Garage & Basement Floors

Garage and basement floors in New Brunswick homes face a unique combination of stresses that no other concrete surface in the house encounters. Garage floors must withstand vehicles dripping salt-laden snowmelt for six months of the year, road de-icing chemicals tracked in on tires, heavy tool and equipment impact, and temperature swings from sub-zero winter nights to 30-degree summer afternoons. Basement floors must manage continuous moisture vapour migration through the slab, potential groundwater intrusion during spring snowmelt, and the structural loads of anything stored or installed above them. A new garage floor in NB is poured at 100-125mm (4-5 inches) thick on a compacted gravel base with a vapour barrier beneath the slab. The concrete mix must be air-entrained for freeze-thaw resistance — garage floors experience more freeze-thaw cycles than any other surface in an NB home because the temperature swings every time the overhead door opens and closes during winter. Wire mesh or fibre reinforcement prevents cracking from thermal movement and vehicle loads. A proper slope toward the garage door (1-2% grade) ensures snowmelt and wash water drains out rather than ponding against the interior foundation wall. Epoxy floor coatings have become the most popular garage floor upgrade in NB, and for good reason — a professional two-coat epoxy system with decorative flake broadcast creates a surface that resists salt, oil, gasoline, hot tire pickup, and abrasion while transforming a dull grey slab into an attractive, easy-to-clean surface. Quality epoxy installation in NB requires thorough surface preparation: diamond grinding or shot blasting the concrete to create a profile for mechanical bond, repairing all cracks and spalls, and ensuring the slab moisture level is below the epoxy manufacturer's maximum (typically 4 lbs MVER or 75% relative humidity by probe test). Garage floor epoxy in NB costs $5-$12 per square foot for a professional two-coat system with flake, or $8-$18 per square foot for a premium polyaspartic or polyurea coating that cures in one day and handles foot traffic within 24 hours — ideal for NB homeowners who cannot leave their garage unused for the 3-5 day cure time that standard epoxy requires. New basement floor installation in NB follows similar principles but with greater emphasis on moisture management. A minimum 6-mil polyethylene vapour barrier beneath the slab is essential — NB's high water tables mean that moisture vapour continuously migrates upward through unprotected basement concrete, causing efflorescence, mould growth on floor coverings, and adhesive failure on any coating or flooring installed on top. For basements prone to water intrusion, an interior drainage channel (weeping tile at the perimeter) connecting to a sump pit provides active water management. Basement floor resurfacing with self-levelling concrete overlay ($6-$12 per square foot) creates a smooth, uniform surface over old, rough, or uneven slabs. A new garage floor slab (400-600 square feet) costs $4,000 to $8,000 in NB. Epoxy coating on an existing garage floor runs $2,500 to $6,000. New basement floor installation (800-1,200 square feet) costs $6,000 to $14,000 depending on moisture mitigation requirements. Basement floor resurfacing runs $3,000 to $8,000.

Find a Concrete Pro