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Decorative Flake Epoxy · Dearborn

Decorative Flake and Chip Epoxy Floors in Dearborn, MI

Our crew broadcasts vinyl flake into the wet base, then seals your Dearborn floor under clear polyaspartic, all in about a day.

❦1 day installs · typical timeline

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Dearborn garage with dense flake epoxy floor.
Vinyl flake mix dropping into wet epoxy base.
Dense flake field under polyaspartic topcoat.
What we install

Why most Dearborn garages end up with flake

A Decorative Flake Epoxy floor is the look most Dearborn homeowners picture when they imagine a finished garage. Think granite. It reads as a rich speckled finish, and it quietly hides the wear an old slab carries. We build it by throwing vinyl chips into a wet resin base until the floor reads full, then we lock the whole thing down under a clear seal that shrugs off hot tires and road salt. The flake buries scuffs, tire marks, and the small cracks every Dearborn garage slab picks up over the years. Want that same toughness in one plain color instead? Our plain garage coating covers that too.

Here is how we pour a Decorative Flake Epoxy floor. First we grind the slab open so the resin grabs raw concrete instead of dust. Then we roll a pigmented base coat, and while it is still wet we broadcast the vinyl flake by hand. We keep throwing chips until the base will not take any more, which is what gives the floor its full, even look. The next morning we scrape the loose excess off, then seal the whole floor under a clear polyaspartic topcoat. That top layer is what takes the hot tires, the road salt, and the daily wear.

  • Throw continues until the wet base rejects more flake. Full coverage, no pebble look.
  • Hides scuffs, tire ghosts, hairline cracks, and the small flaws every old garage has.
  • Texture adds grip when boots track in salt brine in late February.
  • You pick the flake blend and base color before our crew pours it.
  • A standard garage built for two cars finishes the install in one working day.
Flake is the finish homeowners want because it hides the wear a real garage slab takes.

We pour Decorative Flake Epoxy floors all over Dearborn and the rest of Wayne County. The crew that brings the sample chips is the same crew that pours your floor, so the blend you sign off on is the blend you get. We read each slab before we quote, because an older garage floor near the east end needs different prep than a newer slab. When you call, you reach the people doing the work, not a call center. That honest start is why our flake floors land the way you pictured them.

Want the speckled floor that wipes clean and hides the mess? Call our Dearborn crew and we will bring the flake samples, read your slab, and give you a real timeline. One crew, one day, and a floor poured to match your garage.

Materials

Broadcast to rejection, in plain terms

Broadcast to rejection sounds like jargon, but it is simple. We pour a wet base coat, then throw vinyl flake over it by hand until the resin will not hold one more chip. That full load is what gives a Decorative Flake Epoxy floor its even, finished look instead of a thin scatter that shows bare patches. A cheap job throws a light handful and calls it done, so you end up seeing the base color through the gaps. We load the floor all the way, which is the difference between a real flake floor and a speckled paint job.

The flake itself is a thin vinyl chip, and it comes in blends of color built to hide grime. You pick the blend. We set the samples next to your space in your own garage light before the pour, so the floor matches your taste and not a screen. The morning after the broadcast, we scrape every loose chip off the surface and run a vacuum over the whole slab. Only then does the clear polyaspartic top go down, which locks the flake in place and gives the floor its glassy, sealed feel. That seal is also what takes the abuse, so the flake under it stays sharp for season after season.

  • Vinyl flake broadcast into wet resin until the base takes no more.
  • Full load means no bare patches and no thin speckled look.
  • You pick the flake blend and base color before the pour.
  • Morning after: scrape loose excess. Seal the adhered layer under clear polyaspartic.
Clean line where flake blend meets another.
Two-car garage finished with flake epoxy floor.
What about the alternatives?

Flake measured against the other home finishes

Flake is one of several ways to dress up a bare garage slab. Some finishes look great on day one, then wear thin within a season under hot tires and winter salt, while others hold up for years. Others last. Here is how the common options stack up against a full Decorative Flake Epoxy floor sealed under clear polyaspartic.

Solid color epoxy

One flat shade across the whole slab. It holds up fine, though scuffs and tire marks stand out on the plain surface.

Acceptable

Sparse decorative speckle

A light scatter of chips over the base, so bare patches and gaps still show through.

Skip

Full flake broadcast

Chips thrown to rejection for full cover, sealed under a clear topcoat that lasts.

Recommended

Quartz broadcast (vinyl alternative)

Tough mineral grain instead of vinyl, great for grip but pricier and more limited in color.

Acceptable

Metallic epoxy

A swirled, liquid look with real depth, though it shows wear more than a busy flake floor.

Recommended
How it goes

From quote to walk-on, fast.

Before you book

Worth confirming before signing a flake quote

A Decorative Flake Epoxy floor is a real project, so ask any installer these questions before you sign.

A neutral flake blend ages a lot better than a bold trend color. We steer most Dearborn homeowners toward a gray, tan, or earth tone blend that still looks right years out. Loud single colors are the ones that date fast. If you want a bolder floor we will pour it, but we will tell you straight how it tends to age.
Yes, within reason. We bring real flake samples and set them next to your cabinets or wall color in your own garage light. A blend can read warmer or cooler than the chip bag suggests, so we match it in the room, not off a screen. What you approve on the floor is what we pour.
No, it is a normal part of the job. After we broadcast to rejection, a layer of loose chips sits on top that never sank into the resin. The next morning we scrape and vacuum all of it off before the topcoat goes down. None of that loose flake stays on your finished floor.
It hides hairline cracks and surface flaws well, since the dense flake breaks up the way your eye reads the floor. We still chase and fill any real crack before we coat, because flake covers a flaw but does not repair it. On an older Dearborn slab that prep step matters more than the blend you pick.
When the clear top finally dulls after years, we can scuff it and roll a fresh coat without tearing the floor out. Changing the flake color itself means a new base and a new broadcast, which is closer to a full repour. So pick a blend you can live with, and the floor will carry it a long time.
Aftercare

What daily life with a flake floor looks like

A Decorative Flake Epoxy floor is built to be easy. The sealed top means dirt and salt sit on the surface instead of soaking in, so most weeks a dust mop and a damp mop do the whole job. Road salt is the one thing to stay ahead of through a Dearborn winter, so rinse the slush off when it pools. Treat the floor well and it carries its look through the 10 to 20 years epoxy systems are built to run, with almost no effort.

  • Sweep or dust mop weekly so grit cannot dull the clear top.
  • Damp mop with plain water or a mild, pH neutral cleaner.
  • Rinse road salt off in winter before it sits and hazes the finish.
  • Wipe oil and brake fluid before it soaks in overnight.
  • Put felt pads under jack stands and tool boxes to avoid scuffs.
Dearborn garage with dense flake epoxy floor.
How a finished flake install reads in the morning light
FAQ

Frequent questions about flake floors

Yes. The same crew that quotes your floor is the one that grinds the slab, mixes the resin, and pulls every coat across the concrete from the first pass to the final seal. Call us and you reach the people doing the work. No answering service, and no handoff to a stranger on install day.
Both are resin coatings. They just cure in different ways, and that difference decides where each one belongs in the floor. Standard epoxy goes down thick and builds a hard base over time, while polyaspartic sets in hours and stays clear in daylight instead of yellowing. So we often pour both. Each does the job it does best.
Across the market, professionally installed epoxy generally runs $3 to $8 per square foot for a solid color, with $5 to $7 the common middle of that band. Decorative flake systems tend to land around $7 to $12, and metallic finishes run $8 to $15, with slab condition moving the number more than anything else. Here in Michigan most homeowners come in toward the low end, around $4 to $7 for solid color. Treat those as market figures, not our quote. Every slab reads differently, so we look at yours before we put a number on it.
They are. As long as the work happens indoors, we heat the space, watch the slab temperature, and choose a system built to cure when the air outside is cold. Garages and basements stay workable straight through a Michigan winter. Outdoor pours are the ones we hold for warmer, drier weather.
Not if it is built right. Hot tire pickup happens when a thin coat never gripped the bare concrete in the first place, so it lets go the moment a warm tire settles onto it. We grind the slab open so the resin bites, then seal the top with a coat made to take heat and weight. Park on it daily and the floor stays put.
Plan on 10 to 20 years from a professional install, and 15 to 20 when the slab gets a full mechanical grind and a urethane or polyaspartic topcoat, which is how we build every floor we pour. Big-box DIY kits sit at the short end of that scale. They often peel within 1 to 3 years, and hot tire pickup is usually where the peeling starts.
For a Dearborn garage or basement, we think it is one of the better upgrades per dollar a homeowner can make. A sealed slab stops drinking in road salt, oil, and water, wipes clean with a mop, and outlasts paint or loose tiles by years. Where it becomes a bad idea is over damp or crumbling concrete, and we will tell you plainly if your slab needs a repair before any coating makes sense.
A bare gloss coat can be slick when it is wet, so we build the grip in on purpose. An anti-slip additive mixed into the topcoat keeps the surface slip resistant even when water sits on it, and a flake broadcast adds physical texture underfoot on top of that. In a Michigan winter, when boots drag in slush and brine every day, that grip is not optional and we do not treat it as optional.
No, and any installer who says yes is setting the floor up to fail. Epoxy only bonds to clean, open concrete, so tile, adhesive, paint, and any earlier coating have to come off first. We grind everything back to bare slab, fill the cracks, and build the new system from there. That strip and grind is most of the reason a professional floor stays down.
A DIY kit runs roughly $90 to $300 at the store, and most owners land somewhere around $300 to $700 all in for a two car garage once rollers, cleaners, and prep supplies get counted. Some handy homeowners get a result they are happy with. The catch is that big-box kits go down thin over concrete that was acid etched instead of ground, which is exactly why so many of them peel inside 1 to 3 years. A professional install costs more because the grind, the multiple coats, and the topcoat are what buy the 15 to 20 year lifespan.
Most residential installs take one day. A standard two car garage gets ground, coated, flaked, and sealed inside a single working day, you walk on the floor that same evening, and cars roll back on about 24 hours after the topcoat goes down. A basement that needs moisture work, or a repair that needs a full strip, can stretch to two days, and we give you the exact window before we start.
Epoxy is the thick base coat that bonds to the concrete and carries the color or flake. Polyaspartic is the clear top that cures in hours, stays hard under hot tires, and does not yellow in daylight. Polyurea is the parent chemistry behind polyaspartic, flexible and very quick, but tricky to lay smooth by hand. A DIY kit is a thin single coat of the same idea with the prep left out of the box. Interlocking tiles simply rest on the slab, so water and grit collect underneath instead of being sealed out. We pour epoxy for the body and polyaspartic for the shield, one system doing both jobs.
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