Epoxy flooring in Scarborough, Maine

Newer homes near a salt marsh

Scarborough counted 22,135 residents in 2020, and most of its homes are relatively new — current ACS estimates put the median year built at 1988, with fewer than one in ten homes older than 1940. About 77 percent are owner-occupied. The town wraps around Scarborough Marsh, Maine's largest salt marsh, and a coastline that includes Higgins Beach, Pine Point and Prouts Neck, where most of the town's seasonal homes are.

Newer neighborhoods across town mean a lot of two- and three-car garages with sound concrete. That is the best starting point for a garage floor coating: little repair, and a floor that is protected before road salt gets to it.

Salt air and salted roads

Coastal Scarborough gets salt from both directions: on the air near the marsh and the beaches, and on tires from Route 1, I-95 and I-295 after every storm. The Portland area averages close to 69 inches of snow a year, and brine left on bare concrete scales and pits it, starting at the door line. A diamond-ground floor with a chemical-resistant topcoat keeps salt on the surface. For entries, mudrooms and beach-house garages that are always wet, a flake epoxy floor with anti-slip aggregate adds grip.

Homeowners who want a finished basement or a garage that looks like part of the house sometimes choose a metallic epoxy floor instead — the same preparation, a different finish.

Business parks along Route 1

Scarborough has a lot of commercial floor area for its size. The Haigis Parkway corridor near Turnpike Exit 42, the Enterprise and Nielsen business parks, the Scarborough Industrial Park and the Route 1 corridor hold warehouses, offices and service businesses, and Hannaford's headquarters is in town. Warehouses and shops there get the high-build systems and safety striping in our commercial and industrial coatings, scheduled around operations.

Scarborough keeps growing. The former Scarborough Downs harness track, which closed in 2020, is being redeveloped, and newer neighborhoods keep adding garages with fresh slabs. Near Pine Point, Higgins Beach and Prouts Neck, where the census counts most of the town's roughly 850 seasonal homes, beach-house garages hold kayaks, bikes and sandy gear all summer and sit closed through the winter.

Permits go through Scarborough's Planning and Codes department at the Route 1 municipal building. We cover Scarborough from our Casco shop along with South Portland, Gorham and Portland.