Concrete Flooring in St Louis - Epoxy Stone Inc.

Epoxy Stone Inc. (ESI), located in St. Louis, Missouri, installs top-quality Epoxy River Stone flooring systems for residential and commercial applications; they have installed more than one million square feet of this decorative and durable system.

The company was founded in 1990 with a strong commitment to quality. As such, ESI uses an epoxy system that is salt and chemical resistant, cleanable, and backed by the best warranty in the industry.

ESI currently serves the St. Louis metropolitan area, covering a 100-mile radius of downtown. "It's a challenging effort, due to the drastic weather changes we endure," explains ESI owner Keven Welch.

"For example, one day it can be as cold as 32 degrees and heat up to the 60s within hours, all of which causes a lot of ground movement that affects any kind of concrete resurfacing."

Weather not withstanding, ESIs epoxy flooring systems are very durable and offer non-skid abilities. They are also porous, so there's no standing water on the surface, a fact that's particularly helpful in the St. Louis area.

"That means no standing water, which equals no ice, which equals not having to use chemicals or rock salts for de-icing," notes Welch, adding, "although various chemicals and salts dont harm our surfaces."

"We've got it figured out through lots of trial and error early on, and lots of help from distributors," says Welch, adding that the products ESI uses also help create durable work. "Without proper preparation, our epoxy surfaces would peel up, but luckily we use a straight liquid epoxy, which offers better bonding strength."

Epoxy River Stone, when applied over concrete surfaces, forms an attractive and uniform new surface. Using a high-performance polymer and natural river stone, the ESI solution of concrete resurfacing is suitable for both residential and commercial, and both interior and exterior applications.

Additionally, its built with UV inhibitors, allowing it to withstand harsh climates, and its used on everything from driveways, to entryways, to patios, to porches, to public areas, to showroom floors, to stairs, to pool decks, to walkways, to basement floors.

Epoxy Stones Stonecarpet is another natural product ESI uses; its composed of carefully sized and shaped individual quartz stones, power troweled or hand troweled in composition with a matrix, to provide a stunning monolithic floor free of unsightly grout lines.

With Stonecarpets unique structure are benefits such as appearance retention, ease of maintenance, and safety, making the product unlike any other material. Stonecarpet provides a completely unique flooring system that is the product choice for auto showrooms, retail stores, churches, museums, art galleries, offices and other public areas.

Since ESI started in 1990, Welch says concrete resurfacing as a whole has become more popular in the St. Louis area, rather than just plain old concrete, which has also allowed ESI to pursue more decorative looks as their clients tastes expand.

"Clients are now making our work part of a project upfront, rather than what we used to do (strictly rehab work)," he explains. "I attribute that to knowledge people are researching more on the Internet and getting [their hands on] more information."

Currently, ESIs portfolio is 90 percent residential and 10 percent commercial, with plans to pursue commercial aggressively this year, as opposed to waiting for it to come to them.

"We've found that when [commercial jobs] do come to us, the jobs are large and offer high visibility," Welch explains. "And the more traffic a project sees after completion, the more referrals we get, which means more business through more exposure."

As for how ESI plans to ramp up their commercial efforts, Welch says they've been dropping direct mail to real estate management companies and various institutions that they think would benefit from ESIs products.

"Also our sales staff is aggressively cold calling, networking and following up on direct mail with calls," he adds.

"As for why the focus on real estate management companies," Welch explains, "they may have 100 different properties, so one project inevitably leads to more Hotels and churches are other great avenues of work, because they can't afford downtime for tear out and replace, and we offer quick service and very little downtime."

ESI is also focusing on more ways to use their products, such as for indoor pool decks and auto showrooms, as well as for large office buildings and other places that need a durable surface where carpet wouldn't hold up well over time.

Although 90 percent of ESIs clients are still asking for simple one-color looks, Welch notes that there's a decorative look inherent in their products. "Whether its a border, inlay, logo or more elaborate colors, he explains. Those projects are challenging and fun, but they take more time, and there's more room for error, so we charge accordingly."

Welch says he expects a big year for ESI, adding, "We rely on our experience. We know what will and won't work, and we know what we can't work with. If the concrete's too damaged, you're not doing yourself or your customer any service when the product fails."

That's ESI in a nutshell, experienced enough to do the job right the first time, even if it means saying no once in a while.

Epoxy Stone Inc.
Keven Welch
9475 Dielman Rock Island
Olivette, MO 63132
(314) 426-2311 Office
(314) 426-2502 Fax

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