Lakeview
Near City Park and the lakefront, around the 17th Street Canal. Harrison Avenue is its main commercial street. Many homes here were rebuilt or raised after 2005, and many have attached garages.
A newer slab is not automatically a dry slab
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 newer slab gets the same test as an old one, and the reading decides the primer. A high number means a moisture-tolerant primer, which costs more and belongs on the quote as its own item.
Raised houses with a garage below
Where a house was built or rebuilt up off the ground, the garage may sit at grade under the living space, sometimes with open sides. That slab sees more weather than an enclosed garage, so a UV-stable polyaspartic topcoat and a textured finish are the safer picks. A full polyaspartic system runs about $3,200 to $6,000 for two cars.
The standard two-car job
- Moisture reading and a look at cracks, joints, and any sealer already on the floor.
- Diamond grinding to open the surface.
- Cracks and control joints repaired; spalls patched.
- Primer matched to the reading, pigmented base, full flake broadcast.
- Clear topcoat — epoxy for value, polyaspartic for speed and sun.
Budget about $2,500 to $5,500 with an epoxy system. Cars stay out for three to seven days on an epoxy topcoat, or 24 to 48 hours on polyaspartic.
Along the commercial strip
Local businesses on the neighborhood's main street have floors that need to reopen quickly. A storefront under a thousand square feet runs about $6 to $12 per square foot, and a kitchen needs a different system from a dining room — urethane cement where hot water hits the floor.
Picking a flake blend
Flake color is the one decision with no wrong answer, but a few rules of thumb help. Medium grays and tans hide dust, tire marks, and pollen between cleanings. Very dark blends show every speck of dust; very light ones show tire marks. Bigger chips read as busy in a small garage and fine in a large one. Ask to see the blend on a sample board under the garage's own light before you commit.
When the garage is also a gym
Dropped weights crack thin coatings, and rubber mats can trap moisture against the floor. If a corner of the garage is a workout space, ask for a thicker build in that zone, and lift the mats now and then so the surface underneath can dry.
Permits. Lakeview is in Orleans Parish. Whether a floor coating job needs a permit is a question for your city or parish permit office — for the parish, the Orleans Parish permit office — and for the installer, who should know before quoting.
Other neighborhoods: Mid-City and Gentilly. Every area by parish is on the service areas page.