St. Augustine South, FL, in St. Johns County
What an Older St. Augustine South Slab Needs First
Single-story block houses on slab line this stretch south of the city. Their floors have usually seen a few owners, and our work starts with whatever those owners left behind.
The question we hear on this side of US-1
Is it even worth coating? That is the first thing a lot of people in St. Augustine South ask, usually while standing over a garage floor with old paint peeling up in the tire tracks. Most of the time the answer is yes. An older slab that has carried cars for years has had a long time to cure and settle, and the real problem is usually what sits on top of it.
St. Augustine South is an unincorporated neighborhood just south of the city, off US-1 along the Matanzas River. Most of the homes are older single-story block houses on slab. That puts the garage, the porch and the lanai at ground level in concrete, and all of them have been living with Florida humidity, summer storms and a few rounds of do-it-yourself fixes for a long time.
Being near the river means a high water table and sandy soil under those slabs. Moisture vapor coming up through concrete is a leading cause of peeling, and it is often the reason the last coat let go. So before anybody talks about colors, Matt tests the slab and looks at how the old coating failed, because that tells him a lot about what the new one needs.
One story, block walls, concrete underfoot
The typical house here puts a lot of concrete on the ground floor. The garage is the first thing people want fixed, often after years of oil spots, paint drips and a store-bought kit that has started to lift wherever the tires sit. Plenty of these garages double as the laundry room and the way into the kitchen, so the floor gets walked on as much as it gets driven on.
Next comes the outside, a front porch or back lanai that has been painted more than once and is chipping at the edges. Some owners want to go further and turn a slab under worn carpet or tile into the finished floor in a back room or a converted space. On a house this age, each of those jobs begins the same way, by grinding off what is already there until we reach sound concrete.
Some owners want to go further and turn a slab under worn carpet or tile into the finished floor in a back room or a converted space.
Four systems that suit an older slab
What Matt reaches for most on St. Augustine South slabs, and why. See all of Matt’s floors.
A solid-color epoxy floor suits a back room or converted space where carpet or tile has come up. It gives an even, clean surface over a slab that has some history and some patches.
Old paint, worn kit coatings and layers of sealer have to come off down to sound concrete. Diamond grinding does that and leaves the surface open for the base coat to bite into.
A full flake broadcast is forgiving on an older garage, because the chips hide filled cracks and patched spalls once the topcoat goes on.
Porches and lanais on these homes sit in the humidity off the Matanzas, so they get a moisture check, a UV-stable topcoat and texture for rainy afternoons.
A look, a test and a straight answer
St. Augustine South is close to home for us, a short run down US-1. When Matt comes out, he looks at every surface you mention and tests the slab for moisture. On an older house he also scrapes at whatever coating is already down, to see how well it is holding on and how much grinding the job is going to take.
If a slab has a problem a coating should not go over, he will say so before any work starts. A lot of garages and porches are finished in a single day, though a slab with heavy layers of old coating to remove can take longer, and you will hear that up front. Want a straight answer on yours? Have Matt look at your slab: (904) 671-3930.
Or email spartancoatingsfl@gmail.com with the town and a photo of the floor.
Matt answers this phone himself
Based in St. Augustine, FL, working in St. Augustine South.
Finished floors first? See all of Matt’s floors.
Other St. Johns County towns on our route
Building since the late 2000s, Nocatee is mostly new construction, and the first question on a new garage is whether the slab has cured long enough.
Around TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship, gated golf neighborhoods tend to want a garage finished to the same standard as the house.
Coquina walls and old masonry downtown give way to mid-century block ranches and newer subdivisions off SR-16 and US-1, so one city holds slabs of every age.
Built along the Matanzas from the 1970s on and home to many retirees, the Shores is full of garage floors that should clean with a hose and patios that should not get slick.
Down toward Matanzas Inlet the beach houses are quiet, but any outdoor coating still spends its life in full sun and salt air.
Big lots southwest of Hastings leave room for outbuildings, and a workshop floor out here has to shrug off dropped tools and whatever comes in on the mower.
Everything in the county: St. Johns County.
Questions from St. Augustine South
The last coating on our garage peeled. What makes a new one different?
First we figure out why it failed. If it lifted in the tire tracks, it was likely a thin kit that let go under hot tires. If it bubbled or peeled up from below, moisture was probably coming through the slab. We grind it all off, test for moisture, use a barrier primer if the test calls for it and build a system thick enough for a car.
We live near the Matanzas. Does that make our slab wetter underneath?
It can. Land near the river tends to sit over a high water table, and that water can push vapor up through the concrete. Some slabs near the river test fine and some do not, which is why we test instead of guessing. If the reading shows moisture, a vapor barrier primer goes down first. If it reads dry, you skip that step.
Can the garage and the back porch be done on the same visit?
Often, yes, and it saves you living through two rounds of work. The porch depends on the weather, since an outdoor slab needs to be dry and not baking in the afternoon sun when the coating goes down. Matt will plan the order so the garage is not held up if a storm moves the porch back a day.
Water runs into our garage from the driveway. Will a coating stop that?
No coating fixes grading. If the driveway slopes toward the garage, water will still come in. What a coating does is keep that water from soaking into the slab and staining it, and it makes cleanup quick with a squeegee. If water is pooling against the house, that is worth looking at with someone who handles drainage.
My garage is also my workshop. What holds up to dropped tools?
A full flake system with a hard topcoat takes a lot of abuse, and the chips hide small scuffs. A dropped hammer can still chip any coating, and those spots can be touched up. If you weld, run heavy jacks or spill solvents, tell Matt, because that changes which system and topcoat he recommends for the floor.