The finish most garage floors end up as
Almost every garage we coat ends up as a flake floor, and the reasons are practical rather than fashionable. The pattern hides scuffs and drips, the texture gives you grip underfoot, and the sealed surface stops the slab holding dust the way raw concrete does.
It is built in layers rather than painted on. A coloured base coat goes down, vinyl flake is thrown into it by hand while it is still wet, then the whole floor is scraped back and sealed under a clear topcoat. The flake is suspended inside the coating, so it wears the way the coating wears rather than sitting on top waiting to be scratched off.
Get a Free QuoteWhat a flake epoxy floor actually is
A flake floor is built up in layers on top of your existing concrete slab. It starts with a coloured base coat of epoxy. While that base is still wet, coloured vinyl flake is thrown into it by hand so the chips land, settle and stick. Once the base has cured, the surface gets scraped back to knock off any sharp edges, and then the whole floor is sealed under a clear topcoat.
What that means for you is a solid, sealed surface with texture and pattern built into it, rather than a coat of paint sitting on bare concrete. The colour is not printed on and it is not a sticker. The flake is suspended inside the coating, so it wears the way the coating wears.
The flake itself is a thin chip of coloured vinyl. It comes in different sizes, from small specks that read almost like a speckled stone, up to broad chips that give you a chunky, obvious pattern. Most garage floors sit somewhere in the middle. The size of the chip changes the look far more than most people expect, so it is worth looking at a sample in daylight before you settle on anything.
How we build one, starting at the concrete
Most of the work happens before any resin goes down. Concrete looks flat and clean, but the top skin of a slab is usually closed off and often has a curing agent or old sealer sitting on it. If you coat straight over that, you are gluing the floor to a layer that was never going to hold.
So we grind the slab back first. Grinding opens the surface up and gives the epoxy something to key into, and it takes off the old paint, glue, adhesive residue or whatever else has been living on there. Once the surface is open, chips, gouges, control joints and cracks get filled and made good. Oil stains in a garage need to be dealt with properly, because oil sitting in the pores of the slab will keep pushing back against a coating.
After that the base coat goes down, the flake is broadcast into it, and the floor is left to cure. Then it is scraped, vacuumed and sealed. A standard garage is done in a day on site, with bigger floors running two or three, plus a curing window before the car goes back in.
We are happy to talk through the state of your slab before we quote it. An older Hills District garage with a patched slab and a few oil stains is a different job to a new build in Box Hill or The Ponds where the concrete has never had anything on it.
Choosing the colour and the blend
Flake is sold as a blend, which just means a mix of chip colours combined in set proportions. A blend might be built mostly around greys with a bit of white and black through it, or lean warmer with tans and creams. The base coat colour underneath shows through the gaps between the chips, so the base is doing quiet work on the final result even though you never see it directly.
- Coverage changes the look: heavier flake coverage gives a dense, uniform pattern where the base colour barely reads, while lighter coverage leaves more base showing and the whole floor looks calmer.
- Chip size changes the scale: small chips read as texture from standing height, larger chips read as pattern.
- Garage lighting shifts everything: a blend that looks crisp on a sample board in the sun can look flatter under a single fluorescent batten, so think about the light in the actual room.
These are the thirty-two pre-mixed blends we work with. Every one is listed with the base coat it sits on over on the epoxy flooring colours page, and you can try combinations yourself in the interactive epoxy visualiser.
Why flake is the one most people pick for a garage
Almost every garage we do ends up as a flake floor, and the reasons are practical rather than fashionable.
Flake hides things. A plain, solid colour floor shows every scuff, every drip and every hairline imperfection in the slab underneath. Because a flake floor has pattern and tonal variation across the whole surface, small marks disappear into the busyness of it. If someone leaves a bike against the wall or drags a toolbox across the floor, you are far less likely to notice afterwards.
The texture also gives you grip. Once the flake is broadcast and topcoated, the surface has a slight profile rather than being dead smooth. That matters in a garage, where wet tyres come in on a rainy day and water drips off the car for the next twenty minutes. It is not carpet, and a wet floor is still a wet floor, but there is noticeably more underfoot than a glass smooth finish gives you.
The other thing people notice straight away is how much easier the space is to keep clean. Sealed concrete does not hold dust the way raw concrete does. A broom or a blower gets most of it, and a mop handles the rest. Flake works just as well in a workshop, a storeroom or the back of a commercial space, for the same reasons.
The topcoat, and how a flake floor wears
The clear topcoat is the layer you actually walk on and park on. It locks the flake in, fills the gaps between the chips, and takes the abrasion so the flake underneath does not have to.
Topcoats can be finished at different sheen levels, from a high gloss through to something closer to satin. Gloss makes the colour pop and bounces light around a dim garage, which is a real advantage in a room with one small window. It also shows dust sooner. A lower sheen is more forgiving day to day but does not have quite the same lift to it. Neither one is wrong.
Living with it
A properly prepared and topcoated flake floor handles normal domestic garage use well. Car tyres, foot traffic, a workbench, kids on scooters, bins being dragged in and out. Sealed floors also stop the slab drinking up spills, which is the main reason old garage concrete ends up permanently stained.
Nothing is bulletproof, and it is fair to know where the limits sit. Dragging sharp steel across the surface can mark it. Hot tyres sitting on a floor that has not been given proper curing time can pull at a coating. Strong solvents left to sit are worth wiping up rather than leaving overnight. Sunlight through a wide open roller door, year after year, can shift the tone of a very light topcoat.
Looking after it is not complicated. Sweep or blow the grit out regularly, because loose grit under a tyre is what actually scratches floors. Mop with warm water and a mild cleaner when it needs it. Wipe up oil, brake fluid and petrol reasonably promptly. When a topcoat eventually starts to look tired after a long stretch of hard use, it can often be scuffed back and re-coated rather than the whole floor being pulled up.
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Tell us the size of the floor and any blends you like the look of, and we will bring samples to the quote.
0468 333 881sales@evoepoxy.com.auWe work out of Kellyville and cover Castle Hill, Kellyville Ridge, Bella Vista, Norwest, Baulkham Hills, Rouse Hill, Beaumont Hills, Glenhaven, Dural, Kenthurst, Box Hill, Stanhope Gardens, Glenwood, Parklea, The Ponds, Schofields, Winston Hills, Seven Hills, Northmead and Marsden Park.
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Frequently asked questions
How long before I can park on it?
Foot traffic comes back well before vehicle traffic does. Typical figures for the polyaspartic topcoats we prefer: light foot traffic at around five to six hours, light vehicle traffic at around twenty four hours, and full chemical cure between three and seven days depending on the system. Evo’s working figure is 72 hours before a floor goes back into normal use. None of that is a fixed promise, because temperature, humidity, the state of the slab and the system going down all move it. Kian gives you the actual dates for your job before we start.
Can you put a flake floor over a cracked or stained slab?
Usually, yes, but the cracks and stains have to be dealt with first rather than coated over. Cracks get cut out and filled, and oil contamination needs to come out of the concrete before anything goes on top. If a slab has a moisture problem or is badly broken up, we will tell you that up front instead of finding out the hard way six months later.
Will the flake feel rough underfoot?
There is a slight texture to it, which is the point, but a scraped and topcoated flake floor is comfortable to walk on in bare feet. If you want more grip again, for a ramp or a sloped driveway apron, extra additives can go into the topcoat.
Can I get a flake floor that matches the house?
Yes, within reason. Blends and base colours can be chosen to sit with your render, garage door and interior tones. Bring photos, or start with the epoxy flooring colours page and we can work from there.
Is flake better than metallic for a garage?
For a garage doing garage things, usually yes. Flake has texture for grip, the pattern hides scuffs and dust, and a repair blends into it. Metallic is smoother and glossier, which looks superb in a display space but shows every footprint and is harder to patch. If the garage is a showpiece rather than a workspace, have a look at metallic epoxy flooring.
Evo Epoxy Flooring
2 Affleck Cct, Kellyville NSW 2155
Servicing the Hills District & North West Sydney