Shop & Pole Barn Floor Epoxy in Bismarck, ND

Shop and pole barn floor epoxy is a different job from a home garage. Around Bismarck and Mandan, many properties have a heated shop or pole building beside the house, and the edge of town has a steady supply of shop condos and small commercial bays. Those floors carry pickups, tractors, trailers, lifts and toolboxes. They collect diesel, hydraulic fluid, grease and the same winter brine and sand as any garage, often in larger amounts. A thin residential coating will not last there.

What a shop floor has to handle

• Point loads from jack stands, lifts and equipment feet
• Dragged steel, dropped tools and rolling toolboxes
• Diesel, gasoline, hydraulic oil, antifreeze and grease
• Heavy sand and brine loads from trucks and equipment in winter
• Floor drains and trench drains where water collects
• Wide doors that let cold air sweep across the slab

Thicker systems for heavier use

For shops we lean toward 100% solids epoxy, which builds a thicker film than water-based products, and we often use a broadcast of flakes or quartz aggregate for texture. HomeAdvisor notes that commercial-grade 100% solids coatings start around $12 per square foot and that high-grade coatings add 20% to 30% to the total. We finish with a chemical-resistant clear coat. Where drains and slopes matter, we coat around them carefully so water still runs where it should.

Oil-soaked concrete

Shop slabs often have years of oil and fluid in them. A coating will not bond to concrete that is still pushing oil to the surface. We degrease, grind, and in bad spots cut out and patch contaminated concrete before coating. We point out these areas at the estimate so they are part of the price from the start.

Commercial floors

We also coat floors in small commercial spaces: service bays, warehouses, storage units, dealerships, back-of-house rooms and shop condos. Schedules matter more on these jobs, so we can stage work by section or use faster-curing polyaspartic products when a space can only close briefly. HomeAdvisor notes that commercial epoxy in heavy foot traffic can need recoating in two to three years, so we talk about maintenance coats up front.

Heated and unheated buildings

A heated shop is the easiest to coat any time of year, as long as the slab is warm enough for the product. Unheated pole barns are easier to coat in warmer months or with temporary heat. We check the slab temperature before we start and will not install on a floor that is too cold for the product to cure.