Epoxy flooring services
Garage Flooring in Huntington, NY
Free quotes for garage flooring in Huntington, NY.
Garage flooring is a choice between a resin coating, interlocking tiles, a roll-out vinyl mat and sealed bare concrete, and in Huntington three things decide it: the condition of the slab, the salt and meltwater your cars carry in, and how soon the floor must take a car again. At Islip's MacArthur Airport, NOAA's 1991-2020 normals put the days a year with snowfall of 1.0 inch or more at 7.9; at Centerport, inside the Town, they put the days with a low at or below 32 degrees F at 88.1 a year. We are a coating company: we install coatings, polish concrete and resurface slabs, and we do not sell tiles or mats. This page sets all four side by side in their makers' printed words, and says where tiles or a mat are the better choice.
Typical published range
Coating $4 to $12 per sq ft installed; tiles $2 to $5 per sq ft, self-installed; national (HomeGuide, Dec 2024)
The national surveys price all four floors. HomeGuide's December 2024 garage floor coating survey gives $4 to $12 per square foot for a coating with installation, against $2 to $5 for garage tiles you install yourself: $1,600 to $6,900 against $800 to $2,900 for a two-car garage. Angi's July 2026 garage flooring ideas page prices interlocking tiles at $3 to $7 per square foot and roll-out mats at $380 per roll on average, a standard roll covering 127.5 square feet. HomeGuide puts garage floor sealing at $1 to $3 per square foot, and attributes about 50% to 70% of a coating job to labor. No survey publishes a Huntington, Suffolk County or Long Island price, and none of these is ours. The full price tables give each line by survey.
The four floors differ in material and in thickness. A resin coating is a liquid cured on the slab and measured in mils, thousandths of an inch: a Rust-Oleum and Citadel chip floor specification dated January 15, 2025 applies its base coat at about 16 mils and its clear topcoat at about 12 mils, dry film. Interlocking tiles are plastic: RaceDeck prints its copolymer Diamond tile as half an inch thick, and Swisstrax lists its polypropylene Ribtrax Pro at "0.75 in". A roll-out mat is a sheet: G-Floor describes "100% solid PVC polyvinyl", from 0.055 of an inch to 0.12 of an inch thick. ICRI Guideline 310.2R-2013 places sealers at 0 to 3 mils. Our page on the epoxy flake system by garage size sets out a coating layer by layer.
A coating asks the most of the slab; tiles and mats ask the least. A coating bonds to the concrete, so we test the slab for moisture before we recommend one: Sherwin-Williams' Form G-1, revised 02/26, accepts no more than 3 pounds of moisture per 1,000 square feet per 24 hours under ASTM F1869, the calcium chloride test. We then grind the surface with diamond tooling to the concrete surface profile, the roughness that lets a coating grip, named on the system's data sheet. Tiles and mats skip both steps: RaceDeck describes "no tools, no glues, and no toxic fumes" and asks for 1/4 to 1/2 inch of expansion space at walls. Neither repairs a slab that is scaling (flaking at the surface), pitted or cracked; concrete resurfacing and crack repair does.
How soon the floor is back in use separates the four. RaceDeck gives 2 to 4 hours for a full garage, and Swisstrax states that its floors can be driven on immediately after installation. G-Floor lets its mat relax before trimming, typically 72 hours and longer in colder weather, and Prosoco's Siloxane PD water repellent gains its repellency in 72 hours. A coated floor stays empty while it cures: Sherwin-Williams' instructions for Resuflor Deco Flake SB allow light traffic after 24 hours at 75 degrees F and 50% relative humidity, with full properties at 14 days. The Rust-Oleum and Citadel specification also asks for 60 degrees F or above in the room and the floor; Centerport's normal January maximum is 37.9 degrees F, an outdoor reading, not a garage temperature.
For a written quote on a garage floor installation we need the size of the garage, what is on the floor now and what you see at the door and under the tires. Sherwin-Williams' article on floors that should not be epoxy coated lists "Concrete floors with sealers or hardeners" and "Previously coated floors" among those needing special preparation. Our written contract gives the start and completion dates and the cost of labor and materials, as Suffolk County Code section 563-21 requires, and names the coating products, as New York's General Business Law section 771 requires. A visit can also show that tiles or a mat suit the garage better than a coating.
Signs that point to a coating, to tiles or to a mat
The slab usually settles the choice before any product does. The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey puts the median year built of the Town of Huntington's housing at 1963, which suggests many garage slabs here are decades old. On a visit we look for the conditions below.
- Flaking or peeling near the garage door is what NRMCA's CIP 2 calls scaling, the result of cycles of freezing and thawing; repair comes first.
- Darkened or damp concrete under a box or rubber mat is a reason to test before coating; ASTM D4263, the plastic sheet method, indicates capillary moisture in concrete.
- A floor that must take the car the same afternoon points to tiles: Swisstrax states its floors can be driven on immediately, while Laticrete's guideline TDS 432 keeps its polyaspartic chip floor out of service for 24 hours.
- A rental or a planned move points to tiles or a mat: Swisstrax says its tiles can be taken along to a new home, and a coating stays with the slab.
- A sound, dry slab and cars that come in wet all winter point to a coating: the American Cement Association states that sealers and coatings "can also repel corrosive substances".
Moisture under tiles, mats and coatings, in the makers' words
Each floor handles water differently: by their makers' own wording, RaceDeck and Swisstrax tiles let some through to the slab, a coating holds it on the surface and can trap what rises from below, and a penetrating sealer lets the slab breathe. RaceDeck's FAQ states that its seams are "tight but not watertight", so that "a small amount can make it through the seams to your concrete", and its home page describes the tiles as channeled "to allow air and moisture to escape". Swisstrax's FAQ says the perforations in its drain-through tiles "allow debris, water, soap, and other liquids to flow through the tile". American Floor Tile states the opposite for its interlocking vinyl tiles: locked together, "the floor is water tight". The G-Floor pages we draw on carry no statement about moisture under a mat, so we make none.
Laticrete's data sheet DS-86.6-0126 calls its coating systems "nonporous", and Sika's knowledge base page on hydrostatic pressure and moisture vapor describes vapor rising through a slab that "becomes trapped beneath an impermeable film", where pressure can cause blisters. A garage slab may have nothing under it to stop that vapor: the 2018 International Residential Code, from which the previous (2020) Residential Code of New York State was derived, lists garages among the exceptions to its rule for a vapor retarder, the polyethylene sheet placed under a slab (Section R506.2.3). That is the model code's wording; we could not read New York's own. Prosoco's data sheet says surfaces treated with its Siloxane PD water repellent "breathe", and lists among its limits: "Will not keep water out of cracks, defects or open joints."
Road salt, snow days at Islip and freezing nights at Centerport
Road salt and meltwater reach a Huntington garage floor through a winter that NOAA's 1991-2020 normals put at 31.8 inches of snow a year at Islip and 88.1 nights a year at or below 32 degrees F at Centerport. Islip is outside the Town and Centerport inside it; NOAA has no snowfall normal for Centerport. At Islip the days a year with snowfall of 1.0 inch or more average 7.9, and 23.9 of Centerport's freezing nights fall in January. These are outdoor air readings, not slab temperatures; the monthly figures are on our Huntington floor coating data page. Suffolk County's draft hazard mitigation plan of August 2020 names roadways "that could be damaged due to the application of salt and intermittent freezing and warming conditions", and the Town's Highway Office, which counts almost 800 miles of roads and right-of-ways, is responsible for snow and ice control.
On concrete, NRMCA's CIP 2 says de-icing chemicals worsen freeze-thaw damage "by increasing the saturation of concrete at the surface". RaceDeck says some water reaches the slab under its tiles; its advice is that after winter "hosing, pressure washing, etc is a great way to remove any salt or road residue". On a coating it stays on the film until it is washed off: Laticrete's Spartacote Flex Pure data sheet recommends "frequent and thorough cleaning utilizing a neutral pH cleaner", and no coating maker's care guide in our sources addresses road salt. For bare concrete, the Federal Highway Administration's 2016 tech brief reports research suggesting penetrating silane or siloxane sealants "may provide a barrier to aggressive chemical deicers".
Warranty terms and exclusions as each maker prints them
The tile makers print warranty terms in years; the two coating documents quoted here print one year on the material, or no performance warranty at all. RaceDeck's home page says its tiles are "Backed by a 20-year manufacturer's warranty". Swisstrax's warranty page lists terms by product, among them 20 years for Diamondtrax 12-Series, 15 years for Vinyltrax Pro and 7 years for Diamondtrax Flex, and excludes "Cosmetic damage, including stains or discoloration" and "Damage from extended direct exposure to sunlight". G-Floor's warranty page limits its garage mat warranty to residential use and excludes "Color variation, surface stains, and rolling load dents".
For coatings, the Limited Product Warranty in Sherwin-Williams' Resuflor Deco Flake II submittal package covers defects in the material for one year from delivery and excludes "improper application including improper surface preparation" and "failure of or conditions related to the substrate". Rust-Oleum's technical data sheet ROC-109, for its one-part floor paint, states that its statements "do not constitute a warranty, express, or implied, as to the performance of these products". For a sealer, Prosoco's Siloxane PD data sheet gives an estimate, not a warranty: "Service life is estimated at more than 10 years." Our written quote states what is and is not covered.
Coating, tiles, mat or sealer: which floor for which garage
Each of the four floors is the better choice somewhere. Three can be judged from their makers' published pages and data sheets; bare concrete, from what NRMCA and the Federal Highway Administration print about sealers and de-icers. Each figure below belongs to the product named.
A resin coating
A two-part resin cured on a ground slab as one continuous film, for example an epoxy base with vinyl flakes broadcast into it and a clear polyaspartic topcoat. It suits a sound slab that passes the moisture test, an owner who is staying, and cars that come in wet. It does not suit a floor needed within hours, and Sherwin-Williams' article on selecting a floor system states that coatings "do not hide imperfections in the substrate". Our comparison of garage floor coatings covers the chemistries.
Interlocking tiles
Polypropylene or vinyl squares that snap together over the slab. RaceDeck says its tiles are "built to handle rolling loads over 80,000+ lbs"; Swisstrax gives a rollover weight of 60,000 lbs and says a damaged tile can be swapped. Tiles are the better choice for a slab that fails the moisture test, for a rental, and for a floor that must take the car the same afternoon. The trade-off is underneath: by RaceDeck's own account, some water reaches the concrete through the seams.
A roll-out vinyl mat
A sheet of solid PVC unrolled over the slab and trimmed once it has relaxed, with a gap of one inch left at walls in G-Floor's installation guide. G-Floor gives its care as "Mild soap + water, soft brush. Avoid harsh cleaners." Nothing is fixed to the concrete, so garage floor mats suit a rental or a slab you are not ready to repair or coat. They do nothing for the slab itself.
Sealed bare concrete
The slab itself, treated with a penetrating sealer; NRMCA's CIP 2, on scaling, recommends "a commercially available silane or siloxane-based breathable concrete sealer". A clear film sealer is a different product: H&C's data sheet for its ClariShield wet-look sealer, dated 7/20, says "Not recommended for garage floors". Sealing suits a sound slab whose owner wants the concrete left as concrete.
Questions
Garage Flooring FAQs
What is the best floor covering for a garage?
No single floor covering suits every garage; the slab, the use and the schedule decide it. A resin coating suits a sound slab that passes a moisture test and cars that come in wet: Laticrete's Spartacote Flex Pure data sheet describes its coating systems as nonporous. Interlocking tiles suit a slab that cannot be coated, a rental, or a floor needed the same afternoon: RaceDeck gives 2 to 4 hours to install a full garage. A roll-out mat suits a floor you want covered with nothing fixed to it, and a penetrating sealer suits sound concrete you want left bare.
Are garage floor tiles better than an epoxy coating?
Neither is better on every count: tiles are faster and portable, and a coating puts a film with no seams between the car and the concrete. Swisstrax states that its tiles "install in hours, not days, in any weather conditions"; RaceDeck states that its seams are "tight but not watertight". On national prices the surveys disagree: Bob Vila's April 2024 page prints $3 to $5 per square foot for garage floor tile and $3 to $12 for epoxy, while This Old House's April 2026 table lists interlocking tiles at $6.55 and an epoxy coating at $4.05, labor unstated.
Do hot tires mark garage floor mats, tiles or coatings?
On mats, sealers and coatings they can, by their makers' accounts; we have no tile maker's statement on it. G-Floor's FAQ answers "Possible" to tire marks on its mats. Euclid Chemical's bulletin CP-22 names the cause as plasticizer migration: tires heat up and plasticizers leach out of the rubber. It says acrylic cure and seal products discolor most and that epoxy and urethane coatings are "less likely to tire mark". Tennant's June 2017 maintenance guide calls such stains in a coating "impossible to remove" and calls for a barrier between tires and coating.
What does New York's building code say about a garage floor?
As far as we have read it, one line: "Approved noncombustible material, sloped". That is how the New York State Department of State's training handbook for the 2025 Residential Code of New York State summarizes Section R317.1, the garage floor section. We have not read the full section in the code book, so we draw no conclusion from that summary about tiles, mats or coatings laid over a slab. The Town of Huntington's Building and Housing guideline, revised 9/1/2021, says: "Please contact the Building Department before working on structures."
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