Metallic floors, poured for Altadena
If the floor in your Altadena garage is peeling from a store-bought kit, that is our kind of job. We grind it off, fix the cracks and coat it properly. It sits in Los Angeles County, about 28 miles south of Palmdale.
Altadena homes, by the numbers
About 28 miles south of Palmdale. Housing figures from the US Census.
Half the homes in Altadena are older than about 1945 and half are newer, by the Census count. Slabs this old have often settled a little, with a crack running from a corner or a low spot where water sits. That is normal and fixable. We fill cracks with a repair material made for coatings, grind the high edges flush, and tell you up front if a crack is the kind that will keep moving.
A coating bridges small cracks; it will not stop a slab from shifting.
Stand-alone houses make up the bulk of it, roughly 87%. With mostly stand-alone houses, the work out here leans toward garages and the occasional home shop or patio. Each one is its own slab with its own history, so we look at it in person before we put a price on it.
Around 76% of households own their place. We read those numbers the way we read a slab: they tell us whether to expect garages, rentals or shop floors before we drive out.
Altadena is one of the older communities in the foothill belt below the San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains, on the north side of greater Los Angeles. Close by, typical homes run from about 1941 in San Pasqual to 1960 in Pasadena, and Altadena sits on the older side of that spread.
What wears a floor down here
The Verdugo and San Gabriel foothills.
Summer heat settles in along the mountains’ edge. Foothill neighborhoods often run warmer than areas closer to the coast, with afternoons in the 90s and heat waves that push well past 100. Old detached garages rarely have insulation, so they turn into ovens by midafternoon, and their single-wall construction lets the heat straight through to the slab. Cars parked in them come off the freeways hot. Shade from big old trees helps some lots and does nothing for others. A floor here has to handle a hot slab, hot tires and a building that never really cools off during a heat wave.
In an older commercial space, we plan for what is under the last floor. The crew opens test spots to find mastic, leveling compound or old coatings, then grinds it all down to sound concrete before choosing a system. Restaurants usually point toward urethane cement, showrooms toward metallic or polished finishes, and shops toward a thick epoxy build. We phase the work around your hours so the doors reopen on time.
Where a long driveway runs downhill to the garage, the door threshold takes the water. We seal the coating edge carefully at the door and along the walls so runoff cannot get under it, and grit in the top coat keeps the wet entry from getting slick. If water regularly sheets into the garage, a drain or a threshold seal at the door is worth more than any coating, and we will tell you that straight.
Picks for Altadena garages and shops
Garage Floor Epoxy Coatings
Flake, metallic or solid garage floors built on a full diamond grind, with a top coat that handles hot tires and oil.
Flake Epoxy Flooring
Colored vinyl chips broadcast into an epoxy base and sealed under a clear top coat, for garages, shops and patios.
Concrete Crack Repair
Cracks chased open, filled with rigid or flexible filler depending on movement and ground flush, with honest talk about what will show.
The next towns over
- Pasadena
2.2 miles away, Los Angeles County
- La CaƱada Flintridge
3.9 miles away, Los Angeles County
- San Pasqual
4.1 miles away, Los Angeles County
- San Marino
5 miles away, Los Angeles County
More in Los Angeles County, on the services page and in the gallery.
Asked and answered
Do you come out to Altadena?
Yes. Altadena is about 28 miles south of our shop in Palmdale, inside the 60 miles we cover for homes and well inside the 150 we cover for commercial and industrial work. We come out, look at the floor and give you a price after we have seen it.
What should I know about a slab from around 1945?
Look for cracks from settling, a worn and pitted surface, and low spots near the door. Most of that is fixable with crack filler, patching and a full grind. We will tell you which cracks are done moving and which might keep going.
Water runs down the driveway into our garage when it rains. Can a coating fix that?
A coating keeps water from soaking into the slab, though it will not stop water from coming in. For that you need a drain or a threshold seal at the door, which we would recommend before or alongside the floor. We seal the coating edges well so runoff cannot creep under them.
We turned the garage into a studio. What floor makes sense?
A metallic or solid color floor with a satin top coat suits a room people live and work in. Old carpet glue, tile adhesive or paint has to be ground off first, and we check for moisture since older slabs often lack a vapor barrier. Flake is still an option if the space gets rough use.
Our garage is from the 1930s and sits at the back of the lot. Is it worth coating?
Usually, yes, once the slab proves sound. Expect more prep than a newer garage, since crumbling edges, settling cracks and decades of paint and oil all have to be dealt with. We tell you during the look if the concrete is too far gone for a coating alone.
Can you coat the floor of an older commercial building?
Yes. Older commercial floors usually hide mastic, leveling compound or old coatings under the last finish, so we open test spots and grind down to sound concrete. Then the system matches the use, from urethane cement in kitchens to metallic in showrooms. Work gets phased around your hours.
Can I send photos first?
Yes. Photos of the whole floor, the worst crack and any old coating help us tell you what you are looking at before we drive out. We will still want to see it in person before giving a final price, since a photo cannot show moisture or a sealer.
Can it all happen in one day?
Sometimes, on a small, clean slab with a fast-cure system. Most floors need more than that, because grinding, crack repair and each coat take their own time. We would rather add a day than rush a cure and have the floor fail.
Why do store-bought epoxy kits peel?
Most kits skip real surface prep and rely on a cleaner or an etch. The coating ends up sitting on top of dirt, sealer or a smooth trowel finish, and hot tires pull it right off. A proper grind is what changes that.
What about cold weather?
Cold slows the cure, so on chilly days we watch the slab temperature and adjust the products and the schedule. Cold nights matter too, since the floor keeps curing after we leave. Sometimes the right call is to wait for a warmer stretch.
Planning a floor
in Altadena?
Send a few photos of the floor and the room and we will tell you what it needs.
What to send and what happens next. Want proof first? See the floors.