Epoxy Flooring in Solon, IA

Epoxy flooring in Solon often starts with a question about the boat. The town sits a few miles from Lake Macbride State Park, a 2,180-acre park around a 900-acre lake with seven boat ramps. Plenty of Solon garages store a boat on a trailer, kayaks, coolers, fishing gear and bikes next to the family cars. That mix of wet gear, dripping trailers and heavy tongue jacks is hard on bare concrete.

What lake gear does to a slab

A trailer that comes home wet leaves puddles under its tires and frame. Lake water carries grit and algae, and the puddles sit for hours. A tongue jack or wheel dolly puts a lot of weight on one small spot. Bare concrete soaks up the water and stains, and the jack can chip the edge of a joint over time. A bonded coating sheds the water so it can be squeegeed out, and a harder topcoat takes the point loads better.

For these garages we usually recommend:

• A flake broadcast system, which hides grit and water spots
• A polyaspartic or urethane topcoat for scratch resistance
• Extra texture in the area where the boat is stored, since wet hulls drip
• Filling control joints where a dolly rolls across them, so the wheels do not catch

A growing town with families

Solon had 1,177 people in 2000 and 3,018 in 2020, and its housing units grew from 496 to 1,126 over that time. In 2020, 42.0% of households had children under 18. Many homes here are newer, with attached garages that also serve as a mudroom. Wet swimsuits and muddy shoes cross the garage floor all summer, and slush and salt do the same in winter.

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Few homes change hands

The 2020 census put Solon's homeowner vacancy rate at 1.2%. The city's motto is "A Place to Put Down Roots," and the numbers fit it. Families who plan to stay usually ask for a system that will last many years. That is a ground slab, a full-thickness base coat and a hard topcoat, rather than a quick paint job.

Beyond the garage

We also coat basements and outbuildings around Solon. A finished basement can get basement floor epoxy or a metallic epoxy finish. A pole barn or shop used to store a boat over winter can get a shop and commercial system built for heavier loads. Every estimate includes a moisture test, because basements and outbuildings can hold more ground moisture than an attached garage.

Winter in a lake garage

In winter the boat is usually covered or stored, and the garage fills with snow gear instead. Slush and road salt come in on tires, and a snow blower often lives by the door. A sealed floor keeps salt brine on the surface where it can be pushed out. A rubber mat under the snow blower protects the topcoat from metal skids. Rinse the floor on a mild day in spring before the boat comes back in.

Timing around the boating season

Spring and early summer are the busiest time for garage work, and they are also when the boat comes out. If you can schedule your floor while the boat is still in winter storage elsewhere, the garage is easier to empty. A polyaspartic system can often be walked on the same day and parked on soon after. We give you written times for your floor before we start.