight and scratches faster |
Most of our garage floors use a flake system: a pigmented epoxy base, vinyl flake broadcast to full coverage, and a clear polyaspartic topcoat. The flake hides the dust, salt marks and hairline cracks that show on solid colours.
Topcoat choice matters because epoxy is not UV-stable and will amber where sun hits it through an open door. Polyaspartic topcoats hold their colour, resist abrasion and hot tires better, and stand up well to salt and de-icers.
Winter Salt, Snowmelt and Slip Resistance
Kelowna's cold, wet months are hard on bare garage concrete. Meltwater carrying salt soaks in, and freeze-thaw cycles flake the surface.
A sealed, coated floor stops salty slush from soaking into the slab. It stays on top as a puddle you can squeegee out the door, and the coating does not stain or pit the way bare concrete does.
Any smooth floor is slippery when wet, so we add an anti-slip aggregate to the topcoat on every garage. Flake systems already have some texture, and we can add more grit to the walking paths and the step into the house.
Cure Times: When You Can Park Again
Cure depends on the product and the slab temperature. These are typical times on a slab at room temperature, and we give you exact times for your system.
| Stage | Epoxy base with epoxy or urethane topcoat | Epoxy base with polyaspartic topcoat |
|---|---|---|
| Light foot traffic | About 24 hours | Often the same evening or next morning |
| Parking vehicles | Usually 5 to 7 days | Usually 24 to 48 hours |
| Full chemical resistance | About 7 days | About 7 days |
Parking too soon is the most common cause of hot tire pickup on a professionally installed floor. A coating that feels hard to your shoe can still be soft enough for a hot tire to mark or lift.
Cold slabs slow everything down. Most epoxies need the slab and air comfortably above 10°C to cure properly, so we check slab temperature and the dew point before starting, and reschedule if the garage is too cold.
Garage Epoxy Costs
These are typical ranges for a full flake system, including materials. We confirm your price in a written, itemised quote after measuring and testing the slab.
| Garage | Typical range | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Single garage | $1,800 to $3,200 | Floor size, crack repair, moisture primer |
| Double garage | $3,000 to $5,500 | Floor size, condition, old coating removal |
Removing an old peeling coating, heavy crack and spall repair, and a moisture-tolerant primer all add to the price. Most garages are finished in two to three days, plus the cure time before parking.
Our 1-year labour warranty covers peeling or delamination caused by our prep or installation, not damage from dragged equipment or chemicals spilled before full cure. Full warranty terms are on the process and warranty page, and other project prices are on painting costs in Kelowna.
Garage Floor Epoxy FAQs
Can you epoxy a new concrete floor?
Yes, once the concrete has cured, which typically takes about 28 days. Even then, we test it for moisture first, because a new slab in a closed garage can still be releasing water. Coating too early is one of the surest ways to get blistering.
Will epoxy be slippery when wet?
A smooth, glossy coating can be, which is why we add anti-slip aggregate to the topcoat on every garage floor. Flake texture adds grip too, and we can add more grit to walking paths and steps.
How long does a garage floor coating last?
A ground, properly installed flake system with a polyaspartic topcoat typically lasts many years in a residential garage. The topcoat takes the wear and can be scuffed and recoated when it dulls, without redoing the whole floor. Thin kits over etched concrete usually show wear at the tire paths much sooner.
Do you coat shop and business floors too?
Yes, through our commercial team. Shops, warehouses and other business floors need heavier systems and different scheduling, covered on our commercial epoxy floor coatings page.
Keep exploring
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Commercial Epoxy Floors
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Unfinished basement walls and floors are often next on the list after the garage.
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Detached garages and shops can have their siding and doors painted at the same time.
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Every home painting service we offer, from interior walls and cabinets to stucco, decks and garage floors.
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Typical 2026 price ranges for interior, exterior, cabinet, deck, epoxy and commercial painting in Kelowna, with worked examples.
Read moreService Areas
Kelowna, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation lands, Lake Country and communities within a 30-minute drive.
Read more
Slab moisture check included
Get a Garage Floor Quote
Call 778-946-5725 or send the form to book a garage floor walkthrough. You get 15+ years of experience, WorkSafeBC coverage and a 1-year labour warranty on every floor.
- 15+ years experience
- Licensed & insured
- WCB coverage
- 1-year labour warranty
Mon to Fri 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. · Sat 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. · Sun 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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Or call 778-946-5725 or email info@pacificpaintingbc.com.