Epoxy Flooring in Cedar Rapids, IA

Epoxy flooring in Cedar Rapids has to handle a wide swing of conditions on the same slab. Wikipedia's climate figures for the city put the average January high at 27.9°F and the average low at 11.3°F, with July averaging 82.8°F by day. The Eastern Iowa Airport records about 26.7 inches of snow a year, and the city hit -30°F on January 31, 2019. A garage floor here sits through months of freezing slush and salty meltwater, then a humid summer. The coating has to stay bonded through all of it, which means the work under the coating matters as much as the coating itself.

A city of mixed-age concrete

Cedar Rapids has housing from every decade. American Community Survey data for 2019 to 2023, as summarized by Point2Homes, shows that 14.3% of the city's homes were built in 1939 or earlier, and the median year built is 1974. Neighborhoods close to downtown such as Wellington Heights and Oakhill Jackson have many older houses with detached garages and thin, patched slabs. Northern neighborhoods and newer subdivisions have attached two- and three-stall garages with flatter, sounder concrete. Before we quote, we look for old paint and sealers that have to come off, cracks and settled sections, and low spots where water pools.

The river and the basement

On June 13, 2008, the Cedar River crested at 31.12 feet in Cedar Rapids, far above the old record of 20 feet. Wikipedia reports that 1,126 city blocks flooded and about 5,900 homes were evacuated. Many basements and garages in the flooded area were cleaned, repaired or rebuilt afterward. A basement slab that has been under water, or that sits on damp ground, can push moisture up into a coating and make it blister. That is why every basement estimate starts with a moisture test. If the slab is damp, we use a moisture-tolerant primer or tell you the water source needs to be fixed first.

Radon is common here

Iowa HHS states that Iowa has the largest share of homes above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L, at 71.6%, and that the EPA lists the entire state as Zone 1. Coating a basement floor does not replace a radon mitigation system. If you are finishing a basement, test for radon before the floor goes in so any mitigation work, such as a suction point through the slab, is done first.

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Floors that work hard

Wikipedia notes that grain processing directly supports about 4,000 jobs in Cedar Rapids, that the city is one of the largest corn-processing centers in the world, and that Collins Aerospace is the largest employer. A lot of people here work around production floors, and a lot of homeowners run their garage like a shop. Workbenches, rolling tool chests, floor jacks and spilled fluids all wear on a finish. For those floors we use thicker systems and harder topcoats, and we add texture where boots and wet tires meet the floor.

The systems we install

• Epoxy base with a polyaspartic or urethane topcoat: strong adhesion to ground concrete, with a topcoat that resists scratches and UV.
• Flake broadcast floors: colored vinyl chips spread into the base coat, which hide dust and salt residue and add grip.
• Polyaspartic systems: fast-curing coatings that can go down in a single day and handle cooler shoulder-season temperatures.
• Metallic epoxy: a poured, swirled finish for finished basements, rec rooms and dealerships.
• Shop and commercial floors: heavier 100% solids systems for carts, lifts and chemical exposure.

What the job includes

• A walk-through to agree on what gets moved and where
• A moisture test and a written note of cracks, spalls and old coatings
• Diamond grinding across the full floor and along the walls, with dust collection
• Crack and spall repair, with control joints filled or kept open as you prefer
• Base coat, color or flake layer, and a clear topcoat
• Written cure times and winter care instructions for your specific floor

Our base is Cedar Rapids, and we cover Linn, Johnson, Benton and Jones counties. That includes Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Palo, Fairfax, Ely, Center Point, Springville, Mount Vernon and Lisbon in Linn County; Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Tiffin and Solon in Johnson County; Vinton, Atkins and Shellsburg in Benton County; and Anamosa and Monticello in Jones County. The floors change a lot across that area. Marion's median home was built in 1994 and North Liberty's in 2004, so many slabs there are newer and need less repair. Iowa City and the older parts of Cedar Rapids have more pre-war houses with detached garages and aged concrete. River towns such as Palo and Vinton have a flood history that shows up in basement moisture. Each town page covers what we know about local floors.