Forrest County floor coatings
Hattiesburg and its surroundings. A genuine mix of student rentals, older housing and small commercial. Most houses are done inside a day, then 12 hours to foot traffic.
Towns we cover in Forrest County
Forrest County
What we install here
Salt is the quiet problem on coast jobs. It comes in on tyres, soaks into unsealed concrete, and sits there pushing back out. Grinding removes the loaded surface layer so the new floor is not fighting it from day one.
Coving at the wall turns a floor into a sealed basin. In kitchens, kennels and wet rooms that detail is the whole point, because water stops finding the joint between floor and wall.
Clear topcoats are not all clear. Some amber noticeably within a year indoors under LED light. We use ones that do not.
The systems people ask about most
Full flake
Full flake broadcast means chip thrown to refusal, so the floor is a continuous layer of vinyl rather than a base coat with decoration on it. That is what gives the texture its grip and what stops the colour wearing through. More on full flake.
Metallic
Metallic pigment is moved by hand while the resin is still open, so no two floors are the same. That is the appeal and it also means the installer matters more than the product. More on metallic.
Polished concrete
Polished concrete uses a densifier that reacts chemically with the slab, hardening it rather than coating it. There is nothing to peel because there is no film. More on polished concrete.
Moisture, contamination and surface profile are the three things that decide whether a floor lasts. Colour is the easy part and the only part most people ask about.
Expect the finish to look the same in five years if it is looked after. That is the point of specifying properly rather than cheaply.
Patios and porches are the other half of the residential work in this area. Exterior concrete goes grey, grows algae in the shade and turns slick when it rains, and a UV-stable textured coating solves all three at once.
What Forrest County jobs usually involve
New construction is the opposite problem. The slab is clean but green, and coating concrete before it has cured traps water under the film. We would rather push the date than come back to blisters.
Most residential floors go down in a single day. Walk on it in 12 hours, move heavy things at 24, park on it at 48.
We get asked about basements less here than on higher ground, but where there is one it is damp by default, and a coating that works in a garage will not necessarily hold down there.
Most of what we do in a town like this is residential garages, and the pattern repeats: a slab poured with the house, sealed once by a previous owner, and now dusting badly and stained where the car parks. The fix is mechanical. Grind the sealer off, open the concrete, patch what needs patching and build the system back up properly.
Living with the floor
Rubber mats left permanently on a coated floor can mark it. Not damage, but a visible outline. If you use mats, move them occasionally.
Furniture and jack stands want pads under them. Point loads with sharp edges are the realistic way a residential floor gets damaged.
Most asked for
Commercial and industrial work in Forrest County
Where a garage has been used as a workshop there is usually oil worked deep into the pores in one or two spots. Surface cleaning does not reach it. We grind it out and prime over what is left.
Garages here tend to be attached, which changes two things. The dust has somewhere to go, so containment matters more, and the slab usually shares a pour with the house foundation, so movement is less of a problem than on a detached shop.
Moisture-tolerant primers exist for a reason and cost more for a reason. On a damp slab they are the difference between a floor and a warranty claim.
Where we are coming from
Laurel is home, and from here we reach Hattiesburg, Jackson, the Gulf Coast, coastal Alabama and the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain comfortably. Coast jobs and Baldwin County work are a normal week for us.
Full list on the service areas page.
How the day runs
We would rather spend the morning grinding than come back in a year. The grinder and the extraction come in first, and the opening stretch of any job is dust control rather than visible progress.
Once the slab is open we chase the cracks, take down the high spots and remove whatever was on the floor before. Grind in the morning, coat in the afternoon, walk on it that night.
Kevin Garner founded ICM in 2021 wanting work he could hand down. Aaron, Kyler and Averie make that possible.
Sunlight through a garage door will fade a cheap floor unevenly along the door line. UV-stable topcoats exist precisely for that. Blends are on the finishes page and finished work is in the gallery.
Forrest County questions
Which towns in Forrest County do you cover?
All of them. Hattiesburg.
How far will you travel?
We work out of Laurel and cover roughly a hundred miles in every direction. That takes in Jones County, Rankin, Simpson and Lamar to the north and west, the whole Mississippi coast from Bay St. Louis through Biloxi to Pascagoula, across into Baldwin and Mobile County in Alabama, and west to St. Tammany Parish.
Residential and commercial?
Both. Garages and patios through to kitchens, warehouses and clinics.
How long does an install take?
A day on site is the normal answer for a residential floor.
What about the slab condition?
Commercial slabs that have been in service take oil deep into the pores. Surface degreasing does not reach it, and resin will not bond through it. We grind it out, and where contamination runs deep we prime with something built to tolerate it.
How do I start?
Call 601-319-9619 or send the details and we will come look.
Talk to Kevin about your floor.
Kevin started ICM in 2021. The team that keeps it going is Aaron Garner, Kyler Welch and Averie Garner. Covering Laurel and south Mississippi, the Gulf Coast, coastal Alabama and St. Tammany Parish. Send us the details or see finished floors.