The level of grittiness on a floor like this is controlled / managed by the number of costs of clear layered over the chips.

I have a floor like this in my basement. They broadcast the chips, used a blower to move the "unattached" ones, and then I THINK they swept / knocked down any that were sticking up.

They applied about 3 coats of clear to get us a level of shine and smoothness that we were looking for.

It's hard to tell how many coats are on your floor but it does look rather rough. Our basement floor does not see the wetness that our garage floor does - for the garage, we used a quartz aggregate product that is grippier. I would not want to do as smooth a floor as I have in the basement in the garage - I'd have slipped and fallen in the wet spots about 800 times by now.

Thank you jannicon. They applied one coat of polyaspartic which they said was like but UV resistant so it wouldn’t yellow. I guess I have two options: ask them to come back and put down more (I don’t know how much they’d charge for that) or buy a really big rug!

Thank you, Scott. The floor was like that - I just ignorantly thought they’d be filling in the hollows so I’d have a flat floor. I guess those wavy heaves will just be a reminder to me that I live in earthquake country.

We epoxy'd our garage floor many years ago...wish we'd chosen a different method! Different areas have chipped and flaked off!

That looks to be an excellent no-slip surface that would be PERFECT for winters in Canada! A high-grit surface is excellent for cars, tires, wet slippery things, etc.

Did you want to use the garage for cars? Or "living" on? The comment about area rugs has me confused. Rarely would I see a car garage filled with area rugs.

As above, the more coats of clear epoxy they put down, the smoother this thing will get. And no, the "leveling" of the wavy concrete is not part of the job - unless specifically requested/paid for. Normally a car garage doesn't have issues with a little dip and wave. A garage conversion into a living space would be make the "leveling" more important - but a real car garage wouldn't be bothered by some wonky concrete...cars don't care.

mycommenthere said

We epoxy'd our garage floor many years ago...wish we'd chosen a different method! Different areas have chipped and flaked off

There's a vast difference in the floor pictured above and an epoxy floor with chips sprinkled on that can come up.

The floor above has a full covering of chips - about 1/8 inch thick, that is then fully sealed with a commercial clear epoxy

A leaf blower works really well as a broom. :)

SJ McCarthy: Ha ha ha! I know that Ford F250's and Hummers and Chevy Suburbans don't care what the floor looks like, but I suspect my MINI does. I put a carpet in my garage for my dogs, and when they went to meet their Maker, I just left it there and parked on it. Not a lot of rain where I live, so I didn't have to worry about a soggy rug growing mold. And I know it's nitpicky, but when I stand out there to fold my laundry, my bare feet are not going to be at all comfortable on that new surface (shoes aren't that necessary here in the winter). Solution? Rugs.

Thank you, Sammy! Excellent suggestion! I'll go buy one.