HELP!

If you are completely new to Epoxy Floors and are exploring the idea of having an epoxy floor, this is the page you should begin with.

Your Host and Tour Guide:

Paul Oman, MS, MBA - Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

Member: NACE (National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers), SSPC (Soc. of Protective Coatings)

"Professionals helping Professionals"

BEGINNERS INTRO TO EPOXY FLOORS

Part 1 - The Basics

Epoxy coatings are often used on floors because of their reputation for toughness and durability from wear and chemicals. On the downside, epoxies tend to yellow and lose their gloss, or even chalk, when exposed to sunlight.

Floor coatings seem to be an area where many epoxy manufacturers cut corners to lower price. These low cost ‘watered-down' epoxies also have ‘watered-down' performance. As with most things, you get what you pay for. A call must be made as to the quality of the epoxy needed for the job at hand.

It would seem that painting a floor should be a simple matter and one without much chance of failure. Unfortunately painting concrete floors is not so fool proof. Many things can go wrong and given the cost of coating a large area, and fixing things if something happens, the decision to coat a concrete floor should not be taken lightly.

Floor coatings can fail/peel for lots of reasons including: a layer of dust/dirt on the surface, a weak surface ‘crust' common with brand new concrete, moisture in the concrete, migrating moisture or water vapor and osmotic forces at play AFTER the coating is applied, greases and oils in or on the concrete some of which do not seem removable with even the best degreasers. Kitchens (especially around deep fat fryers etc.) and food processing plants are notorious for rejecting their coatings no matter what sort of preparation is attempted.

Existing coatings can sometimes, but not always, be top coated with the epoxy. This assumes that the old coating is bonded well to the concrete, that the epoxy will not soften or alter that bond, and that the epoxy will bond to that particular coating. Only an actual test will provide verification.

Often sections of the floor will also need to be patched, leveled, filled or repaired. The contractor has several options here and a wide range of products to select from including epoxy mixed with sand to form a slurry patching material.

Commercial floor applicators will generally prepare the floor using a shot blast machine that bombards the concrete with tiny steel balls that remove surface coatings and open up the concrete to accept the epoxy. Home owners can wash the concrete with a solution of 1/3 muriatic acid to ‘acid etch' the concrete. Flush with plenty of high pressure water to remove all traces of the acid -- and keep your fingers crossed. There is no way to tell if your acid treatment worked or not.

Some people think a thick epoxy floor is better but this is not often the case. If a gallon of epoxy will coat 100 square feet, a cost per gallon of $100 is not out of line. Applied at a 1/4 inch and that same gallon will cover less than 7 square feet – way too expensive at $100 per gallon. At 7 square feet per gallon, only the cheapest, often inferior, epoxies make economic sense.

The best epoxy floors are actually quartz floors held in place with epoxy. In other words, a layer of epoxy saturated to excess with sand or some sort of anti-skid abrasive (often attractive colored sands are used) and then a sealing top coat of more epoxy. These epoxy-sand-epoxy sandwich floors are two coat systems. For less demanding applications, single coat systems are an alternative. The epoxy can be applied without any abrasive in it for a smooth, slick, and initially shiny floor. For slip protection either fine rubber pellets or fine grained sand can be lightly broadcast into the wet epoxy and ‘back-rolled' to more evenly distribute the abrasive and to completely coat it with the epoxy. With a one coat system the strength comes from the epoxy, with a two coat system is comes from the much tougher quartz filler.

An attractive alternative offered by some epoxy floor firms (including us) is a colorful chip floor. These very attractive epoxy floors utilize a coat of epoxy with half inch colored vinyl flakes sprinkled on top and nearly covering all the epoxy. Bank-rolling locks them in place and a final clear, sealing epoxy topcoat completes the job.

The keys steps of any epoxy floor are surface preparation, which is critical, and the application of a one or two coat system. During that process there are important decisions to be made. Misjudgments can be costly so experience and practice are attributes worth seeking out.

Part 2 - Summing Up

1) materials for an epoxy floor will cost from $0.40 to about $3.50 per square foot

2) Using colored quartz sands or vinyl chips provided an attractive floor, in the $2.50-$3.50 price range per square foot. However, because of the cost and packaging of this sands or chips, it is not practical to consider this an option for any floor less than about 500 square feet.

3) Yes, you can do an epoxy floor yourself. It is best to have at least one helper when you actually do the work.

4) Surface preparation is the hardest and most critical step. It could make or break the job and the decision of how much surface preparation (and what kind) is strictly your own.

5) A good rule of thumb is to pour some water on the concrete. If it soaks in quickly and evenly, the floor is probably suitable and ready for epoxy coating.

6) Grease and oil stained areas are going to need REPEATED degreasing with HOT water and hopefully high pressure water. Use the water test in #5 to check how you are doing. Many contractors will 'seal' the degreased areas (see our surface preparation page - click here) to make sure deep down greases do not migrate back to the surface and cause problems. Smart contracts will often not accept jobs with potential grease or oil problems.

7) Check the concrete for active water migration that also could ruin or rule out an epoxy floor. If crystals keep forming on the concrete, your probably have a problem. Crystals or not, tape a sheet of plastic (tape all the way around) - about 3 ft by 3 ft - to the floor and leave it there for a few days. Remove the plastic. If the surface is full of water, you probably have a problem. Epoxy might not be for you.

8) Figure out how much you are willing to spend per square foot (and figure out how many square feet you have to cover).

9) Decide on a one coat system (with or without a bit of grit scattered in), or a two plus coat system which uses colored quartz sands, vinyl chips, or even plain sand. For serious commercial applications and max. anti-slip, for max. wear, and for best appearance, a two coat broadcast system is required. Consider a one coat system only for light use. One coat systems start at about $0.40 per square foot, a two coat system begins at about $1 per square foot. Consider a water-based epoxy system too! - click here.

10) All epoxies yellow and lose their shine quickly. White will turn yellow (we offer sort of a pre yellowed beige color), clear topcoats will turn yellow. Gray will become a greenish gray in sunlight. We do have a product that will absorb the UV and keep the epoxies from yellowing. It cost about $0.40 per square foot. The most 'color fast' approach is to use our brick (tile) red epoxy as the top surface coat in a one or two coat system (no clear coat, no colored chips or colored sands) because the red does not show yellowing. Another alternative is to use a 2-part polyurethane clear coat instead of an epoxy topcoat. The polyurethane will not yellow, but cost more, requires two coats and contains strong solvent fumes.

Knowledge is Power - We like informed consumers!

Learn the basics of epoxy at our educational EPOXY 101 page - Click Here.

Finally, email us back with your questions or comments before you buy - EMAIL HERE

Proceed/return to our primary floor coatings (link) page - click here