Chip Floor Coatings in St. Petersburg, FL

Chip floor coatings are the most requested finish we install in St. Petersburg, and the reason is practical. A floor covered in vinyl chips hides the things that make a solid color look dirty a day after cleaning: sand tracked in from the beach, pollen blowing through an open door, tire marks and small scuffs. It also has a little texture, which matters in a city that averages 52.48 inches of rain a year. A flake epoxy floor is still a full resin system underneath. The chips are the visible layer between a bonded base coat and a clear topcoat, and they add character without changing how the floor is built.

What the chips actually are

The flakes, also called chips or vinyl flake, are small, thin pieces of colored acrylic or vinyl. They come in blends of three to six colors and in several sizes, from fine flecks to pieces about the size of a fingernail. We toss them by hand into the epoxy base coat before it sets. The base locks the flakes in place as it cures. Then we scrape off the loose and standing chips, vacuum, and seal the whole floor with a clear topcoat that fills around the flakes and evens out the surface. By HomeAdvisor's figure the flakes run only about $0.04 per square foot. Your money mostly buys the prep, the resin and the labor that make the floor last.

Full broadcast versus a light scatter

You will see two styles:

• Full broadcast. Flake is thrown until the base cannot take any more, so no base color shows. This gives the most texture, the strongest hiding power and a thicker overall system.
• Partial broadcast. A lighter scatter, with the solid base color left visible between chips for a sleeker, more modern look.

For garages, we recommend full broadcast in most cases. It hides more, tolerates more abuse and does a better job disguising old patches and slab flaws that grinding cannot erase completely. Partial broadcast suits a lightly used space, such as a home gym or a finished storage room, where looks matter more than grit.

Picking a blend that works in this light

Colors look different at the back of a dim garage than they do in a bright doorway with the sun behind you. Mid-tone grays, tans and mixed blends tend to hide sand and dust well. Very dark blends show light-colored dust and get hotter on a sunny threshold, while very light ones can show tire marks. Physical samples come along to the visit; we set them on your floor, in the doorway and in the shade, so you can judge them in the light they will live in. If the garage opens to the west, take a look at the samples in the late afternoon if you can.

A clear topcoat that will not turn amber

The clear layer over the chips does most of the work you notice day to day. It takes the scuffs, the chemicals and the UV. HomeGuide gives polyaspartic an excellent mark for UV and epoxy only poor to fair, so our standard topcoat over flake is polyaspartic. Plain clear epoxy over a gray blend can yellow over time in a garage with the door up. We can also tune the texture by how much we let the topcoat build around the chips. A thinner top leaves more grit, which is what you want on a floor that gets wet often. A thicker top feels smoother and wipes cleaner.

Carports, patios and screened rooms

Flake is not only for garages. Some homes have a carport, a small patio or a screened porch instead of a full garage, and those slabs see rain blowing in, bare feet and wet towels. Point2Homes ACS figures show that about 26% of homes in Largo and about 15% in Pinellas Park are manufactured homes, and many of those have a carport or patio slab that has never been sealed. A flake system suits those spaces well. It goes down fast, often in a day on a small slab, hides minor flaws in thin concrete and gives a secure feel underfoot. If you are in a park or community with rules about exterior work, check them first, and we will plan around them.

Where flake is the wrong choice

Flake is a great all-rounder, but not every room needs it. Inside a home, where you want a smooth, glossy look, a metallic or solid epoxy may suit better. In a commercial kitchen, a quartz-broadcast or other thicker system handles hot water and heavy cleaning better than standard vinyl chips. On a pool deck that bakes in full sun, a lighter cool-deck texture or overlay may be more comfortable on bare feet. We will tell you which finish we think fits during the estimate and why.