Epoxy Flooring Ottawa & the NCR: Residential & Commercial Coating, Installation & Repair

Prices vary by system: basement work ranges from $6.50 to $12 per sq ft, garage quartz flake with a polyaspartic wear coat lands between $10 and $15, metallic and decorative pours run $13 to $35, CFIA kitchens sit at $7 to $13, and ESD-compliant installations at $9 to $16. The single biggest variable is what the slab looks like when we arrive. Old coatings, deep cracking, or elevated moisture readings all add prep time. For commercial and industrial scopes we quote after a walkthrough since chemistry and downtime windows change everything.

A long service life is standard for a 100% solid epoxy base finished with an aliphatic polyaspartic topcoat, provided prep is done correctly and the floor is maintained. When we see coatings fail early, one of three shortcuts is almost always to blame. Acid etching leaves surface laitance behind and never builds a real mechanical bond. Skipping ASTM F2170 in-slab moisture testing lets vapour drive push blisters up from beneath. Solvent-based products lose film thickness as the carriers off-gas. A polyaspartic wear coat refreshed every seven to ten years, at roughly $2 to $6 per sq ft, keeps the base system going indefinitely.

The two chemistries do different jobs. A 100% solid epoxy contains no carrier solvents, so every millilitre applied stays in the film after cure. That delivers Shore D 78+ hardness and a structural bond to the CSP 3 diamond-ground concrete beneath it. Waterborne alternatives usually clock in at 40 to 60 percent solids: the balance evaporates and the floor ends up thinner than the wet build suggests. The aliphatic polyaspartic on top handles what epoxy struggles with. UV exposure, surface wear, thermal shock down to -25°C, and returning the floor to service inside 24 hours. Layering the two is our standard specification on every garage, basement, and commercial job.

Massively. Diamond grinding to a Concrete Surface Profile 3 finish strips away the weak surface laitance and opens the pore structure, so the epoxy keys mechanically into the slab instead of relying on chemical adhesion alone. Without that profile, vehicle loads and thermal cycling can shear the coating off. ASTM F2170 uses calibrated probes seated inside the concrete to read internal relative humidity, which is always higher than the surface reads. If a slab exceeds the manufacturer's threshold, we prime with a moisture-mitigating epoxy before any base coat goes down. Both readings are logged and filed for every project before the first drop of resin is mixed.

Structurally they are twins. Both sit on a 100% solid epoxy base bonded to a CSP 3 ground slab and both get finished with the same aliphatic polyaspartic wear layer, so Shore D 78+ hardness and chemical resistance line up. Where they part ways is texture. Broadcast quartz flake creates a naturally gritty surface that is inherently slip-resistant. Metallic pours are smoother by design, so we blend an anti-slip additive into the topcoat for kitchens, bathrooms, and any wet-service area. Metallic runs $13 to $35 per sq ft installed against $10 to $15 for quartz flake with polyaspartic. Care is identical for either: neutral pH cleaner, no waxes, no strippers.

Yes. We schedule overnight and 24-hour installs, and our fast-cure aliphatic polyaspartic systems put most commercial floors back under forklift traffic by the next morning shift. Warehouses and food-service kitchens usually stay operational by sectioning the work and rotating around production. Every crew is WSIB certified, carries $2M in liability coverage, and files full compliance paperwork on commercial contracts.