Epoxy Flooring
Epoxy flooring is a concrete coating that can be found everywhere, from homes to businesses to industrial facilities. Epoxy floors offer a range of aesthetic, functional, and cost-efficient benefits.
If you’re considering an epoxy floor for your home or business, you’ll want all the info you can get before deciding what style and where epoxy flooring would be suitable for your space.
In this article, we’ll cover a complete overview of epoxy flooring, from what it is to its installation and styles to its maintenance and costs. Keep reading to learn more!
Epoxy flooring is a resinous floor coating that is comprised of epoxy polymers and a chemical hardener. When the epoxy resin and hardener are combined, they form a hard, durable surface that can last for years. Epoxy floor coatings come in many different colors, patterns, and textures. Not to mention, there are several styles of epoxy flooring that bring their own unique looks. Below, we’ll further examine these styles:
Standard Epoxy Flooring
Standard epoxy flooring is one of the most common styles of epoxy floor. These floors can be installed with as simple or as complex a design as you prefer. From the most straightforward single-color floor to the most complex multi-colored, intricately-patterned floor, standard epoxy has the versatility to allow for creative control.
Metallic Epoxy Flooring
Metallic epoxy flooring is considered to be one of the most unique epoxy flooring styles. These epoxy floors are created by mixing metallic pigments with the epoxy resin during the installation process. These pigments give the floor a glistening appearance that can be taken advantage of to create fantastic patterns, such as colorful swirling patterns, designs that mimic nature like lava or water, and designs that replicate high-end flooring materials like granite and marble flooring.
Decorative Flake Epoxy Flooring
Decorative flake epoxy flooring is frequently utilized for the texture it adds to the floor. This epoxy floor is installed by layering acrylic chips over the epoxy base layer and topping it with a thin epoxy clear coat. These flakes give the floor its texture and increase slip resistance. They also come in various shapes, colors, and sizes, spanning from 1/16 to 1 inch, and can be broadcast in varying densities across the floor.
The epoxy flooring installation process is a multi-step system that requires specialized tools, an experienced hand, multiple people, and close attention to detail. It’s always best to leave this process to a professional epoxy flooring contractor to ensure the best results.
Step 1: Cleaning, Inspection, and Repairs
The first step in the process is to clean the existing concrete and inspect it for damage, such as cracks, chips, or flaking. If any damage is discovered, it will need to be repaired before the process can continue. This is to ensure none of the damage translates to the new epoxy. Cracks are generally repaired with an injectable epoxy filler, while chips and flaking areas are usually repaired using a powdered concrete patch.
Step 2: Surface Prep
Prepping the concrete’s surface for the epoxy coating is the next step. This involves using a floor grinder equipped with a coarse diamond grinding wheel or a shot blaster to remove the outermost layer of concrete. Removing this layer opens the concrete’s pores to ensure proper adhesion between it and the epoxy and removes any minor blemishes like dents or unlevel spots. Floor grinders are typically the preferred choice as they’re considered to be more efficient.
Step 3: Mixing and Pouring the Epoxy
With the surface prepped, the epoxy resin and hardener can be mixed and poured over the concrete. Any patterns or extras, such as non-skid additives, metallic pigments, or decorative flakes, will be installed during this step. Several layers are applied to reach the desired floor thickness while taking the clear topcoat into account. Once these layers are applied, the clear epoxy topcoat is applied to seal everything in place.
Step 4: Curing
The last step in this process is allowing the floor time to cure. Curing times can vary depending on environmental factors like temperature. However, in most cases, epoxy floors are 90% cured after 24 hours and fit for foot traffic, and 100% cured and ready for full use after 72 hours.
There are many benefits to using epoxy flooring in your home or business. Below, we’ll take a look at some of these benefits:
- Durability: Epoxy floor coatings are highly durable. These flooring systems can handle high impacts, scratches, scrapes, and frequent foot and vehicle traffic with ease.
- Resistance: This concrete coating is installed seamlessly, leaving no space for chemicals or water to seep into the floor. Not to mention, an epoxy floor has a non-permeable surface, meaning it repels these substances to reduce damage and staining.
- Longevity: Epoxy floors are built to last. These floor coatings can last for 25 years or more when properly installed and maintained.
- Customization: There are endless colors, patterns, and textures to choose from with epoxy flooring. This broad range of selections gives home and business owners complete creative control with their floors.
- Ease of Maintenance: Epoxy flooring is quick and easy to maintain. It doesn’t require labor-intensive, time-consuming cleaning regimens or expensive cleaning products.
Maintaining an epoxy floor is a simple process that will save you time, money, and effort compared to conventional flooring systems. These floors only require a short list of materials for maintenance, including:
- broom or dust mop
- wet mop or power scrubber
- mop bucket
- pH-neutral floor cleaner
Dust mops are preferred over brooms and power scrubbers over wet mops for larger spaces, such as commercial businesses or industrial facilities. An epoxy floor should be swept, or dust mopped daily to remove dirt and grit. The floor should be wet mopped with the pH-neutral floor cleaner weekly to remove built-up grime. Lastly, the floor should be spot-mopped any time a spill occurs, or messes are tracked onto the floor. With this simple maintenance routine, your epoxy floor should last for decades!
The cost of an epoxy floor can vary, depending on several factors. These factors include the size of the room, the complexity of the pattern, and the selected style of epoxy. A standard epoxy floor will cost between $3 and $7 per square foot in most cases. Decorative flake epoxy flooring or metallic epoxy flooring will usually cost in the $8 to $12 per square foot range
With all this information, you should be able to decide if this versatile concrete coating is suitable for your home or business. If you choose to install an epoxy floor, remember to call a reliable epoxy flooring contractor for your project!