Garage Floor Coating in Sioux Falls, SD

Garage floor coating is the job we do most in Sioux Falls. Between the first snow in fall and the last one in spring, your car brings slush and salt in every evening. It melts, runs toward the drain or the low corner, and soaks into the slab. A coating closes the pores in that concrete so the brine sits on top, where a squeegee can push it out the door.

What salt does to a bare slab

KELOLAND reported in October 2023 that Sioux Falls used about 12,000 tons of salt on its streets the previous season. The Michigan Tech Transportation Institute's 2008 literature review for the South Dakota DOT describes sodium chloride causing severe scaling in concrete that freezes and thaws, and calls magnesium chloride more damaging than sodium chloride. Garage slabs see a softer version of the same cycle. The apron and the first few feet inside the door freeze and thaw the most and get the most meltwater, so that is where the flaking starts.

How to tell your floor is ready for a coating

• The surface near the door is flaking or rough
• Tire paths are darker or pitted
• White salt rings stay after the floor dries
• Oil and transmission fluid stains have soaked in
• Fine gray dust comes back after every sweep
• A store-kit coating or paint is lifting in sheets

New garages need prep too

Point2Homes' summary of 2019 to 2023 census data puts the median home in Sioux Falls at 1993, and nearly 41% of homes were built in 2000 or later. Many of those garages are flat, sound slabs. Builders often finish them smooth with a steel trowel or spray a cure-and-seal on top. Both leave a surface a coating cannot grip. We diamond grind new floors the same way we grind old ones, and we check for curing compounds before we start.

Older garages near the center of town

About 8.7% of the city's homes date from 1939 or earlier. Detached garages from that era and the decades after often have thin slabs, settled sections, patched cracks and layers of old paint. We take old coatings off by grinding, fill cracks and spalls, and tell you up front if a sunken slab needs leveling or replacement before a coating makes sense.

Picking a finish

A full flake broadcast is the most common choice in Sioux Falls garages. The chips hide dried salt and sand between cleanings and give the floor texture. A solid color with a light flake looks cleaner but shows more. Either one can take a polyaspartic topcoat for UV and wear resistance and a faster return to parking. We bring flake samples so you can see them in your garage light.

Winter care for a coated floor

• Squeegee meltwater out every few days during heavy snow
• Rinse the floor a few times through the season so salt does not build up
• Put a containment mat under each car if you want less cleanup
• Use a plastic shovel blade, not metal, on the coated surface
• Wipe up fluid spills soon; most are easy to clean if they do not sit for weeks