Concrete Grinding & Surface Preparation in El Paso TX - a slab your coating can grip

Most people call us when a garage floor coating has started to lift, when a dark oil patch won't come out, or when they're about to put down a new floor and want it to hold the first time. The price mostly comes down to how big the floor is, what's sitting on top of the concrete, like an old coating, sealer or oil that's soaked in, and how many edges, corners and columns need hand work. The schedule turns on the same things, plus whether the slab needs a moisture test before any grinding starts, so the estimate visit is where you get the figure and the plan for your own slab.

Prep is the part of this job I find most interesting, because every slab hides something. We start by finding out what's on yours, from old sealer to oil that's worked its way in, and we degrease the oil spots before we cut the surface so we're not grinding grease deeper into the floor. Then we match the method to the room, blasting with steel shot where there's open floor and diamond grinding along walls, around columns and in tight spaces a blaster can't reach. When the cutting's done, we vacuum and clean the floor, because grinding packs fine dust back into the pores and a coating won't bond to dust.

Prep is usually the first half of a bigger job. If you'd rather keep bare concrete and just protect it, concrete sealing goes on a ground or cleaned slab. If the surface is cracked, pitted or worn past what grinding can fix, concrete resurfacing and overlays give you a fresh top layer to build on.

Two local rules can touch a prep job here. El Paso Water says a dewatering permit may be required if a project will discharge wastewater into the stormwater system, and that system includes streets, so where rinse water or slurry ends up is something we plan before the first pass. The City of El Paso also registers general contractors for the residential work on its list, such as alterations, additions and foundation work, and registration asks for liability insurance and a construction bond. Permit rules change from one city and county to the next, so we check with the office that covers your address before we start, and if your job needs a permit, we handle the paperwork or walk you through it if you're filing as the owner.

Across El Paso we see a lot of garage slabs carrying years of oil and older coatings nobody kept records on, and we run into the same mix on jobs in Horizon City and Socorro. Those are the floors where testing a spot first beats guessing.