Rocket City Coatings

Epoxy Flooring

Two chemistries, one shop — specced by the slab, not the search term

Epoxy flooring is a two-part resin — liquid resin and hardener mixed on site — that bonds to prepared concrete and cures into a hard plastic wear layer. We install it where it earns its keep, and we'll tell you straight when it's the wrong tool for your floor.

Restaurant kitchen with seamless epoxy floor and integral cove base
Illustrative render — real installs in the gallery
100 % Solids epoxy we pour no solvent carrier in the bucket
3– 7 Days to drive on epoxy polyaspartic systems: 24–48 hours
2 Floor chemistries in-house epoxy and polyurea-polyaspartic

Is epoxy the right floor for you?

Depends on the floor. "Epoxy" is the word everybody types, because for thirty years it was the only resin floor in town. It's still a fine product — in the right place. The trouble is that installers keep selling it into the wrong one.

For residential garages, our standard build is the Rocket City System — a polyurea base coat, a full flake broadcast, and a polyaspartic topcoat. It beats epoxy on cure speed, UV stability, and tolerance for the moisture our slabs push up every spring. For warehouses, commercial kitchens, and metallic showpiece interiors, real 100%-solids epoxy is the right call, and we spec it without apology.

Same crew either way. We just don't have a favorite chemistry — we have a favorite outcome.

Epoxy vs polyurea-polyaspartic — quick reference
Question100%-solids epoxyPolyurea + polyaspartic
Vehicle traffic3–7 days24–48 hours
UV exposureAmbers at door linesUV-stable, holds color
Slab moistureLow tolerance — can blisterPolyurea base tolerates vapor
Install time2–3 days typical1 day, most garages
Best fitCommercial, metallic interiorsGarages, patios, exteriors

Not sure which floor you need?

Describe the space on the phone and we'll tell you which chemistry we'd put in it — including when the answer costs you less.

The two jobs epoxy still does best

Commercial floors. The epoxy we install commercially is 100%-solids, meaning there's no solvent in the mix — none of the applied thickness evaporates while it cures. That lets us build thick, chemical-resistant floors for forklift aisles, wash-down kitchens, and shop bays. Builds, cove bases, and striping options are on the commercial epoxy flooring page.

Metallic interiors. Metallic epoxy — pigmented 100%-solids resin, hand-worked while it levels — produces a depth no flake floor can touch. It runs $8–$14 per square foot and belongs indoors. The full honest writeup, scratches and all, is on the metallic epoxy page.

Who shouldn't buy an epoxy floor

Skip epoxy if it's a residential garage, an exterior slab, or anywhere sunlight lands. Three reasons, all local.

Our slabs sweat. A lot of Huntsville concrete — Jones Valley, Five Points, anything poured over poorly drained red clay — pushes moisture vapor upward, and moisture-sensitive epoxy base coats blister and let go. Epoxy also ambers wherever UV hits it, and it cures slow: most epoxy floors need 3 to 7 days before vehicle traffic, while a polyaspartic-topcoat system takes 24 to 48 hours. After a hot commute back from the Arsenal, tires sitting at 130°F can pull a softened epoxy film right off the slab.

None of that is a knock on the resin. It's a knock on using it where the conditions beat it. The chemistry side-by-side lives on the polyaspartic vs epoxy comparison, and the autopsy photos live on the peeling coatings page.

One more honest note: if you want epoxy because you've heard it's cheaper, get both quotes. A typical 2-car garage system from us runs $2,000–$3,800 installed, and it goes in between breakfast and dinner.

Do you install epoxy floors in residential garages?
Not as the base coat, no. Our garage build uses a polyurea base because North Alabama slabs push moisture vapor that blisters epoxy from underneath. We install epoxy where it wins: commercial floors with real chemical exposure, and metallic interiors. If somebody quotes you "garage epoxy," ask what the base coat is. That one answer predicts whether the floor peels.
How long before you can drive on an epoxy floor?
Most epoxy floors need 3 to 7 days before vehicle traffic, while a polyaspartic-topcoat system takes 24 to 48 hours. That gap is most of the reason one-day polyaspartic systems took over residential work — nobody wants to park on the street for a week.
Why do epoxy floors turn yellow?
UV light. Standard epoxy is an aromatic resin, and sunlight breaks its surface down into a yellowed, chalky film — you see it as ambering at the garage door line. Indoors under artificial light it holds color fine, which is one reason epoxy is still a legitimate commercial product. Anywhere the sun reaches, we use an aliphatic polyaspartic topcoat instead, because it's UV-stable.
Is epoxy flooring waterproof?
From the top, effectively yes — a cured epoxy floor won't let spills through, which is why commercial kitchens run it. From the bottom is where trouble starts: water vapor rising through the slab can break the bond and lift the floor. That's a base-coat and prep question, not a topcoat question, and it's the first thing we measure on any slab.

Get a number, not a runaround

Tell us what you're working with and we'll give you a straight price range on the phone. No pressure visit required to hear a number.

CALL (339) 368-5083