Basement Floor Coating in River Forest, IL

Seamless epoxy floor coatings bonded onto the basement slab of an older River Forest house, with no subfloor to eat into a low ceiling and a finish that follows the slab into every corner, installed by our own crew.
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Epoxy floor in a finished basement room

A bonded coating for an older basement slab

A basement floor coating is epoxy bonded into the concrete in thin layers: a primer that fuses into the ground slab, a pigmented base coat, a finish of flake, solid color or metallic, and a clear polyaspartic topcoat. It follows the slab it is applied to, into corners, around posts and up to the foot of the stairs.

It is for the basement of an older River Forest house, where the ceiling is low, the slab was poured by hand and has settled, and the floor plan is cut up by posts, stairs and utilities. Very few floor coverings suit that space well. A coating that goes directly onto the concrete does, and it turns a lower level most people only pass through into one they can use.

The finished floor is seamless and sealed, warm in color and easy to keep clean, and it makes an old lower level look cared for. Coated floors we have installed are on our gallery.

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Sealed concrete floor in an older basement
Home gym with a gray epoxy flake floor and exercise equipment

Why coating beats building a new floor over it

In an old basement every inch of headroom counts. Building a subfloor, laying plank on underlayment or pouring a topping all add height under a ceiling that has none to give, and each one adds a layer that can trap damp. A coating adds no subfloor at all: it becomes the surface of the slab you already have.

There is nothing to demolish or haul up a narrow stair. The concrete is ground, repaired and coated in place, and the floor you end up with is the slab itself, sealed, finished and protected, rather than a new floor resting on top of an old one.

And it works around the basement as it is. A floor that has to meet stone or brick foundation walls, pass around posts and run into the space under the stairs is far easier to coat than to cover with anything cut to fit.

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Benefits of a coated floor in an old basement

Protects the slab and keeps the room fresh. The coating is seamless and non-porous and protects the concrete from moisture and water damage. Dirt, dust, mold and allergens have nowhere to collect, and the finish is low odor, low VOC and hypoallergenic.

Easy to keep clean. An old slab dusts and stains; a coated one is swept and mopped with soap and water. There is no waxing and no stripping, and spills at the laundry end wipe up instead of soaking in.

Hard wearing, and brighter. Industrial-grade epoxy under a polyaspartic topcoat resists abrasion, impact, chips and stains, and a light finish reflects the light you have, which does a great deal for a room with small windows and a low ceiling.

Epoxy flake, solid color and metallic on an older slab

Epoxy flake. Colored flakes broadcast into a pigmented base coat and sealed under the topcoat. On an older slab it is usually the first choice: the blend is forgiving of a surface that is not perfectly flat, the texture gives grip, and it hides everyday marks. A flake floor can also be refreshed with a new topcoat later on.

Solid color epoxy. One even color under a clear topcoat. It is the plain, practical finish for the laundry, the furnace area and a workbench, and a pale tone brightens a low room more than extra lighting does.

Metallic epoxy. A self-leveling resin with metallic mica pigments, worked by hand for the look of marble, stone or liquid metal. It is one of the thickest epoxy systems, so it can even out a floor that is not level, and its gloss suits a room lit artificially. It is the choice where one part of an old basement is being made into a proper room.

Preparing a hand-poured slab that has settled

We grind every slab mechanically. Diamond grinders remove old paint, stains, dirt, adhesive and whatever decades of use have left on the surface, and open the pores of the concrete so the primer can bond into it.

Cracks from settlement, holes, spalls and broken edges are opened out, cleaned and filled flush. Old patches around a floor drain or a replaced pipe are ground back and repaired so they do not show through the new floor. An old slab often carries several generations of repairs, and each one is brought level with the concrete around it.

The edges get as much care as the middle: along stone or brick foundation walls, around each post, at the stair and in the space beneath it. Grinding, repair and moisture control done here are what stop the coating peeling or bubbling later.

(630) 206-5602
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Unfinished basement with a bare, uneven concrete floor before preparation

The coats applied to an older slab, in order

We roll a primer that fuses into the ground concrete and forms the bond. Once it has cured the pigmented base coat goes on. For flake, the flakes are broadcast into it until the surface is covered; for solid color a second coat of color is applied; for metallic the tinted resin is worked by hand while wet.

On a flake floor the loose chips are scraped back once the base coat has cured, so the texture is even across a floor that may not be.

The clear polyaspartic topcoat goes on last. It is glossy, abrasion resistant and UV stable, and it takes the traffic and the cleaning for the life of the floor.

(630) 206-5602
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Diamond grinding an old basement slab before the coats go on

Older houses in River Forest and the basements under them

River Forest is a village of older houses, much of it built in the early decades of the last century, and the basements share their character: low ceilings, hand-poured slabs, stone or brick foundations and posts in awkward places. We coat basement floors in River Forest and the neighboring Cook County suburbs.

We work out of our shop in Roselle, and the people who come out to look at the basement are the people who install the floor. The business is veteran owned and locally operated, licensed and insured, with an extended warranty on craftsmanship.

Ask for a quote on your River Forest basement floor

The visit is free and commits you to nothing. We come out, look at the slab, the walls and the way the space is used, recommend a finish, and quote the job. Call (630) 206-5602 or email info@evolveconcretecoating.com to arrange a visit. We answer Monday to Sunday, 9 AM to 6 PM.

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Proudly delivering professional concrete coatings across these Illinois suburbs and surrounding communities.

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