Des Plaines Epoxy Flooring installs commercial epoxy flooring for businesses in Des Plaines, IL, serving surrounding cities including Prospect Heights, Schiller Park, Bensenville, Wood Dale and Norridge. For more than 20 years we have coated floors in buildings that could not simply close for a week, and planning around a working business is as much a part of our job as grinding and coating.
Commercial floors face heavier traffic, more cleaning, more chemicals and stricter inspections than a home garage. The right system depends on what the floor carries and how it is cleaned, so we start by walking the space with the manager or facility team, testing the slab for moisture and mapping the cracks, joints and old finishes.
The written proposal then names the product line, the number of coats and the finished thickness for each area, along with the phasing plan, so you can compare bids on substance and check the finished floor against what was promised.
Commercial Floors by Type of Space
Retail Stores and Showrooms
Retail floors need to look good every day under constant foot traffic, carts and display moves. A flake or quartz epoxy system with a polyaspartic topcoat hides wear, resists scuffing and cleans quickly with an auto-scrubber. Showrooms often choose metallic or solid-color finishes with a satin topcoat to keep glare and visible scratches down.
Entrances take the most abuse, especially in winter when salt and sand come in on boots. We add grip near doors and recommend walk-off mats so grit stays off the main floor.
Offices, Lobbies and Corridors
Offices and lobbies use epoxy floors for a modern, seamless look that holds up to rolling chairs and carts. Corridors and break rooms benefit most, because spills and heavy cleaning wear out carpet and tile quickly there. We can phase work floor by floor or room by room and use low-odor products in occupied buildings.
Auto Shops, Dealership Service Bays and Garages
Service bays see hot tires, dropped tools, jacks, oil, brake fluid and road salt. These floors need a thicker build, often a 100% solids epoxy base with a quartz broadcast and a chemical-resistant topcoat. We grind out oil-soaked concrete and treat contamination before coating, because oil left in the slab will lift the coating from below.
Clinics, Schools and Fitness Spaces
Medical offices, schools and gyms need floors that clean thoroughly and stand up to disinfectants. Seamless epoxy and integral cove base reduce the joints where dirt collects. Gyms and locker rooms usually get a textured finish for grip when floors are wet, and we coordinate work around class and patient schedules.
These buildings often have the tightest windows of all, such as a school floor that must be done between the end of one term and the start of the next. We build the schedule backward from the reopening date, leaving cure time inside it rather than after it, and confirm the slab’s moisture readings early so there are no surprises in the final week.
Planning a Commercial Floor Project
Phasing Around Business Hours
Most of our commercial work is done in phases. We split the floor into zones, coat at night or on weekends, and use fast-cure polyaspartic topcoats so each zone returns to service quickly. Storage, fixtures and equipment moves are planned in advance with your staff, and we confirm each zone’s reopening time before the shift that needs it. Signage, temporary walkways and barriers keep customers and staff off fresh coating while the rest of the space stays open.
Moisture, Joints and Existing Floors
Many commercial slabs were built without a vapor retarder or have had tile and adhesive removed, leaving moisture and residue behind. We test moisture with calcium chloride or relative humidity methods and add a moisture-mitigation primer when the readings call for it. Joints are filled or honored depending on whether they still move, and old finishes are ground off completely.
Permits, Inspections and Contractor Registration
Illinois has no state flooring license, so each town sets its own contractor registration, bond and insurance rules. We check the requirements where your building sits before the job is booked and ask the Building Division whether the work needs a permit. Food service projects in Des Plaines go through plan review that looks at floor, wall and cove base finishes.
Commercial Coating Systems
Epoxy With Polyaspartic Topcoats
A 100% solids epoxy base gives thickness and strong bond, and a polyaspartic topcoat adds abrasion resistance, ultraviolet stability and fast return to service. This combination covers most retail, office and light commercial floors.
Quartz and Flake Broadcast Systems
Broadcasting colored quartz or vinyl flake into the epoxy adds texture, hides wear and builds thickness. Quartz gives the hardest surface for heavy traffic, while flake gives more design options in customer-facing spaces.
Urethane Cement for Harsh Conditions
Where floors face hot water washdowns, thermal shock or strong chemicals, urethane cement outperforms epoxy. We recommend it for commercial kitchens and food areas and explain why when a standard epoxy would not last.
VOC Limits and Occupied Spaces
Floor coatings applied in Illinois must meet the state’s VOC limits for floor and industrial maintenance coatings, and those limits apply to the person applying them. We choose compliant products, ventilate work areas, and pick low-odor systems for buildings that stay occupied during installation.
Maintaining a Commercial Epoxy Floor
Cleaning Programs
Commercial epoxy floors are cleaned with auto-scrubbers or mops and a neutral cleaner. There is no waxing or stripping, which saves labor and chemicals. We give your cleaning crew a short care guide covering pads, chemicals and spill response.
Recoating High-Traffic Lanes
After years of service, entrances and main aisles show wear first. The topcoat in those areas can be cleaned, abraded and recoated without removing the whole system, which restores the floor quickly and keeps downtime to a single night.
- 20+ Years of Floor Work
- Moisture Test in Every Scope
- Written Proposal, Named Products