Ground Preparation
The first step in pouring a concrete slab for your garage floor is getting the ground ready. No matter how solid the concrete slab is, if the soil beneath it settles or shifts, the integrity of the garage floor will be compromised and you will end up with a cracked slab. At Concrete Plano Tx, our contractors are experienced and well trained. The first thing we do before beginning your project is to remove the topsoil then compact the soil if it has been previously disturbed. Only after we do this can we add a layer of gravel or stone before the concrete slab is laid. In most cases, we also add vapor barriers beneath the slab to prevent water from seeping in through porous concrete and damage things you place on your concrete garage floor. 

The Right Mix
For us at Stamped Concrete Plano TX, one of our utmost priorities in preparing concrete garage flooring is getting the mix right. We follow laid down standards according to the building code for the Plano, Texas area. This standard is commonly expressed in terms of the comprehensive strength of the mix. This depends largely on the amount of water used in the concrete mix. Our contractors don’t water down the mix just to make it easier to pour. We focus on getting the best mix and may add plasticizers to the mix to make it easier to pout without compromising on the compressive strength of the concrete. We may also add other additives such as air-entraining agents which protect the concrete slab against damage in colder climates. Fiber reinforcements may also be added to make the concrete slab stronger and more durable. 

Reinforcements and expansion joints 
With proper ground preparation and a good concrete mix, you may not need reinforcements in your garage floor concrete slab. Although it is cheap and provides some sort of added protection so we may still add it anyways. The main design feature that must be included in your concrete slab is expansion joints. Like wood, concrete may expand and shrink as the temperature and humidity vary. This is why we add expansion joints at the edges of your concrete garage floors and around the posts or any other protrusions on the concrete floor. This reduces stress during expansion or shrinking and reduces the risk of cracking. 

Finishing and Curing
An equally important aspect of preparing garage epoxy floor plano tx s the finishing and curing. After pouring the concrete, we level and smooth it then leave it for a while. Concrete does not just dry out on its own. This is why we use a chemical curing process to dry it into a solid mass. The surface of the concrete slab will remain wet until we have cured it by spraying a chemical cure. While the concrete cures, you may also spray a little water on it every day for a few days to strengthen it.