Epoxy Flooring in Hiawatha, IA

Hiawatha is a young city with a practical history, and epoxy flooring here follows that pattern. Wikipedia says Fay Clark and 45 other residents petitioned to incorporate, and the city was formed on June 12, 1950, named after Clark's trailer company. It went from 1,336 people in 1960 to 4,825 in 1980 and 7,183 in 2020. Most garages in town were built during those growth spurts, so most of the floors we see are 30 to 50 years old.

Two building booms

Point2Homes, using 2019 to 2023 Census survey data, puts Hiawatha's median year built at 1992. The two biggest decades are the 1990s at 21.9% and the 1970s at 14.9%. Those eras produced different floors:

• 1970s homes: often a single or narrow two-stall attached garage, a slab that has been salted for decades, and maybe old paint
• 1990s homes: wider two-stall garages with sounder concrete, usually never coated, now starting to scale near the door
• 2000s and later: about 32% of homes, often townhomes and newer infill with smaller attached garages

Garages that hold more than cars

Wikipedia notes that a Cedar Valley Nature Trail trailhead sits on Boyson Road in Hiawatha, and the trail runs just under 52 miles northwest to Evansdale. The Cedar River Trail also connects through town. A lot of Hiawatha garages hold bikes, trailers, a kayak and a workbench along with the car. Kickstands, trailer jacks and dragged gear scuff a thin coating quickly. We use a full flake broadcast with a hard topcoat on these floors because scratches hide in the chips.

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Rental units and quick turnarounds

Point2Homes reports a 66.8% owner-occupied share in Hiawatha, which leaves about a third of homes rented. For landlords and townhome associations, the main goals are a floor that cleans easily, resists oil stains and is ready again soon. A polyaspartic floor coating fits that well because it cures faster than standard epoxy. We can coat several units in a row and give you a written price per unit.

Older floors with old paint

Many 1960s and 1970s Hiawatha garages had a coat of porch or garage paint at some point. Paint peels in the tire paths and leaves a patchy floor. A new coating cannot go over it. We grind the old paint off down to clean concrete, fill pitted areas and any cracks, then apply the new system. If you are not sure what is on your floor now, we can tell at the estimate.

Basements here

Hiawatha has plenty of split-level and ranch homes with partly finished basements. Basement floor epoxy works well for laundry rooms and storage areas. We test moisture first, and if the readings are high we use a moisture-tolerant primer or recommend fixing the water source before coating.

Choosing between epoxy and polyaspartic

Both work well on Hiawatha garages. Epoxy is a strong, thick base coat that grips ground concrete well. Polyaspartic cures faster and resists UV, so it often goes on top as the clear coat or replaces epoxy entirely on quick jobs. Many of our Hiawatha floors use an epoxy base with flakes and a polyaspartic topcoat. We explain the tradeoffs on site and price both if you want to compare.