Garage Floors In Milton Are Scaled By Salt Brine Every Winter
Rubber surfacing gives a garage slab a surface that road salt cannot pit. Milton is a commuter town, and a car that has run Highway 401 or Derry Road in February carries a slush of salt brine that drips onto the slab for hours. Bare concrete drinks that brine in, the pores freeze overnight, and the top of the slab comes off in flakes.
By the fifth winter the parking spot is a dusty crater and the dust comes into the house on every boot. We grind off the loose material, fill the pits, and pour a rubber surfacing layer that salt runs off instead of into.
New Milton Garages Sit On Clay That Moves
Rubber surfacing stays bonded to a garage slab that shifts a little with the seasons, because the material flexes. Most of Milton's garages were built after 2000 on the reddish clay plain that fills the town below the Escarpment. That clay holds water, swells when it freezes and settles when it dries, and a garage slab poured in a hurry on top of it often cracks within a few years.
Where a crack is still opening, it gets repaired before anything is poured. A hairline crack that has settled down is bridged by the rubber surfacing, which stretches over it instead of splitting.
What We Do On A Milton Garage Floor Rubber Surfacing Job
Rubber surfacing on a garage floor starts with a diamond grind to open up the concrete and remove any paint, sealer or oil that would block the bond. Oil spots under the engine get degreased twice. The slab dries, then it is primed.
We mix black SBR granules with binder and trowel the rubber surfacing to three-eighths of an inch, or up to three-quarters where the traffic is heaviest, snug to the walls and the threshold at the door, where a protected edge keeps tires from lifting it. It takes boots the following day, and the car comes back in after about 48 to 72 hours. A driveway apron or the walk to the side door can be done in the same pour.