“Highly recommend Somar Epoxy. They did a great job, fast, efficient and very professional.”
Brenda C.
Google review
Surface prep and coating removal for Houston floors
A floor fails at the prep, not at the coating. Bad surface work is the leading cause of peeling, so every Somar job starts by stripping what is there, then diamond grinding and shot blasting the slab to the profile a coating needs to bite into. We also do it as its own job.
Why floors peel
Almost every peeling or lifting floor traces back to a coating that never bonded to the slab. The coating was fine. The concrete under it was sealed, dusty, or still carrying an old finish, and nothing can stick to that.
An acid etch or a pressure wash does not open a slab. It cleans the top of it. The profile a coating needs, the slight roughness it keys into, only comes from mechanically cutting the surface.
Oil, curing compound, and old sealer all sit in the top layer of the concrete. If they are not ground out, the new floor is bonded to them instead of the slab, and it comes up with them.
Strip, then grind, then blast
Whatever is on the floor comes off first. A failed epoxy kit, a peeling contractor floor, paint, or an old sealer gets stripped back to concrete before any grinding starts.
A diamond grind takes the slab to clean, open concrete and flattens the high spots. On slabs that need a heavier profile, or where a thick system is going down, the floor gets shot blasted as well.
The profile is matched to what is going on top. A thin polyaspartic and a thick self-leveling system want different roughness, and grinding to the wrong one is the same mistake as not grinding at all.
- Strip old coatings and sealers
- Diamond grind to clean, open concrete
- Shot blast where a heavier profile is needed
Removal as its own job
Not every floor needs Somar to coat it afterward. A DIY kit that failed in the first summer, a previous contractor's floor that is lifting, or a slab that has to be bare for a different finish all start the same way: get it off and get the concrete right.
Victor strips and preps the slab and you decide what happens next. Coat it, stain it, polish it, or leave it as clean concrete. If you want it left bare, say so on the quote and it gets priced that way.
What comes with the prep
Cracks, pits, and spalls get filled and ground flush after the grind, so the finished floor reads as one surface instead of a map of the repairs.
The slab gets checked for moisture before anything goes down, because water coming up through concrete is the other thing, after prep, that takes a Houston floor apart.
Grinding is done with dust extraction on the machine. It is still concrete work, but it is not a garage full of dust when the crew leaves.
How the quote works
Send a photo of what is on the floor now, the rough square footage, and what you want the floor to end up as. Victor tells you whether it strips, grinds, or both, and answers within 48 hours.
If the prep is part of a coating job, it is already in that quote. The garage floor epoxy page walks through the full grind, repair, coat, seal order for a floor that is being redone start to finish.
“Victor did a great job in our garage, he was very easy to work with and was very professional. Would definitely recommend.”
Jose G.
Google review
“Great work and did it efficiently.”
Mike S.
Google review
Questions about this floor
Grind, every time. Acid etching is faster and cheaper, and it is the reason a lot of garage floors fail in year two. Grinding takes off the top layer of concrete and gives the coating something to bite.
No. Cracks, pits, and spalls get filled and ground flush before the base coat goes down. If a slab has active moisture or movement we will tell you before we quote it.
Not on a floor that was ground and primed right. Hot-tire pickup happens when a coating sits on top of sealed or dirty concrete instead of gripping into it. Diamond grinding opens the slab so the coating bonds to it, and the polyaspartic topcoat is made for tire heat.
Got a floor that is peeling?
Send a photo of what is on it now. Victor tells you whether it strips, grinds, or both, within 48 hours.
