Epoxy Flooring in Sinking Spring, PA

Epoxy flooring in Sinking Spring starts with what is under the concrete. The borough takes its name from a spring in the center of town that would sink into the ground from time to time and seem to vanish. Wikipedia notes that the borough has a large number of underground streams that carve out limestone and form sinkholes. Ground like that can settle unevenly, and when it does, the slab above it cracks. So crack assessment comes first on every job we do here.

Reading the cracks

Not every crack means trouble. We sort them into three groups when we look at a floor:

• Hairline shrinkage cracks. Nearly every slab has them. We rout and fill them before coating.
• Wider cracks with no height difference. Usually stable. We fill them with a semi-rigid or rigid filler and grind them flush.
• Cracks with one side higher than the other, or that have grown recently. These can mean the ground is still moving. We note them and recommend you have the cause looked at before a coating goes down.

A coating bridges small, stable cracks and makes the floor look continuous. It cannot hold together a slab that is still shifting, and we will tell you if we think yours is.

Newer homes than most of Berks

Sinking Spring is younger than its neighbors. Census estimates for 2019 to 2023, published by Point2Homes, give a median build year of 1991, and 26.4% of homes were built from 2000 to 2009. 71.2% are detached single-family homes and 76.6% are owner-occupied. That means many attached two-car garages with dense, smooth slabs. Those floors need diamond grinding before they can take a coating, and most owners here choose a flake floor for the garage.

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Along Penn Avenue

U.S. 422 runs east to west along Penn Avenue through the middle of the borough. Large employers include the Sunoco Logistics Montello Complex, a major refined products terminal, and an Alcon facility that makes devices for eye surgery. For businesses and shops along the corridor, we install commercial systems that handle forklifts, carts, cleaning chemicals and spills.

Radon and a sealed floor

Owners finishing a basement on this kind of ground often ask us about radon, since gas can move up through cracks in a slab. A coating seals the surface of the concrete. It does not replace a radon test or a mitigation system. If you are finishing a basement, test for radon first. If you already have a mitigation system, we coat around the suction point and leave the pipe and seal as they are.

Choosing a filler

The filler we use depends on the crack. A rigid epoxy filler works for a crack that has not moved in years. A semi-rigid polyurea gives a little where some seasonal movement is expected, such as a control joint. For wide cracks we may rout the crack into a clean V before filling. All of it is ground flush so it disappears under the flake.

How we run a job here

1. Walk the floor, map the cracks and take moisture readings. 2. Write a quote that lists each repair and each coat. 3. Grind the slab with dust collection. 4. Fill and level cracks, chips and joints. 5. Lay the base coat, the flake or color and the topcoat. 6. Leave you written cure times for walking, moving items back and driving.