Epoxy flooring in South Portland, Maine

Neighborhoods older than they look

South Portland counted 26,498 residents in 2020 across neighborhoods like Ferry Village, Knightville, Willard, Pleasantdale and Thornton Heights. About a quarter of its homes were built before 1940 and about half before 1970, according to current ACS estimates — a lot of mid-century homes with one- and two-car garages, plus older homes near the water with low, damp cellars.

Mid-century garages usually have decades of stains and hairline cracks, and many have been painted. Paint has to be ground off before a coating will bond, which is why every garage floor coating we install starts with diamond grinding. Older basements get a moisture test first, and a vapor-mitigating base coat where readings call for it, before a basement floor coating.

Salt water on the doorstep

South Portland wraps around Portland Harbor and Casco Bay, and near Willard Beach and Ferry Village the air itself carries salt. Add the brine from Route 1, Broadway and I-295 over a winter that averages close to 69 inches of snow in the Portland area, and bare concrete spalls and scales, especially near the door where meltwater sits. A flake epoxy floor with a chemical-resistant topcoat keeps salt on the surface, and adds texture underfoot for wet days.

Owner-occupancy is about 58 percent, and landlords with shared laundry or storage rooms often choose coatings for how easily they clean.

The Maine Mall, the oil terminals and light industry

South Portland is a working city. The Maine Mall, the largest mall in Maine, anchors the city's retail district, the waterfront holds the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line's tank farms and the Jetport's main runway is in the city. Retail back rooms, service bays, warehouses and light-industrial units are what our commercial and industrial coatings are for: floors specified for traffic and chemicals, striped for safe walkways, installed in phases or after hours.

The city's industrial history runs deep: during the Second World War its shipyards launched 236 Liberty ships, more than a tenth of all those built in the country, and the waterfront has held fuel terminals and marine businesses ever since. Floors in that kind of working building see oil, fuel, salt and steel wheels, which is why commercial systems are specified by use rather than by habit.

Permits go through South Portland's code enforcement office on Sawyer Street. We cover South Portland from our Casco shop along with Portland, Scarborough and Westbrook.