13 blends. Real samples in two showrooms.
Flake Garage Floor Systems in Dallas-Fort Worth
Short answer
A flake garage floor is a coating system with vinyl chip broadcast into the wet base coat and sealed under a clear topcoat. Partial broadcast flake runs $5 to $6 per square foot installed in Dallas-Fort Worth. Most jobs finish in a single day.
The floor that hides every patch, spill and old crack repair in your slab.
Overview
A flake garage floor is a coating system with vinyl chip broadcast into the wet base coat and sealed under a clear topcoat. In Dallas-Fort Worth it runs $5 to $8 per square foot installed depending on broadcast density and flake size, which puts a typical two-car garage between $2,200 and $4,500.
It is the system most DFW homeowners end up choosing, for a practical reason. A solid color floor shows everything: every drip, every tire mark, every place the slab was patched. A full flake broadcast breaks up the sight line so the floor still looks clean after five years of actual use. It also builds real surface texture, which matters on a floor that gets wet.
Professional Garage Concepts has been working DFW garages since 2001 and holds 532 Google reviews at 4.8 stars. Come hold the actual blends at our Keller or Grand Prairie showroom, or call (817) 381-6173 for a measured quote.
Full broadcast vs partial broadcast
Broadcast density is the first decision, and it changes both the look and the price. It refers to how much flake goes into the wet base coat.
Full broadcast means we keep throwing chip until the floor physically rejects any more. No base color shows through. The finished floor is essentially a solid layer of vinyl chip suspended in resin, which is what gives it the depth, the texture and the ability to hide slab imperfections. It also uses considerably more flake, which is where the cost difference sits.
Partial broadcast is a controlled lighter coverage, usually somewhere between 30 and 60 percent, with the base color deliberately visible between the chips. It reads more subtle and modern, costs less, and works well when the slab underneath is in good shape and you want a cleaner, less busy look. It hides less.
We install full broadcast on most residential garages. If your slab has old patches, previous anchor holes, or a repaired crack running across it, full broadcast is the right call and partial will disappoint you.
- Full broadcast: chip to refusal, no base showing, maximum texture, hides the most, $6 to $8 per sq ft.
- Partial broadcast: 30 to 60 percent coverage, base color visible, subtler look, less texture, $5 to $6 per sq ft.
- Full broadcast is scraped and ground back before topcoat, which is what makes it flat rather than rough.
- Partial broadcast leaves a smoother floor, so add grit to the topcoat if traction matters.
Flake size: 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4 inch
Chip size changes the whole character of the floor. Same blend, three sizes, three different floors. This is the decision people most often get wrong from a photo, because flake size does not read on a phone screen.
The practical rule: smaller chip reads as color, larger chip reads as pattern. A 1/16 inch blend from ten feet away looks like a single mottled color. A 1/4 inch blend from ten feet away looks like terrazzo, with individual chips clearly visible.
- 1/16 inch. Fine speckle. From standing height it reads as one soft color with a slight granite texture. The most forgiving choice if you are unsure. Smoothest finished surface of the three.
- 1/8 inch. The industry standard and our most requested size. Individual chips are visible up close but the floor still reads as a unified color from across the garage. Best balance of texture, appearance and cost.
- 1/4 inch. Bold and architectural, close to a terrazzo look. Individual chips are clearly defined. It builds the most texture and the most film thickness, hides the most, and takes the most scraping and grinding work before topcoat, so it prices at the top of the range.
- Mixed sizes. Some blends combine 1/8 and 1/4 inch chip for depth. We keep these as sample panels because they photograph poorly and look excellent in person.
Our flake color blends
These are the blends we stock and install across DFW. Every one is available in 1/16, 1/8 or 1/4 inch chip, and the same blend looks meaningfully different in each size. We keep full-size sample panels of all of them at both showrooms so you can put one on your own floor color and see it under real light.
Custom blends are available too. If you want the flake pulled toward a specific wall color, cabinet finish or a vehicle you are proud of, we can mix it.
- Domino. Black, white and gray chip on a black base. The classic high-contrast garage floor. Hides tire marks and dust better than anything else we install.
- Tuxedo. Black and white chip on a charcoal base with no gray transition. Cleaner and more graphic than Domino, and the most popular choice for showpiece garages.
- Gunmetal. Charcoal, silver and light gray on a dark gray base. Reads as a modern industrial floor. Pairs well with black cabinets and a dark door.
- Slate Creek. Medium gray, blue-gray and white on a gray base. The most neutral blend we sell and the safest pick for a home you may sell.
- Blackland. Warm browns, tan and cream on a chocolate base, named for the prairie soil under most of this metroplex. Hides red DFW dirt better than any gray blend.
- Cedar Ridge. Deep brown, russet and copper flake on a brown base. Warmer and richer than Blackland, and it works with brick and stone exteriors common in Southlake and Colleyville.
- Desert Sand. Tan, beige and off-white on a sand base. Bright, low contrast, and it keeps the garage feeling lighter, which matters in a bay with one window.
- Mocha. Coffee brown, caramel and cream on a tan base. A softer warm-neutral that reads well next to travertine or wood-look tile inside the house.
- Coastal Gray. Light gray, white and pale blue on a light gray base. The lightest blend we sell. Makes a garage look considerably bigger and shows dirt sooner.
- Frost. White, silver and pale gray on a white base. Bright, clean and close to a commercial or showroom floor. Best for spaces that are more workshop than parking bay.
- Harbor Blue. Navy, steel blue and white on a dark blue base. Distinctive without being loud, and a common pick for a garage built around a boat or a specific vehicle.
- Racing Red. Red, black and white on a black base. High contrast, high energy, and the blend collectors ask for by name when the floor is going under something worth looking at.
- Copper Canyon. Bronze, copper and dark brown on a black base. The warmest high-contrast blend we install, and it reads almost metallic under LED shop lighting.
Slip resistance, and how much texture you actually want
A smooth clear gloss coating with nothing in it is slick when wet, the same as polished tile. This is the single most common complaint about coated floors, and it is entirely preventable.
A full flake broadcast solves most of it by itself. Even after scraping and grinding, the chip edges leave a fine, consistent surface texture that gives traction. A full broadcast floor is meaningfully less slippery wet than a solid color floor with the same topcoat.
When more grip is needed, we blend an additive into the topcoat. Polymer grit gives a soft texture that still mops easily. Aluminum oxide gives more aggressive grip and is harder to clean. We let you feel both on a sample before deciding, because people routinely ask for maximum grip and then find out they cannot push a broom across it. For a garage that gets wet from vehicles in the rain, or a bay near a utility sink, the middle setting is almost always right.
How flake hides what is wrong with your slab
Most DFW garage slabs are not pristine. They have anchor holes from an old shelving system, pop-outs where aggregate surfaced, a repaired crack from the clay moving under the house, patches around a water heater platform, and a control joint running through the middle.
A solid color coating draws attention to every one of those. The eye follows a single flat plane and picks up any interruption in it. Flake works the opposite way. The chip layer gives the eye hundreds of things to look at, so a two-inch patch stops registering.
It is not a substitute for repair. We still chase and fill cracks, patch spalls with fast-set mortar and grind everything flush before the base coat goes down. The flake is what makes those repairs invisible after the fact rather than a set of gray patches you notice every time you walk in.
The same effect works over the years. A solid color garage floor shows every drip and scuff. A flake floor still looks clean after five years of an actual family using it, which is why we install more of these than everything else combined.
How it works
How we install a flake floor
- STEP 01
1. Inspect and moisture test the slab
We check the slab for spalling, oil saturation, crack activity, previous coatings and control joint condition. On slabs that raise a flag, a calcium chloride test or in-slab relative humidity probe tells us whether a moisture vapor barrier primer is needed underneath. That result changes the build, so we run it before we quote.
- STEP 02
2. Diamond grind to CSP 2 to 3 profile
The full slab is ground with diamond tooling on a dust-shrouded planetary grinder, and edges and corners are hand-ground to match the field. This is what the coating bonds to. We do not acid etch. On DFW slabs that see 140-degree tires all summer, mechanical profile is the difference between a floor that stays down and one that does not.
- STEP 03
3. Repair cracks, spalls and pop-outs
Cracks are chased open, blown clean and filled, with a rigid polymer for dormant cracks and a flexible polyurea for cracks still moving with the clay. Spalls, aggregate pop-outs and old anchor holes are patched with fast-set mortar and ground flush. On post-tension slabs we scan before any cutting.
- STEP 04
4. Vacuum, detail and mask
The floor is HEPA vacuumed, hand-detailed at the edges and vacuumed again, because grinding dust sitting in a crack becomes a bond breaker. Walls, jambs and thresholds are masked and the front termination line is set at the door seal so the leading edge stays clean and does not chip.
- STEP 05
5. Pigmented polyurea base coat
The base coat goes down in controlled batches, pulled with a notched squeegee and back-rolled for even film thickness. The base color is chosen to work with the blend, since on a partial broadcast it shows and on a full broadcast it still influences the tone through the chip.
- STEP 06
6. Broadcast the flake to refusal
Flake is hand-thrown upward into the wet base so chips land flat rather than on edge. On a full broadcast we keep going until the floor rejects more chip and no base color is visible anywhere, including the edges and corners, which is where rushed installers cut corners and it shows later.
- STEP 07
7. Scrape, vacuum and reclaim
Once the base sets, usually one to two hours, the entire floor is scraped to knock down every chip standing on edge, then vacuumed and the loose flake reclaimed. On 1/4 inch chip this step gets aggressive and sometimes needs a light grind. Skip it and the floor feels like sandpaper and the topcoat reads cloudy.
- STEP 08
8. Clear polyaspartic topcoat
A clear polyaspartic topcoat seals the flake, takes the wear and gives the floor its UV stability and chemical resistance. You choose gloss or satin, and satin hides dust and tire marks better. Any traction additive goes into this coat, at a texture level you have already felt on a sample.
- STEP 09
9. Cure and return to service
Light foot traffic is fine in about 4 to 6 hours and vehicles come back at about 24 hours after the topcoat. We walk the floor with you, show you the joint treatment and terminations, and hand over care instructions. Keep rubber-backed mats off the floor for the first week while the film finishes curing.
Straight pricing
Flake garage floor cost in DFW
These are installed per square foot ranges for a residential DFW garage with a slab in reasonable condition. Coating removal, a moisture vapor barrier primer or heavy spall repair adds to the number, and we itemize those on the written quote before any work starts.
Partial broadcast flake
$5 to $6per sq ft installed
Slabs already in good condition where you want a subtle look and the lowest cost flake system.
- Full diamond grind to CSP 2 to 3
- Crack and spall repair
- Pigmented base coat
- Partial flake broadcast, base color visible
- Clear polyaspartic topcoat
Full broadcast flake, 1/16 or 1/8 inch
$6 to $8per sq ft installed
The standard DFW residential garage floor. Hides slab imperfections, real slip texture, one-day install.
- Full diamond grind and joint detailing
- Crack, spall and pop-out repair
- Polyurea base coat
- Flake broadcast to refusal in any of our 13 blends
- Scrape, vacuum and reclaim
- Clear polyaspartic topcoat, gloss or satin
1/4 inch designer blend with double topcoat
$8 to $10per sq ft installed
Showpiece garages and workshops wanting maximum texture, film thickness and a terrazzo-style look.
- Everything in the full broadcast system
- 1/4 inch or mixed-size chip broadcast to refusal
- Extra scrape and light grind pass to flatten large chip
- Two clear polyaspartic topcoats
- Custom blend mixing available
Typical two-car garage
$2,200 to $4,500installed
A 400 to 550 square foot two-car garage in a full broadcast flake system.
- All prep, repair, base, flake and topcoat
- Written quote before work starts
- Most jobs finished in one day
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Still stuck? Call (817) 381-6173 and talk to someone who does this every day.
How much does a flake garage floor cost in DFW?
A flake garage floor in Dallas-Fort Worth runs $5 to $8 per square foot installed, so a typical two-car garage lands between $2,200 and $4,500. Partial broadcast sits at the low end, full broadcast in 1/8 inch chip in the middle, and 1/4 inch designer blends with a double topcoat at $8 to $10.
What is the difference between full broadcast and partial broadcast flake?
Full broadcast means flake is thrown into the wet base coat until the floor rejects any more, so no base color shows and the chip layer is continuous. Partial broadcast is a lighter 30 to 60 percent coverage with base color deliberately visible. Full broadcast costs more, hides slab imperfections better, and gives more slip texture.
What flake size should I choose?
Choose 1/8 inch for most garages. It is the industry standard and gives visible chip up close while reading as one color from across the room. 1/16 inch is a fine speckle and the most forgiving. 1/4 inch reads like terrazzo with clearly defined chips and builds the most texture and thickness.
Are flake garage floors slippery?
Flake floors are meaningfully less slippery than solid color floors because the chip edges leave a consistent surface texture even after scraping and grinding. If the floor will get wet regularly, we blend polymer or aluminum oxide grit into the clear topcoat for more grip. You feel the texture options on a sample first.
Does a flake floor hide cracks and patches in my slab?
Yes, once the repairs are done properly. We chase and fill cracks, patch spalls and grind everything flush before coating, and the flake layer then breaks up the sight line so the repairs stop registering visually. Flake does not prevent an active crack from reflecting through, which is why active cracks get a flexible filler.
How long does a flake garage floor take to install?
Most two-car garages are ground, repaired, base coated, broadcast, scraped and topcoated in a single day. You can walk on the floor within about 4 to 6 hours of the topcoat and park on it roughly 24 hours later. Oversized garages and slabs needing coating removal can run into a second day.
Can I pick a custom flake color blend?
Yes, we stock 13 flake blends and can mix custom blends to pull the floor toward a specific wall color, cabinet finish or vehicle. Full-size sample panels of every stock blend sit at our Keller and Grand Prairie showrooms, which matters because flake blends photograph badly and look different under real light.
How do I clean and maintain a flake floor?
Sweep or dust mop regularly and damp mop with a neutral pH cleaner when it needs it. Avoid citrus cleaners, vinegar and anything acidic, and do not use a stiff wire brush. Wipe up gas, brake fluid and battery acid when you notice them. That is the whole maintenance routine for the life of the floor.
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Learn moreReady to get flake floor system handled?
Call (817) 381-6173 or send the form. We answer quote requests the same business day, and we have been doing this across DFW since 2001.