Why a pre-1980 Pocatello slab needs more prep
Grove City Coatings serves Pocatello, about 25 miles south of our Blackfoot base down I-15. Pocatello's homes run older than most towns we cover. About 66.2% of its 24,135 housing units were built before 1980, and nearly 2,900 went up before 1940, according to Census housing data. A slab that old has usually cracked or shifted once already, so we plan on a full diamond grind plus real crack repair as the base scope, not an add-on.
About 35.5% of Pocatello homes are rentals, a share driven up by Idaho State University. For a rental garage or basement between tenants, we lead with the toughest, lowest-maintenance system rather than a decorative pour.
Pocatello Regional Airport's 30-year weather averages show 38.5 inches of snow and 36.2 snowy days a year, with January highs barely above freezing. Cars track in salt and slush for months, and that many freeze-thaw cycles is exactly the wear a grind-first sealed coating stops. Work that stretches past a garage slab onto the sidewalk or apron routes through Pocatello's own Building Division on North 7th Avenue, not Bannock County.
Most Pocatello homes, 69.5%, are still single-family, so flake and epoxy garage systems fit much of the city's housing. But 6.8% of the city's housing is mobile homes, a higher share than in newer-built eastern Idaho towns, so every Pocatello estimate starts with a quick slab-type check. A mobile-home pad often needs different prep and jointing than a stick-built garage floor before any coating goes down.