Garage floor concrete in Duarte CA - a level floor on a well-packed base

A 400 to 600 square foot garage floor in the Los Angeles area usually costs about $4,000 to $9,000, with an epoxy coating budgeted separately. Where yours lands depends on the size, how much old concrete comes out, how much base work the ground needs and whether you plan a coating. I give you your own figure after I've seen the job, and the work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.

Plan on one, because the City of Duarte requires a building permit to alter, repair or demolish any structure, including garages, with plans handed in at the Community Development Department counter. That permit doesn't cover plumbing, electrical, drainage or grading done alongside the floor, since each of those trades needs its own permit. Before we schedule, we find out what your job needs and tell you who's handling each piece.

Some properties with a Duarte mailing address sit inside L.A. County boundaries, generally west of Mountain Avenue and south of Duarte Road. If yours is one of them, the L.A. County Department of Building and Safety at 626-574-0941 is the office to call about your property. It's the first thing we check, because it decides whose rules the job follows.

Curing starts right after the concrete is placed and finished and typically runs 3 to 7 days, which is the stretch the slab needs to be kept moist and protected while it gains strength. Plan the rest of the project, like moving shelves and the car back in, around that window.

Decide before the pour, because the two things that help a coating most happen then. Floor guidance from the concrete industry says a vapor retarder, a plastic sheet that keeps ground moisture from coming up, protects coatings best when it sits directly against the slab, and wax-free curing materials are recommended for concrete that will be painted or have a covering bonded to it. The catch is that concrete placed right on a vapor retarder settles more and changes length significantly more than the same concrete on a draining base, so you're trading some extra movement for better coating protection.

The city may issue the permit to a general building contractor with a Class B license, or to a homeowner improving their own principal residence who meets the owner-builder conditions. The state's minor work exemption, set at $1,000, applies only when the job needs no permit and the unlicensed person employs no one, so it won't cover a permitted garage floor. We're fully licensed and insured, and we tell you up front who's handling the permit.