Chalmette and St. Bernard
The parish seat of St. Bernard Parish, downriver from New Orleans on the East Bank. Chalmette Battlefield, site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, is here. Judge Perez Drive is a main road.
Many homes here were repaired or rebuilt after 2005, and many are slab-on-grade with attached garages.
Coating a slab with a past
When a house is repaired or rebuilt, the garage slab may have been kept, patched, or replaced in sections. Each of those leaves a mark that matters to a coating:
- Old and new concrete side by side. They absorb primer differently and can move independently at the joint. The joint gets treated as a joint, not filled over and forgotten.
- Patches. A patch that has debonded sounds hollow when tapped. It comes out and gets redone before anything goes on top.
- Residue. Glue from old flooring, paint overspray, drywall mud. Grinding takes it all off; an acid wash does not.
Repair on a slab like this can easily reach the top of the typical $200 to $800 range, which is why it should be its own line on the quote.
Moisture comes first
Much of New Orleans sits below sea level, behind levees, with pumping stations moving storm water out. In much of the metro, groundwater can sit close to the ground surface. A reading before priming tells the installer which primer the slab needs. On a floor that has ever been wet for a long stretch, ask for the reading in writing.
Application weather
South Louisiana has a hot, humid climate, and humidity can matter twice for a coating: moisture in the slab, and condensation on a cool slab during application. Expect an installer to check the dew point before each coat and to keep the garage door down while the coating cures. Both are signs of care, not delay.
What it costs
A two-car garage with a flake epoxy system runs about $2,500 to $5,500; with polyaspartic, about $3,200 to $6,000. A single-car garage runs $1,500 to $3,000. On a repaired slab, the spread between two quotes usually comes from repair and primer, not the finish. The cost guide shows what moves each line.
Choosing the finish
Full-broadcast flake is the forgiving choice for a slab with repairs — the chips hide patch lines that a solid color would show. If the garage also stores tools, paint, and lawn equipment, a chemical-resistant topcoat is worth the small extra cost.
Getting the garage ready
The installer needs an empty floor, so the work starts with you. Move out everything that sits on the slab, including shelving bolted to the floor if it can come up. Note where water has come in before — under the door, at a wall, through a cracked corner — and point those spots out at the site visit. Plan where the cars will live for the cure period. And decide ahead of time whether the walls get painted; doing that before the floor is coated avoids drips on a fresh finish.
Garages that hold the freezer and the generator
A garage that stores a chest freezer, a generator, fuel cans, and lawn equipment sees spills that a parking-only garage never does. Gasoline and two-stroke oil soften some topcoats, and a generator dragged out in a hurry gouges a thin coat. A chemical-resistant topcoat, a thicker build where the heavy items sit, and a drip tray under the fuel corner cost little and add years.
Permits. Chalmette is in St. Bernard Parish. Whether a floor coating job needs a permit is a question for your city or parish permit office — for the parish, the St. Bernard Parish permit office — and for the installer, who should know before quoting.
Nearby: Gentilly and Algiers. Every area by parish is on the service areas page.