What prep and repairs cost before a garage floor coating (2026)

Eight US installers publish what prep or repairs do to their price. We used only prices installers publish as their own, not market ranges. Before citing a business we checked that it is a real, named business with an address or licence we could look up, that it shows real finished jobs of its own, and that its site shows no signs of lead generation.

For crack and pit repair priced on its own, the flat amounts run from $97 to $600. The $97 is the low end of crack repair at Solid Custom Floor Coatings. The $600 is the top of Check's Epoxy's range for crack and pit repair.^{[1, 7]} Croc Coatings prices a damaged floor per square foot instead: $1 to $3 more for cracks, spalling or a failed earlier coating.^[13]

For removing an old coating, Ace Garage Pros shows $220 more on a 2-car garage of about 440 sq ft, and Solid Custom Floor Coatings adds about $1.00 per square foot for an existing epoxy or polyaspartic coating.^{[3, 7]} Carefree Stone's calculator shows $3,150 to $3,725 for a 2-car floor of about 450 sq ft over an existing coating, against $2,475 to $3,050 in good condition. The difference is $675, by our arithmetic.^[11]

For a moisture barrier, three installers publish a price, from $1 to $4 per square foot. The $1 is the low end at Professional Garage Concepts. The $4 is the top of Red Diamond Epoxy's range, which it says is already inside its quotes.^{[2, 8]} Ace Garage Pros sits between them: $660 on about 440 sq ft, which is $1.50 per square foot by our arithmetic.^[3]

Three of the eight are in Dallas-Fort Worth and two are in the Phoenix area. The others are in northern Illinois, Colorado and the Inland Northwest. That is eight installers, not a national average.

Prices for the whole floor, in US dollars, are on our guides to epoxy garage floor cost in Dallas-Fort Worth, epoxy garage floor cost in Phoenix, epoxy garage floor cost in Chicago, epoxy garage floor cost in Minneapolis-St. Paul, epoxy garage floor cost in Jacksonville and epoxy garage floor cost across the US.

Three Canadian installers publish an add-on price: two in the Edmonton area and one in Toronto. They passed the same checks. Every figure in this section is in Canadian dollars.

Whitcrete's calculator adds a flat amount for the condition of the concrete, the same at every garage size: nothing for a floor in excellent or good condition, $150 for a few cracks and minor spalling, $300 for many cracks and moderate spalling, and $500 for cracks, spalling and pitting.^[9]

M&M Floors says old paint, oil stains, cracks or pitted concrete add 1 to 2 hours of grinding per 100 sq ft, and tells readers to budget $0.75 to $1.50 more per square foot for heavy prep. On its own 2-car example of 484 sq ft that is $363 to $726, by our arithmetic.^[4]

GLI Epoxy Flooring publishes its moisture primer price on its basement guide, not on a garage page: $1.50 to $3 more per square foot. On the same page, crack repair on more than 5 percent of the surface adds labour, with no figure given.^[10]

Other Canadian installers on our guides publish what their price includes and no add-on price. Epoxy Experts in Vancouver quotes deep crack repair, a moisture mitigating primer and old coating removal on top of its rate, as separate lines on the written quote.^[5] None of these pages says whether sales tax is included, so ask before you compare quotes.

Prices for the whole floor, in Canadian dollars, are on our guides to epoxy garage floor cost in Edmonton, epoxy garage floor cost in Toronto, epoxy garage floor cost in Vancouver and epoxy garage floor cost across Canada.

"Prep included" nearly always covers the grinding. It often covers small cracks. It rarely covers heavy repair, removing an old coating or a moisture barrier. What follows is what installers say about their own prices.

What installers put inside the price

• Check's Epoxy marks diamond grinding and prep as included, and prices crack and pit repair on its own.^[1]
• Professional Garage Concepts lists a full diamond grind and crack, spall and pop-out repair under its full flake price.^{[2, 12]}
• Ace Garage Pros includes hairline cracks and small pits, and confirms heavier repair on site.^[3]
• Solid Custom Floor Coatings says its garage prices include diamond surface prep, crack repair and coating in and out of the expansion joints.^[7]
• Red Diamond Epoxy says its ranges include diamond grinding and surface prep, and that its figures include crack repair and a moisture vapor barrier.^[8]
• Integrity Concrete Coatings says almost every floor it quotes stays inside its range, repairs included.^[14]
• Floor Shield Phoenix says cracks and pitting are repaired as part of the installation, and that full removal of an old coating is built into its upfront quote.^[15]
• M&M Floors says its rate card prices include grinding and crack repair. Epoxy Experts says every one of its rates includes diamond grinding.^{[4, 5]}
• Wish Coatings lists diamond-ground prep and crack repair on every job. Surface Coating Experts lists diamond grinding, crack and pit repair and a primer or moisture barrier in its price. Epoxy Dudes lists grinding, patching and moisture testing in its pricing.^{[16- to 18]}
• Garage Boss and Garage Strategies both list concrete repair and diamond grinding among the steps of their installs.^{[19, 20]}

What sits outside it

• At Professional Garage Concepts, removal of a failed coating, a moisture vapor barrier primer and heavy spall repair add to the number and are itemised on the written quote.^[2]
• At Ace Garage Pros, existing-coating removal, moisture protection and finish upgrades are itemised when needed.^[6]
• Croc Coatings says its base pricing covers a single-colour flake floor in good condition.^[13]
• High Performance Concrete Coatings, near Chicago, says repair work can be extra and is not included in its decorative system prices. It gives no figure, and says extensive repair work may add a day.^[21]
• Saguaro Surface Coatings, in the Phoenix area, says removing an old coating is not included in its advertised promotion prices.^[22]
• TORQ Coatings, near Chicago, says a basic garage floor coating includes grinding, the coating and standard flake coverage, and puts surface preparation at 30 to 50% of the total cost.^[23]

So when a quote says prep is included, ask which repairs it covers, and what happens to the price if grinding uncovers more damage.

In US dollars: Solid Custom Floor Coatings lists crack repair at $97 to $297, depending on severity. Check's Epoxy lists crack and pit repair at $200 to $600, only where the slab needs it.^{[1, 7]} Carefree Stone's calculator shows $2,825 to $3,375 for a 2-car floor of about 450 sq ft with minor cracks, which is $325 to $350 above its good condition price by our arithmetic.^[11] At Integrity Concrete Coatings, cracks move a floor from the $6 end of its range toward the $10 end, and Croc Coatings adds $1 to $3 per square foot for a damaged floor.^{[13, 14]}

In Canadian dollars: Whitcrete's calculator adds $150 for a few cracks and minor spalling and $300 for many cracks and moderate spalling. M&M Floors counts cracks in its $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot for heavy prep.^{[4, 9]}

Small cracks are often in the price already

Ace Garage Pros includes hairline cracks and small pits. Professional Garage Concepts, M&M Floors and Wish Coatings each list crack repair as part of the job.^{[2- to 4, 16]} Dallas Epoxy Guys says minor cracks, chips and pits can often be repaired during prep, and that more serious cracking or movement in the slab may need more work or a different recommendation.^[24]

What the repair is

Simiron's system guides say cracks, holes and eroded or spalled areas should be patched, and the patch scraped or ground flush with the surface.^{[25, 26]} Professional Garage Concepts describes its own method: cracks are chased open, vacuumed and filled with a rigid or a flexible polymer, depending on whether the crack is active.^[12]

What a repair will not do

A filled crack can come back. Simiron's guides warn that moving joints and shrinkage cracks may show through the coating, and that joints built to move should be kept as joints.^{[25, 26]} Warranties say much the same. Integrity Concrete Coatings and Epoxy Experts both say their warranties do not cover cracks in the concrete.^{[5, 14]}

In US dollars, no installer we checked prices pitting by the square foot of damage. The figures that cover it are Check's Epoxy's $200 to $600 for crack and pit repair, Solid Custom Floor Coatings' skim coat of damaged areas from about $299, and Croc Coatings' $1 to $3 per square foot for a damaged floor.^{[1, 7, 13]} Carefree Stone's calculator shows $3,375 to $3,950 for a 2-car floor of about 450 sq ft with heavy damage, which is $900 above its good condition price by our arithmetic.^[11] Professional Garage Concepts includes ordinary spall and pop-out repair and itemises heavy spall repair on the quote.^[2]

In Canadian dollars, Whitcrete's calculator adds $500 for concrete with cracks, spalling and pitting, and M&M Floors counts pitted concrete in its $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot for heavy prep.^{[4, 9]}

Why pitting costs more than a crack

Pitting and spalling are damage across an area, so the repair is patching or skim coating and then grinding flush, not filling a line.^{[7, 12]} A1 Concrete Coatings, near Chicago, says road salt, snowmelt and freeze-thaw leave older slabs with scaling and pitting that has to be ground out and repaired before a coating will bond.^[27]

Croc Coatings notes that a thin polyaspartic build will not level deep pitting the way a thick epoxy mortar coat can, so a rough slab may need extra prep.^[13] Garage Strategies in Edmonton says holes and cracks can be repaired before coating, but concrete that has broken off cannot be added back with its repair compound.^[20]

In US dollars: Ace Garage Pros' estimator adds $220 for an old coating or paint on a 2-car garage of about 440 sq ft, $130 on a 1-car garage of about 260 sq ft and $340 on a 3-car garage of about 680 sq ft. That is $0.50 per square foot, by our arithmetic.^[3] Solid Custom Floor Coatings says paint and DIY kits often come off at no charge, and that an existing epoxy or polyaspartic coating adds about $1.00 per square foot.^[7] Carefree Stone's calculator shows $675 more for a 2-car floor of about 450 sq ft with an existing coating, which is about $1.50 per square foot. Both figures are our arithmetic.^[11] Croc Coatings counts a failed earlier coating in its $1 to $3 per square foot for a damaged floor.^[13]

Others do not price it apart. Integrity Concrete Coatings says removal adds grinding time and moves a floor up inside its range. Professional Garage Concepts itemises it, and says a failed coating can need a full removal day. Floor Shield Phoenix builds it into the quote. Saguaro Surface Coatings leaves it out of its promotion prices.^{[12, 14, 15, 22]}

In Canadian dollars, M&M Floors counts old paint in its $0.75 to $1.50 per square foot for heavy prep.^[4] Epoxy Experts quotes old coating removal on top of its rate after seeing the slab.^[5]

Why it has to come off

Professional Garage Concepts puts it this way: coating over an existing film means the new system is only as strong as the old bond under it.^[12] Makers say the same in their install guides. Simiron's 1-Day Polyaspartic guide says to completely remove previous coatings or sealers, and Laticrete's chip floor guide says the surface must be free of previous coatings and sealers.^{[25, 28]} Simiron's epoxy flake guide says to grind with 30 grit metal diamonds until any topcoat that is not epoxy based is gone.^[26]

When an old coating can stay

Sometimes. GLI Epoxy Flooring in Toronto says a well-bonded, intact epoxy floor can sometimes take a polyaspartic topcoat after prep and scuffing, but peeling, bubbling or delaminated epoxy must come off first.^[29] Integrity Concrete Coatings and Floor Shield Phoenix both say they remove the old coating in most cases.^{[15, 30]}

A sealer counts too

Sherwin-Williams' concrete prep guide gives a check: pour water on the floor. If it forms droplets, a sealer or paint may be on the surface, and it has to be removed by diamond grinding, shot blasting or another mechanical method.^[31]

How paint, DIY kits and professional coatings differ is in our guide to epoxy vs garage floor paint.

In US dollars: Professional Garage Concepts prices a moisture vapor barrier primer at $1 to $2 per square foot as an add-on, with an extra cure day. On its own 2-car size of 400 to 550 sq ft that is $400 to $1,100, by our arithmetic.^[2] Ace Garage Pros' estimator adds $660 for a moisture vapor barrier on a 2-car garage of about 440 sq ft, $390 on about 260 sq ft and $1,020 on about 680 sq ft, which is $1.50 per square foot by our arithmetic.^[3] Red Diamond Epoxy lists its moisture vapor barrier at $2.50 to $4 per square foot as an add-on, and says on the same page that it is already included in its flake and metallic quotes.^[8]

Check's Epoxy quotes moisture mitigation for your space and publishes no figure.^[1]

In Canadian dollars, GLI Epoxy Flooring's basement guide adds $1.50 to $3 per square foot for a moisture mitigation primer when the readings call for it.^[10] Epoxy Experts in Vancouver says every job starts with moisture testing, and prices a moisture mitigating primer after seeing the results.^[5]

What it is

It is an epoxy primer that goes on the ground concrete before the base coat. Professional Garage Concepts uses a 100 percent solids epoxy vapor barrier primer with its own cure window. Ace Garage Pros describes its barrier as a two-component epoxy layer installed directly over prepared concrete, under the rest of the system.^{[12, 32]} It is not a fix for water. Ace Garage Pros says a barrier does not fix leaks, flooding, cracks or structural movement.^[6]

When a moisture barrier is needed

Coating makers set a moisture limit for the slab and call for a barrier above it. Simiron's data sheets for its polyaspartic and for its 100% solids epoxy say the slab must not give off more than 3 pounds of moisture per 1,000 sq ft in 24 hours or read above 75% relative humidity, and that its moisture vapor barrier primer may be required above that.^{[33, 34]} Laticrete's chip floor guide sets the same 3 pounds or 75%, and says its moisture vapor barrier is necessary above it.^[28]

Limits differ by product. Westcoat's sheet for its EC-12 epoxy primer gives 5 pounds or 75% and says to contact the maker above that.^[35] Simiron's one-day epoxy flake system, with 16 mils of its fast-cure epoxy, tolerates up to 12 pounds or 85%.^[36]

The two tests: ASTM F2170 and ASTM F1869

ASTM F2170 measures relative humidity inside the slab with probes. ASTM F1869 uses calcium chloride to measure how much vapor leaves the surface, in pounds per 1,000 sq ft per 24 hours.^{[37, 38]} A sheet of plastic taped to the floor (ASTM D4263) only indicates that moisture is there. Sherwin-Williams' prep guide says it will not tell you how much.^{[31, 39]}

A test is a snapshot. ASTM says results show the moisture condition of the slab only at the time of the test and in the places tested.^{[37, 38]} Simiron warns that on a slab with no moisture barrier under it, seasonal ground moisture can push past the limit whatever the earlier test said.^[33]

Test first, or add it anyway?

Installers differ, and it changes the price. Professional Garage Concepts runs a calcium chloride test or an in-slab humidity probe on slabs that raise a flag, and adds the primer when the test calls for it.^[12] Ace Garage Pros says it does not perform routine moisture testing, and recommends the barrier as an option on Dallas-Fort Worth garage floors.^[32] Red Diamond Epoxy's cost page says a barrier is required on every Dallas-Fort Worth slab it coats. Its moisture barrier page says the barrier is standard on metallic floors, and that for other systems it tests every floor and recommends one when moisture is above safe levels.^{[8, 40]}

Ask which approach your installer takes, how the slab was tested, and whether the barrier is a line of its own on the quote.

Moisture matters most below grade, which we cover in our guide to epoxy basement floor cost.

Grinding is the prep that is nearly always in the price. Check's Epoxy marks it as included, and Epoxy Experts, Solid Custom Floor Coatings, M&M Floors, Red Diamond Epoxy and Professional Garage Concepts each say their prices include it.^{[1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8]} It is not a small part of the job. TORQ Coatings puts surface preparation at 30 to 50% of the total cost of a floor.^[23]

Coating makers ask for it. Simiron's data sheets say to diamond grind or shot blast the concrete to a concrete surface profile (CSP) of 3 or more. Sika's Sikafloor-264 sheet asks for CSP 3 to 4, and Laticrete's chip floor guide asks for mechanical grinding to CSP 2.^{[25, 28, 34, 41]} CSP is the International Concrete Repair Institute's scale for how rough the surface is, from 1 (smoothest) to 10 (roughest).^[42]

Acid etching is what DIY kits use. Rust-Oleum's EpoxyShield kit comes with a mild citric acid etch.^[43] Sherwin-Williams says acid etching cannot remove curing compounds or oily deposits, tends to leave a CSP 1 to 2 profile that suits only very thin coatings, and puts water into the slab. Its tech tip adds that etching can leave a residue that blocks bonding.^{[42, 44]}

Installers say the same about their own work. Professional Garage Concepts says it does not acid etch. Garage Strategies does not recommend acid etching or sanding in place of grinding. Ace Garage Pros says acid etching does not reliably remove oil, grease, existing coatings, sealers or curing compounds.^{[12, 20, 45]} Wish Coatings says a low quote often means an etched slab, not a ground one, and a thin topcoat. Ask which prep you are paying for.^[16]

The figures on this page are the extras. The price of the floor itself depends on its size and on the coating system.

For a price range on your own floor size, use our epoxy garage floor cost calculator.

What installers publish for 1-car, 2-car and 3-car garages is in our guide to epoxy garage floor cost by size.