Basement Floor Epoxy in Green Bay, WI

Basement floor epoxy turns a dusty, gray slab into a floor you can mop. It brightens the room, seals concrete dust and stands up to washers, workbenches and storage shelving. In Green Bay, the key is moisture. A basement slab sits in cool ground, and the air above it is humid much of the year. Wikipedia puts the city's average relative humidity at 72.8%.

Two kinds of moisture

• From below: water vapor rises through the slab from the soil. If a coating traps it, pressure can build and the coating can blister or lift.
• From above: in summer, warm humid air meets a cool slab and condenses on it. The EPA recommends indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%, and a dehumidifier helps both the room and the floor.

We check for both. Every basement estimate includes a moisture reading. If it is high, we use a moisture-tolerant primer or tell you the water source has to be fixed first.

The soil under Brown County homes

Much of eastern Wisconsin sits on clay-rich glacial till. The USDA soil survey describes the Kewaunee series, which covers more than half a million acres across a dozen Wisconsin soil surveys, as having a silty clay or clay subsoil with moderately slow or slow permeability. Water drains slowly through ground like that, which is one reason basement moisture is common here.

Older homes, older basements

About 13.7% of Green Bay homes were built before 1940 and another 15.5% in the 1950s, according to ACS data summarized by Point2Homes. Older basement floors are often thinner, patched or painted, and some have uneven spots. Paint and old sealers must be ground off before a new coating will bond. If there are cracks that move or leak, we tell you before any coating goes down.

Radon first

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says about 1 in 10 Wisconsin homes has high radon, with gas entering through the foundation, and that levels above 4 pCi/L are considered high. A floor coating is not a radon mitigation system. If you are finishing the basement, test first. Kits cost about $10 to $30.

Finishes for basements

• A solid color with a clear topcoat for laundry and utility rooms
• A flake broadcast for texture and hiding dirt
• Metallic epoxy for finished rec rooms, bars and home theaters
• A light color to brighten a room with small windows

What it takes

We clear the floor with you, grind it, repair cracks and pits, and apply the system in one to three days. Basement coatings do not see hot tires or road salt, so the focus is on bond, moisture tolerance and the look you want.