One of the most versatile flooring for all types of healthcare, educational, industrial, and commercial facilities is epoxy. It can be customized to a lot of various forms of needs and conditions.
Here are several things you should know about epoxy flooring if you aren’t familiar with Plancher epoxy Magog and what they can do.
Can be Utilized Outdoors
Epoxy mixed with aggregate can produce attractive, durable, and outdoor-ready surfaces. The result is almost similar to a rice crispy treat, with hard pebbles or gravel stuck together by an epoxy adhesive.
However, you should be wary that exposing epoxy floors to direct sunlight can cause chemical reactions. This makes them develop a “chalky” quality or turn yellow within the surface layer. To prevent this issue, you can apply a UV-resistant coating.
Can be Aesthetic
If you hear the phrase “industrial floor coating”, you may imagine ugly floors. However, epoxy floors can come in an elegant range of effects, colors, and shades. You can even apply epoxy with a metallic sheen that looks like a desert landscape or sparkling ocean. Various colors might be applied in stages. This creates stunningly colorful patterns that will beautify your facility.
Can be used to Almost Every Hard Flooring Surface
Though we most frequently talk about epoxy being used to concrete flooring, it can also be utilized to offer a protective layer to any hard surface. This includes wood subflooring and metal. However, to make sure that the epoxy properly bonds to the floor, these surfaces should be carefully prepared.
Difference Between Coating and Flooring
Though we frequently interchangeable use the terms, your epoxy application should be at least 2mm thick for it to be considered as “flooring”. If it is lesser than 2mm, then it is considered as “coating”.
Of course, there is a difference between these two. Coating simply produces a protective layer. On the other hand, epoxy flooring offers extra structural support.
Preparation of the Surface is the Most Crucial Part
Your epoxy floor can almost instantly fail if improper or lazy surface preparation is done.
Moisture is one of the worst culprits. High vapor or humidity soaking the concrete flooring can stop the adhesive bonds from developing while drastically slowing the process of curing. This is the reason why it is crucial to get a professional moisture test first. Before applying epoxy, have any issues dealt with first.
Chemical Bond Strength
An epoxy coating is made up of 2 components – a curative and a polyepoxide. Before an epoxy coating is applied to your floor, the 2 components are combined right away. And the resulting reacting causes them to bond chemically to one another and to the floor.
That is why epoxy coating is much more durable than the sum of its parts. Epoxy is very strong and will not chip or peel away from the flooring surface. However, in order to achieve that, you should first properly clean and prepare the floor. As we mentioned, improper preparation will only ruin the chemical reaction of the epoxy coating.
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