Epoxy Flooring in Raymond, IA

Epoxy flooring in Raymond often means coating a garage for the first time. Raymond was platted in 1867 as a shipping point on the Illinois Central Railroad, but much of its housing is far newer. Wikipedia's census figures show the town went from 537 people and 206 housing units in 2000 to 788 people and 320 units in 2010. ACS estimates from Point2Homes count 80 homes built from 2000 to 2009, or 22.9% of the housing stock.

Those houses are now around twenty years old. Their attached garages have seen twenty winters of salt on bare concrete, and many are starting to show it. That is often the point when an owner decides to coat.

A first coating on a used slab

A garage that was never sealed has had two decades to soak up whatever came in on the tires. Before we coat it, we:

• Check for salt scaling in the parking lanes and near the door.
• Look for oil and fluid stains that have worked into the surface.
• Grind the whole floor to remove the weak top layer.
• Fill any pitting and cracks, including at control joints.

After that, most Raymond garages get a flake system with a polyaspartic topcoat. Polyaspartic resists yellowing in sunlight, which matters in an attached garage where the door is open on summer afternoons.

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The older homes too

Raymond is not all new. About 20.1% of its homes were built in 1939 or earlier, and the William Waterfield House here is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Older houses in town may have detached garages or basement floors that need crack repair and paint removal before any coating. We handle those the same way we would in Waterloo's older neighborhoods, with prep matched to the slab.

Owner-built and owner-kept

Nearly every home in Raymond is a detached single-family house: 340 of 349 units. About 93.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. For homeowners planning to stay, we usually recommend a thicker system that will hold up for years rather than a quick single coat.

Larger driveways, more salt

On the east side of the metro, homes on bigger lots often have longer driveways. Over a winter, that means more salt brine on the tires by the time the car pulls in. The first few feet inside the door take most of it. On a slab that was never sealed, that strip is often where we find the deepest scaling. We grind past the damage and patch it so the coating sits on sound concrete.

Keeping a floor in good shape

Once the floor is coated, upkeep is simple:

• Squeegee standing slush out during the winter.
• Rinse the floor in spring to clear salt film.
• Put a mat or pad under kickstands and jack stands.
• Wipe up fuel or brake fluid when it spills.

We leave written care notes with every job so the steps are easy to follow.

Basements in newer homes

Most of the 2000s houses in Raymond have basements, and many are still bare concrete. A newer basement slab was usually poured over a vapor barrier, so it tends to test drier than an old one. That makes it a good candidate for a solid-color or metallic epoxy if you plan to finish the space. We still test before quoting, because a damp corner or a sump area can change the primer we use.