The Advantages and Disadvantages of Applications of Epoxy Floors
By Steven Williamson
Cement Shine
Updated January 03, 2018
Epoxy floors offer a chemically resistant surface for commercial and industrial flooring. Application of resinous floor coatings is common over many concrete floors. We install epoxy on shop floors, retail environments, industrial buildings, auto service areas, warehouses, commercial kitchens, and commercial buildings. This makes cleaning of the floors much easier. Epoxy helps protect concrete floors from absorption from contaminates.
Epoxy coatings floor prep
Most Epoxy coatings will require mechanical preparation by a concrete grinder or shot blaster. This will result in creating the surface profile recommended for application. A surface profile of a three is the minimum. This provides the porosity and the mechanical profile for lasting adhesion. The most common way to address large cracks (1/8 and up) is a mixture of sand and epoxy or cabisol. The first coat of primer being squeegee-ed will fill mall surface cracks.
Epoxy coating prep-work is detrimental. Coatings applied to smooth concrete is the equivalent of painting a piece of glass. The result would lack absorption or mechanical bond. Some manufacturers recommend doing a water test to the surface of the concrete. This is to test the concrete floors’ absorption. We will require the removal of all previous layers of epoxy is. If this step is skipped, your adhesion will only be as good as the existing coating. Old epoxy may not be chemically compatible.
Ultimately you want to use products like Cement Shine. They have been tested in a lab to pass a pull test. If the concrete comes with the epoxy on the pull test you have adhesion. This is an indicator of a passing score.
Photo credit from http://www.safeenvironments.com.au/adhesion-pull-off-testing/
It’s important to download a products product data sheet and application instructions. Temperature, even surface temperature should be followed. Any other manufacturer’s recommendations. There are over twenty different common mistakes an epoxy installer can make.
Epoxy Installer Checklist
- Did they check for moisture issues?
- knowledge to recommend a moisture barrier. This will prevent issues?
Do they know:
- what epoxy products meet the required specs?
- how to achieve a surface profile of a 3?
- know how much product to mix?
- length to mix the epoxy product?
- the pot-life or working time of the material?
- the skill to work fast enough to get it down?
- what mil-age to apply(thickness) and how to achieve this?
- time to wait in between coats?
- how to achieve a finish without roller marks?
- Do they know how to apply an antislip
Epoxy Floor Coating Advantages
Above all, floor high-quality coatings offer many advantages over many substitute flooring systems.
- Resinous coatings can create a shiny high gloss and beautiful surface.
- Can have a faster turnaround for installation
- Higher durability as noted on epoxy product data testing sheet.
- In warehouses and industrial buildings preserves the concrete floor from contaminates.
- Chemically resistant to oil, water, and other harsh chemicals.
- Epoxy floors with proper maintenance can have a very long lifetime value.
- Can hide a very ugly concrete stained floor
- Can meet Health requirements in food prep areas of restaurants or manufacturing plants
- Create a non-slip OSHA compliant floor conforming to American floor safety standards
- Create durable safety markings to designate forklift traffic or hard hat and safety apparel required areas
- Make cleaning a fast process
- Prevent concrete dusting
- Prevent expensive damage or environmental contamination of buildings or automotive garage floor shop
- Provides a clean environment for sensitive electrical or food manufacturing processes.
- Helps prevent unsanitary or bacterial growing environments
Epoxy Floor Coating Disadvantages
- Some acids and hydraulic fluids can damage surface requiring polyspartic, or polyurethane type topcoats or even Novalac type coatings.
- May require a moisture barrier, like with all flooring systems hydro-static gas can damage the flooring
- Epoxy isn’t bulletproof. You can damage an epoxy floor as you could a concrete floor.
- Major cracks can damage an epoxy floor as any other flooring system can be damaged with substrate shifting.
- The lack of knowledgeable Installers that understand the unique challenges and concrete surface issues
- Uninformed DIY installers installing substandard products with substandard methods resulting in substandard results that give real Commercial grade epoxies and installers a bad name.
For more detailed info on how we ensure the best quality epoxies see the article.