Slidell in brief

A city in eastern St. Tammany Parish, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans East. Olde Towne Slidell is its historic district. Sits where I-10, I-12, and I-59 meet.

Many homes here are slab-on-grade with attached garages, and many near the water were repaired, rebuilt, or raised after 2005.

The attached garage

For a typical attached garage the path is straightforward: a moisture reading, diamond grinding, crack repair, a pigmented base with flake, and a clear topcoat. Budget about $2,500 to $5,500 for two cars with an epoxy system, or $3,200 to $6,000 with polyaspartic. The difference you feel day to day is the wait: three to seven days before parking on epoxy, 24 to 48 hours on polyaspartic.

Slabs under a raised house

When a house has been raised, the space underneath often becomes parking and storage on a concrete slab that is open on several sides. That floor behaves more like a carport than a garage:

Sun reaches the edges, so the topcoat needs to be UV-stable — polyaspartic, not plain epoxy.
Rain and wind-blown water reach it, so the finish needs grip, and low spots need correcting.
It may take water in a storm. Ask the installer how the chosen system handles being flooded and cleaned, and remember that no coating makes a slab waterproof from below.

Storm-season timing

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. Late summer brings heat, humidity, and the chance of a storm interrupting a multi-day job. A polyaspartic system that goes down in a day or two narrows that window. If the schedule slips for weather, the right move is to wait — a coat laid on a damp slab is a coat that peels.

Patios, pool decks, and driveways

Outdoor concrete in the yard is usually a sealing job, not a coating job. A penetrating sealer runs about $2 to $4 per square foot and leaves the surface looking natural; a pool deck that has started to scale may need resurfacing, about $4 to $9 per square foot, with a textured finish for bare feet. See sealing and resurfacing.

Cleaning up after high water

If a coated floor takes water in a storm, the first job is getting silt and debris off before it dries into the texture. Shovel and squeegee the heavy mud, rinse with plenty of clean water, and then wash with a pH-neutral cleaner. Skip pressure washing at close range along the edges and repaired joints. Once it is dry, look for any spots where the coating has lifted or turned cloudy, and have them checked — a small repair caught early is far cheaper than a whole floor.

Questions to bring to the site visit

Which topcoat, and is it UV-stable for an open slab?
What did the moisture reading show, and which primer does it call for?
How is the edge at the garage door finished?
What are the walk-on and park-on times, in writing?

Boats, trailers, and fishing gear

If the garage holds a boat on a trailer, the jack stand and the trailer tires put far more weight on a small area than a car does, and saltwater gear drips onto the floor. Ask for a thicker build under the trailer and a chemical-resistant topcoat, and rinse salt off the floor rather than letting it dry there.

Permits. Slidell is in St. Tammany Parish. Whether a floor coating job needs a permit is a question for your city or parish permit office — for the parish, the St. Tammany Parish permit office — and for the installer, who should know before quoting.

Nearby: Mandeville and Covington. Every area by parish is on the service areas page.