The first thing anybody walks on
Front porches take the weather, the salt and every visitor. Coated and textured, they stop looking like the oldest concrete on the property.
Outdoor concrete
What a porch is up against
A front porch is usually the oldest concrete on a property and the most looked at. It was often poured at a different time to everything else, it takes weather from every direction, and it is the surface every visitor stands on while they wait for the door. It is also, on most of the houses around here, visibly tired.
Porches are exposed on more sides than any other slab. Rain lands on them, snow sits on them, water runs off the roof onto them, and salt gets carried onto them on boots all winter.
They also usually have an edge, sometimes several, and an edge is where concrete gives up first. Water sits on the horizontal surface, runs to the corner, freezes there and takes the corner off. Once a porch edge has started to break away the repair stops being cosmetic.
And they are shallow. A porch slab is often thinner than a garage floor and poured over fill rather than a proper base, which means the freeze and thaw cycle gets further into it faster.
We show up, finish on time, and get it right. No hidden fees, no surprises.
Jimmy and Justyn, Cobra EpoxyTexture matters more than colour here
A porch is walked on in the wet, in the dark, by people carrying things and by people who do not live there and are not expecting the step.
So we specify the texture first. A coated porch gets a coarser finish than an interior floor, chosen so a wet shoe holds. That is a safety decision and it is the main reason to coat a porch rather than paint one.
Colour comes second and it is mostly about the house. Berks County brick and stone are warm, so warm blends sit naturally against them. A cool grey porch against a red brick front reads as an add on, which is exactly what you are trying to stop.
A floor that was ground properly and repaired before the first coat will still look right in ten years.
Cobra Epoxy and Flake Coatings, Boyertown PASteps, risers and the transition to the door
Almost every porch comes with steps, and the two get done together because they have the same problem and the same solution.
Treads get the same texture as the porch. Risers get coated so the whole assembly reads as one surface rather than a coated floor sitting on bare steps. Where a nosing has already broken away, it gets rebuilt before anything is coated over it.
At the top the coating terminates cleanly at the threshold rather than running under the door, and at the bottom it terminates into a cut at the path rather than feathering out onto it. Both of those are edges that would otherwise chip within a season.
A small job worth doing properly
A front porch is one of the smaller pieces of work we take and one of the most visible, which makes it a good first job for people who want to see how we work before committing to a garage or a basement.
It runs on the exterior calendar, so spring through autumn with the forecast in hand. A porch needs a dry slab and a settled day or two, and we will move a date rather than lay a coating into weather that is turning.
If you are close to Boyertown a porch stands up as its own visit. Further out it is worth mentioning what else is on the property, because doing the porch, the steps and the front walk together is barely more time than the porch alone.
What the price covers
Every one of these, every time
The build does not get trimmed to hit a number. If a slab needs more work than expected you hear about it at the walkthrough, not on the invoice.
From bare slab to finished floor
Nothing goes onto a floor until the concrete is open. Diamond grinders with dust extraction take the surface skin off, along with any curing compound, old sealer, paint or soaked in oil, and leave a clean profile the coating can key into. Acid etching and pressure washing do not produce that, which is why coatings applied over them come off.
With the slab open, every defect is visible for the first time. Cracks get cut into a channel and rebuilt, pits and divots filled, spalled areas cut back to something sound and levelled flush. Whatever we find gets told to you rather than buried.
The base coat goes down into that profile, and the flake goes into the base while it is still wet, thrown by hand across the whole area until the surface is saturated. Full broadcast, not a scatter, which is what gives the floor its depth and a good part of its thickness.
The next day the loose chip is scraped off and vacuumed, and a polyaspartic topcoat goes over the top. That topcoat is the layer that takes the wear, resists the chemicals and gives you the finish you actually look at.
On the map
Where we do this work
We run roughly fifty miles out from Boyertown, which covers Berks, Montgomery, Chester and Lehigh counties. The service areas page lists every town.
Not sure whether you are inside that? Call and ask. We would rather tell you honestly than send somebody on a two hour round trip.
Questions
Before you book
The things people ask on the phone before they book, answered the way Jimmy would answer them.
What about road salt and shovels?
Both are fine on a properly built exterior system. Salt is what attacks the cement paste in bare concrete, and a sealed surface simply keeps it on top where it can be washed off. A plastic shovel is no problem at all. What we would avoid is a steel blade dragged hard across any finished surface.
Can you make it grippier in one area?
Yes, and we do it regularly. Traction is zoned rather than uniform, so an entrance that takes rain off the street or a ramp can be finished with more texture than the rest of the room. It is the same system with a different topcoat specification in that area, and it is decided on the walkthrough.
When can exterior work be done?
Spring through autumn, with the forecast in hand. An outdoor slab has to be dry and it needs a settled window to cure, so we book exterior jobs around the weather and we will move a date rather than lay a coating that is about to get rained on.
Will the colour fade outdoors?
Not with the right topcoat. Exterior work gets an ultraviolet stable system, because a standard epoxy left in direct sun ambers and chalks within a couple of seasons. That is one of the specification differences between an outdoor deck and an indoor garage.
Do the repairs show through the finished floor?
They should not. Repairs get cut back, filled and levelled flush before any coating goes on, and the flake broadcast on top breaks up the surface visually so even an older slab reads as even. A flat gloss colour is what telegraphs every patch, which is one more reason chip finishes hold up better on real concrete.
Will the price change once you start?
It should not, and that is the whole point of doing the walkthrough properly. Jimmy looks at the slab before quoting, so repairs are already in the number you are given. If something genuinely unexpected turns up once the old surface is off, you hear about it before we carry on, not on the invoice.
Will I be dealing with the same people throughout?
Yes, start to finish. Jimmy quotes it and schedules it, Justyn runs the floor, and the crew at the walkthrough is the crew in your garage. That continuity is why nothing gets lost between the person who looked at the slab and the person who prepares it.
Can you do it soon?
Sometimes, and it is always worth asking. Jobs move and finish early, and when a day opens up it gets offered to whoever is flexible and nearby. Tell us if your dates are loose. What we will not do is squeeze you in by cutting the grinding short.
Book a walkthrough
Get pricing on your porch epoxy floor
Tell us what you have and Jimmy will call back within a business day. He looks at the slab properly, brings the blend samples, and gives you a real number rather than a range.
Working out of Boyertown across Berks, Montgomery, Chester, Lehigh, Upper Bucks and northern Lancaster.
You can call (484) 942-3219, email jfaust@cobraepoxy.com, or fill in the contact page. All three reach the same person, usually within one business day.
Tell us about the floor
A rough description of the space is plenty. Jimmy comes back within a business day.
More of what we coat: concrete step coatings, patio epoxy flooring, walkway epoxy flooring. See finished floors in the gallery, read about Jimmy and Justyn, or check the towns we cover. Ready to talk? Book a walkthrough.