Concrete overlays in Texas

Concrete overlays in Texas

Concrete overlays in Texas run $4.48 to $10.44 a square foot with us. An overlay is a new layer of cement bonded over your old slab. It runs from a skin about as thick as a nickel up to a 3/4 inch lift. Our thinnest system starts at $4.36 a square foot. The range above includes setup. A single rate can sit a little under it.

In Texas, four things have to be right for an overlay to last. One is the ground under the old slab, and one is the cement in gypsum soil. The topcoat has to take a UV index of 11 and up. And the bond has to hold through 30 to 100 degree swings in a day. We install concrete overlay systems with a 1-year workmanship warranty on installation defects. The Texas concrete flooring hub covers the rest of the state.

We work across North Texas, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls, with steady commercial jobs along I-30 and US-75.

Which concrete overlay systems do we install in Texas?

Every overlay we put down is bonded to the old slab. We grind the slab to a rough profile and lay a bond coat, so the new layer locks on. Which system fits depends on how thick it has to be, the look, inside or out, and the old slab.

• Acrylic microtopping. An acrylic overlay is a thin cement mix, 1/16 to 1/8 inch, with acrylic resin in it so it grips. We trowel or squeegee it on. It refreshes a worn inside slab, adds color, or gets a slab ready for polish or stain. It’s our Basic Concrete Overlay and our lowest-cost system, from $4.36 a square foot.
• Self-leveling overlay. We pump or pour it 3/8 to 3/4 inch thick. It flattens an out-of-level slab, fills low spots, and leaves a smooth base for polish or a thin epoxy. Our Polished Concrete Overlay is a separate system: a bonded overlay about 3/8 inch thick that we polish as the finished floor, from $9.86 a square foot. Leveling isn’t part of that price.
• Stampable overlay. We trowel it on 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and press rubber pattern mats into it while it’s workable. It gives a patio, pool deck, or entry walk a flagstone, slate, ashlar, or wood-plank look. Our calculator’s closest line is the Patterned Concrete Overlay, where we tool the pattern in by hand. It’s the system that suffers most in the sun.
• Knockdown or splatter texture. We spray it on with a hopper gun, and it gives a pool deck grip under bare feet, plus color. It’s popular on pool decks around McKinney and Sherman, where grip matters more than a crisp pattern.
• Color. We can mix mineral pigment into the overlay. On stamped work, we cast on a dry color hardener. On a decorative inside floor, we can broadcast colored stone.
• Topcoats. Outside, we use a UV-stable polyaspartic every time. Inside a commercial space, we use a water-based polyurethane. For a budget inside floor, a solvent acrylic works.
• Work that pairs with it. Polished concrete over a self-leveling base, tie-ins to concrete flatwork walkways, and a cove up the wall on commercial floors.

Our concrete overlays service page compares the systems side by side.

How does Texas’s climate and substrate shape concrete overlays?

The substrate is the old slab and the ground under it. Texas is hard on the bond to that slab and harder still on the topcoat. Three things decide whether an overlay stays stuck and keeps its color past year five.

The ground and the cement. Northeast Texas sits on Annona Chalk. Wichita Falls and the western edge sit on Permian red bed clay, which swells and shrinks just like the clay in central Oklahoma. Both leave old slabs with hairline cracks that open and close each season. An overlay has to move with those cracks, not try to bridge them. Gypsum is the other problem. It’s a sulfate mineral found in pockets across North Texas and the Permian Basin. Sulfate attacks regular Type I/II portland cement, and it keeps showing up as a Texas failure. So any cement-based overlay or repair there gets Type V sulfate-resisting cement (ASTM C150). That stops a reaction called ettringite expansion, where the sulfate makes crystals that swell and break up the cement. We grind the slab to CSP 3 to 5 first (ICRI Guideline 310.2R), a profile rough enough for the overlay to grip.

Sun and heat swings. From May through September, the UV index across North Texas, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls often runs 11 or higher. A plain acrylic topcoat outside chalks, thins, and fails within 18 months. A UV-stable polyaspartic rated for 1,000 hours of lab weathering (QUV) holds 5 to 8 years before it needs a recoat. North Texas can swing from 30 to 100 degrees F in a single day in spring and fall. The northern edge also sees 20 to 55 freeze-thaw cycles a winter. Those big daily swings are harder on an overlay’s bond than Missouri freeze-thaw, because they come more often and cover a wider range. On every overlay over 1,000 SF, we test the bond (ASTM C1583). It has to pull above 200 psi.

Where the work is. Collin, Grayson, and Fannin counties have the most home overlay work. Texarkana has steady commercial work along I-30. Wichita Falls has less, mostly homes and shop floors. Inside jobs run all year. Outside jobs peak from March through October, when the air stays in the 50 to 90 degree range an overlay needs to cure.

What concrete overlay project types do we run across Texas?

Our Texas overlay work falls into five kinds of jobs.

Home interiors around Sherman and McKinney

This is our busiest home overlay work in Texas. Concrete overlays in McKinney, Sherman, Denison, and the rest of Collin and Grayson counties mostly come from remodels. The owner wants to level a slab that’s out of spec or get a floor ready for polish. Or they want a decorative microtopping over an old pour. A typical interior runs 400 to 2,000 SF. Acrylic microtopping is the usual pick for a fresh look. A self-leveling overlay handles a slab that needs flattening before a polished finish. If a remodel slab has water stains, or no one knows its age, we test its moisture (ASTM F2170) first.

How do garage floor overlays work on slabs stressed by heat swings?

Garages around North Texas, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls often need an overlay before a garage floor coating can go on clean. We see a little settling, dents, and cracks that need to be cut open and filled. Some have a weak, dusty top that a coating won’t stick to. A self-leveling overlay, 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick, leaves a flat, sound slab ready for a polyaspartic or epoxy coating. The daily heat swings are what test it. So we use a polymer-modified self-leveling mix rated for a bond above 250 psi (ASTM C1583). It grows and shrinks with the seasons and keeps its grip. A typical two- or three-car garage runs 400 to 1,200 SF.

What about commercial floors?

Restaurants, showrooms, light-industrial floors, and office build-outs in North Texas and around Texarkana pick a self-leveling overlay over tearing out the slab. It’s faster and shuts the space down for less time. A typical commercial interior runs 1,500 to 8,000 SF. Then the finish goes on top: polish, dye, or a coating. We line up with the general contractor’s schedule, so the slab is fixed, cured, and tested before the finish trades show up.

Pool decks and patios

Pool decks, patios, and entry walks around McKinney, the edge of Frisco, Sherman, and Denison get a stampable overlay. It can look like flagstone, slate, ashlar, or random stone. It goes over concrete that would otherwise be torn out. Every exterior overlay we install in Texas gets a UV-stable polyaspartic topcoat. A UV index of 11 and up breaks down plain acrylic within 18 months. Our calculator price for a patterned overlay comes with an acrylic sealer, which is fine inside. Outside, the polyaspartic topcoat is priced per job.

How do stampable overlays restore patterns on existing patios?

A stampable overlay saves a patio you’d otherwise tear out. We work in this order:

1. We grind or shot blast the old slab to CSP 3 to 5.
2. We put down a bond coat.
3. We trowel the stampable overlay on, 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
4. We cast color hardener into the wet surface.
5. We press the rubber pattern mats in while it’s still workable.
6. Once it cures, we add a colored release for accent detail and a UV-stable polyaspartic topcoat for the sun.

You get the look of good stone or patterned concrete. It costs a fraction of tearing out the slab and pouring new. A typical home patio runs 300 to 1,500 SF.

How much do concrete overlays cost in Texas?

These are our prices for standard jobs, inside and out, across North Texas, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls.

We price self-leveling and spray texture per job, once we see the slab. An old coating or sealer means grinding or shot blasting first. A moisture reading over 75 percent (ASTM F2170) means a moisture fix before the overlay. Type V cement in gypsum soil adds a little to the material. The pattern, the topcoat, and how hard the floor is to reach count too. The drive cost is its own line on every quote, figured from your address to the nearest team.

Texas cities we serve for concrete overlays

Three of our teams cover Texas, and the quote tool sends the one nearest you.

• Texarkana is our biggest overlay market, on the I-30 commercial corridor through Bowie County. Our Texarkana team works there and in Paris and Lamar County.
• Sherman on US-75 and Denison, with its Lake Texoma lake houses, sit closest to our Southern Oklahoma team, so that team works there.
• McKinney and the Collin County custom-build market are a big part of our North Texas overlay work.
• Wichita Falls and Wichita County get home remodel and shop-floor overlays from our Wichita Falls team. That team also covers towns on the north side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, like Southlake, Aubrey, Krugerville, and Providence Village.

We look at jobs outside these areas when you ask.