The myth that epoxy flooring is a temporary solution that requires regular refinishing is widely circulated. But this is totally false and should be used to expose the deception that it is. In this article, we’ll examine how long an epoxy floor may endure if it’s placed by a pro and kept in good condition.
Have you been acclimated to less aesthetically pleasing flooring options?
If that’s the case, now is the perfect moment to make some serious changes to your flooring. Since the flooring is one of the first things guests will see, it’s important to make a good first impression with eye-catching and high-end details. Epoxy flooring is your best bet in this situation.
Epoxy flooring is a practical and shrewd choice for business and residential properties alike because of its durability and longevity. Do you think epoxy flooring are a good investment because of how long they last? As in, how long before you have to get new ones? These are important factors to think about if you’re contemplating about covering your floor with epoxy.
There are benefits and drawbacks to every flooring option. It really does matter where you place it. There are a variety of flooring options that can be used in a variety of settings. You should select a floor that works well with the layout of your room.
Flooring in high-traffic areas must be tough enough to endure the constant wear and tear caused by people’s feet and the environmental conditions they’ll be subjected to. Although this may be more expensive at first, it will prove to be cost-effective in the end. A robust floor that requires little in the way of upkeep and cleaning can save you money in the long run on repairs and replacement.
Flooring made of polished concrete is a great choice for a garage because of its longevity. The fact that it is long lasting and requires little upkeep makes it ideal for this setting. Some garages have epoxy floors, which you might want to think about. Here are some arguments against using epoxy on your garage floor.
What is Epoxy Coating?
Let’s start with the origins of the modern epoxy floor. To avoid confusion, epoxy paint and epoxy coating are not the same thing. Epoxy coating, in which two parts are mixed together to form the final product, is often used to cover and protect epoxy flooring. Epoxy resin and polyamine hardener are the two components. Before putting them to the ground, make sure they are thoroughly combined.
What comes next?
For a certain amount of time, the blend will be employed. True, what you heard is true. Epoxy floor coating is not applied mechanically after the components are mixed. It will take a while for it to dry. By that time, you’ll be able to design a floor surface that will last for decades.
Why Epoxy Floors Became a Popular Choice for People?
Epoxy flooring can withstand heavy traffic and repeated impacts with little damage. It’s one of the many reasons why this type of business is so popular. Because of the heavy foot traffic that occurs daily in these settings, owners need to give careful consideration to the flooring or material they instal.
In this context, epoxy flooring becomes useful. They can get the most out of their money while maintaining high output levels. Epoxy flooring is not only cheap but also simple to clean and maintain.
Professionally Installed
Let’s start by not mucking up the name of the epoxy flooring system we’re discussing. When you hire us to coat your floors with epoxy, we use a different system than the one you can buy at the hardware store and roll on. We always utilise premium products that will keep your home or company looking great for decades. If you take care of your heavy-duty epoxy coating, it can last anywhere from 20 to 30 years before showing signs of wear.
High Durable
Stamped concrete overlay is the next layer that we’ll discuss. While stamped concrete overlays can provide a tough look, they are easily damaged by things like foot activity, vehicle traffic, fallen objects, and vibrations. In comparison, epoxy flooring is extremely resilient. Using lifelike stamps to create surfaces emulating natural stone, wood, or even cobblestone, stamped concrete provides intriguing and exotic alternatives for customisation. However, when compared to the glossy sheen of epoxy flooring, these surfaces can seem drab.
Routine Maintenance
The existing condition of your concrete slab is one of the primary elements in determining how long your epoxy coating will endure. A concrete slab will likely collapse before epoxy flooring does if it has severe structural problems, such as deep cracks, gouges, and peeling surfaces. Because of this, you shouldn’t apply an epoxy floor coating to your concrete floor until you’ve dealt with any necessary maintenance and repairs.
Location Is key
In addition to the quality of the concrete itself, the environment in which it will be installed also plays a significant role in determining its lifespan. For instance, in a residential area with little foot traffic, a professionally constructed epoxy flooring system can survive for up to 30 years. But in high-traffic commercial and industrial settings, the lifespan of the flooring system may be reduced to 15–20 years.
Keep It Clean
Epoxy flooring may seem impervious to harm from accidents, spills, and other forms of abuse, but heavy overuse can cause the floor covering to wear down swiftly. This is why it’s so important to immediately clean up any chemicals or moisture that may have gotten into the epoxy flooring. Additionally, it is suggested that as little as possible be dropped on the epoxy. Dropping something heavy from a great height can quickly destroy epoxy.
Sun Exposure
One more thing prevents epoxy flooring from being used on outside concrete. When exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time, epoxy flooring quickly deteriorates and must be replaced because to its poor resistance to ultraviolet light. Epoxies’ binder can chalk and even turn yellow when subjected to direct sunshine on a daily basis.
Prep Before Application
In this article’s final section, we’ll go over the concrete slab’s surface preparation. To ensure that your epoxy lasts as long as possible, you must do the surface preparation process meticulously. Your epoxy will not only fail to operate as expected, but it will also quickly crack, decay, or fail to attach to the concrete slab if there is any moisture present, if the concrete is not profiled well enough, or if no primers are used before the application of the epoxy.
Although epoxy flooring is a popular option, it is not without its flaws, which is why it is crucial to get experienced professionals to instal it. Only then will your epoxy flooring last as long as possible.
How Long An Epoxy Coating Will Last?
The following variables affect how long an epoxy coating lasts:
- The Strength of the Concrete Flooring: The durability of your epoxy floor coating is mostly influenced by the quality of the concrete flooring itself. The standard minimum strength of concrete flooring in commercial and industrial buildings is 3,000 pounds per square inch (PSI). For a floor, a concrete strength of no less than 2500 PSI is unacceptable. If necessary, densifiers can be used to address this issue.
- Surface Preparation: How thoroughly the surface was prepared before application will have a big impact on how well the epoxy flooring performs. The surface shouldn’t become caked with dirt, oil, or other liquids, and it shouldn’t be cracked or scraped either. (The actions that should be taken throughout the surface preparation process are listed below.)
- On factory floors, epoxy coatings can range in thickness from 400 microns to 1 millimetre (that is, between 0.4 mm and 1 mm). Epoxy coatings that are too thin may deteriorate and require more frequent replacement. In industrial settings, epoxy systems can occasionally reach almost a millimetre thick.
- A floor coating professional would often recommend using a urethane topcoat to preserve the epoxy from deterioration and scratches. Industrial flooring should ideally be at least 50 microns thick.
- Foot Traffic: Even a well applied epoxy coating will eventually deteriorate in high foot traffic areas. Additionally, forklifts and other wheeled vehicles will cause damage. If there is a lot of foot traffic on your building, think about painting it again.
Epoxy floor coating has extremely little UV resistance and ought to be avoided in locations where exposure is likely to occur often. Long-term exposure to sunlight will cause the binder to chalk and become powdery. Epoxy coatings are therefore rarely utilised outside.
When will the current epoxy floor coating on your floor need to be replaced?
Your epoxy floor coating is beginning to deteriorate if there are any localised failures of the coating or microscopic cracking that appears in certain areas. You should hire a qualified floor coating inspector to look over your flooring if you see either of these issues or any other telltale signs of wear and tear.
Why do epoxy floors peel?
When applied correctly, an epoxy coating is incredibly durable and difficult to remove. Because of this, there are a lot of popular epoxy garage floor treatments that last a long time and look great. If you pay close enough attention, you can prevent nearly every epoxy flooring annoyance you’ve ever heard of. In light of this, we have compiled a list of the seven most frequent causes of epoxy peeling and offered recommendations for preventing this issue.
Poor Surface Profile
Epoxy peeling is most commonly caused by a concrete surface that has not been properly prepared. A poor surface profile is the primary issue with it. The concrete’s rough and porous surface profile is what facilitates the epoxy’s mechanical bond.
Acid etching the concrete is a bare minimum need for getting the right surface profile for epoxy. Although grinding the concrete is the recommended technique, it is not always practical for the do-it-yourself installer. Learn the differences between acid etching and grinding here.
By creating a profile, the pores in the concrete are opened up, allowing the epoxy to sink in and get a hold. If the epoxy isn’t applied properly, it won’t stick and may flake off after a while.
Once properly profiled, the concrete will have a paler hue and a rougher texture akin to 100 grit sandpaper. Drip some water onto the concrete in different spots to see how it holds up. In less than a minute, the top should go dark and soak up the water.
Single-coat garage floor epoxy packages that are less expensive should be avoided due to the clean and etch solutions they typically include. Many times, these methods are insufficient to produce the desired surface profile.
The crystals of citric acid seen in these solutions explain why. Most of these companies utilise citric acid because it is benign to the environment and difficult to poison yourself with even in large doses. If you’re worried about etching and want to learn more about safer options, you may do so here.
Citric acid, however, is the weakest of the concrete acid etching solutions and will not successfully profile a hard troweled or machine troweled surface. As with excessively dense concrete, it does not perform well with this material.
Another issue is that these citric acid products are promoted as a cleaning option. When applied to a dirty concrete surface, these solutions fail to effectively clean while etching the material.
Moisture
Moisture in the concrete is the second most prevalent cause of peeling epoxy garage floors.
Epoxy is impermeable to water vapour. Assume there is dampness below your slab anywhere it is below ground level. If water vapour is trapped under the epoxy covering, hydrostatic pressure can build up and eventually peel the epoxy off the surface.
Look for damp spots on the floor. The presence of efflorescence is an early indicator of a potential moisture issue. And so are shadows on the ground.
A basic moisture test should be performed before laying down epoxy on a slab that is below grade on any side.
Oil And Contaminants
When you have the right profile for epoxy, you should double-check that the regions you cleaned of oil stains are actually receptive to water rather than repellent. The water-drop test is useful for ensuring these conditions.
The concrete in an old oil stain will often be noticeably darker than the rest of the surface. If it can soak up water, it can do the same with epoxy, guaranteeing strong adherence.
Silicone from tyre dressing products and polymer compounds that seep out of hot tyres are also impurities that prevent the epoxy from sticking. A water drop test should also be done near the locations where the car tyres rest.
There will still be silicone and tyre polymer residue after acid etching. You will need to grind the concrete to remove the acid etching residue if any of the areas you tested fail the water drop test after being acid etched.
Acid Etch Residue On The Surface
The acid solution in an etching process, such as that used on a garage floor, breaks down the concrete by interacting with the free lime present in the material. This results in the surface calcium dissolving, revealing the concrete’s voids. The surface is then dusted with a very thin white dust composed of this calcium.
The fine white dust that had been present on several floors had caused the epoxy to peel.
The small particles of dust tend to cling to the surface’s crannies, making cleanup a chore. The fine white dust causes epoxy to adhere less to the concrete’s surface and more to the dust itself if epoxy is applied over the concrete. It will gradually flake off, revealing the white dust beneath the peeling epoxy.
The amount of dust that remains after acid etching depends on how efficiently the floor was neutralised and flushed, as well as how much free lime was present on the surface of the concrete to begin with.
Use plenty of water to flush the surface and make sure the floor doesn’t dry up throughout the acid etching procedure. Scrubbing the surface with a deck brush while it is mildly cleaned can assist. You can scrub out the white residue if it appears, but it may take more than one round of scrubbing.
To clean stubborn grime, a pressure washer is ideal. In its absence, moisten the floor in parts and scrub it with a solution of TSP and hot water. Use a high-pressure nozzle to give it a thorough flush, and then go on. It can be done, but you might have to try a few times.
Keep in mind that cheaper garage floor epoxy kits will wear out over time in heavily used areas. To compare this to peeling is inaccurate. The floor will get dull and the concrete below will become visible in certain spots. This is not due to peeling but rather to abrasion at the coating’s surface.
Tire heat pickup is not always an indicator of sloppy floor maintenance. Again, this is something that can happen with cheaper epoxy resins regardless of how thoroughly you prep the floor. The epoxy’s low solids content and chemical composition are to blame.
It’s not that difficult to apply an epoxy garage floor coating that won’t peel. All you need is a keen eye for detail and an understanding of how concrete garage floors should be prepared and tested before installation.
Most of these typical issues with epoxy peeling can be readily prevented by just grinding the garage floor, with the exception of moisture problems.
However, if you pay close attention and follow these instructions, you should have a successful epoxy coating that will not peel after application, regardless of whether you ground your floor or acid etched it.
Conclusion
Myth that epoxy flooring is temporary solution that requires regular reflooring is false. A robust floor that requires little upkeep and cleaning can save you money in the long run. Some garages have epoxy floors, which you might want to think about. Epoxy flooring can withstand heavy traffic and repeated impacts with little damage. Epoxy floor coating is not applied mechanically after the components are mixed.
It will take a while for it to dry before it is applied, but if taken care of epoxy coating can last up to 30 years. The existing condition of your concrete slab is one of the primary elements in determining how long your epoxy coating will endure. A concrete slab will likely collapse before epoxy flooring does if it has severe structural problems, such as deep cracks, gouges, and peeling surfaces. The durability of your epoxy floor coating is mostly influenced by the quality of the concrete. The standard minimum strength of concrete flooring in commercial and industrial buildings is 3,000 pounds per square inch (PSI).
For a floor, a concrete strength of no less than 2500 PSI is unacceptable. Epoxy peeling is most commonly caused by a concrete surface that has not been properly prepared. Acid etching the concrete is the bare minimum need for getting the right surface profile for epoxy. Less expensive, single-coat epoxy packages that are less expensive should be avoided. Moisture in the concrete is the second most prevalent cause of peeling epoxy garage floors.
If water vapour is trapped under the epoxy, hydrostatic pressure can build up and peel it off. A basic moisture test should be performed before laying epoxy on a slab that is below grade on any side. The amount of dust that remains after acid etching depends on how efficiently the floor was neutralised and flushed. Cheap epoxy kits will wear out over time in heavily used areas. To clean stubborn grime, moisten the floor in parts and scrub it with a pressure washer.
Content Summary
- The myth that epoxy flooring is a temporary solution that requires regular refinishing is widely circulated.
- In this article, we’ll examine how long an epoxy floor may endure if it’s placed by a pro and kept in good condition.
- Have you been acclimated to less aesthetically pleasing flooring options?If that’s the case, now is the perfect moment to make some serious changes to your flooring.
- Epoxy flooring is your best bet in this situation.
- Do you think epoxy flooring are a good investment because of how long they last?
- These are important factors to think about if you’re contemplating about covering your floor with epoxy.
- There are benefits and drawbacks to every flooring option.
- There are a variety of flooring options that can be used in a variety of settings.
- You should select a floor that works well with the layout of your room.
- Some garages have epoxy floors, which you might want to think about.
- Here are some arguments against using epoxy on your garage floor.
- Let’s start with the origins of the modern epoxy floor.
- Epoxy coating, in which two parts are mixed together to form the final product, is often used to cover and protect epoxy flooring.
- Epoxy floor coating is not applied mechanically after the components are mixed.
- It will take a while for it to dry.
- In this context, epoxy flooring becomes useful.
- Professionally InstalledLet’s start by not mucking up the name of the epoxy flooring system we’re discussing.
- When you hire us to coat your floors with epoxy, we use a different system than the one you can buy at the hardware store and roll on.
- High DurableStamped concrete overlay is the next layer that we’ll discuss.
- In comparison, epoxy flooring is extremely resilient.
- The existing condition of your concrete slab is one of the primary elements in determining how long your epoxy coating will endure.
- Because of this, you shouldn’t apply an epoxy floor coating to your concrete floor until you’ve dealt with any necessary maintenance and repairs.
- Location Is keyIn addition to the quality of the concrete itself, the environment in which it will be installed also plays a significant role in determining its lifespan.
- Prep Before ApplicationIn this article’s final section, we’ll go over the concrete slab’s surface preparation.
- To ensure that your epoxy lasts as long as possible, you must do the surface preparation process meticulously.
- Although epoxy flooring is a popular option, it is not without its flaws, which is why it is crucial to get experienced professionals to instal it.
- The following variables affect how long an epoxy coating lasts:The Strength of the Concrete Flooring: The durability of your epoxy floor coating is mostly influenced by the quality of the concrete flooring itself.
- Surface Preparation: How thoroughly the surface was prepared before application will have a big impact on how well the epoxy flooring performs.
- When will the current epoxy floor coating on your floor need to be replaced?Your epoxy floor coating is beginning to deteriorate if there are any localised failures of the coating or microscopic cracking that appears in certain areas.
- You should hire a qualified floor coating inspector to look over your flooring if you see either of these issues or any other telltale signs of wear and tear.
- Because of this, there are a lot of popular epoxy garage floor treatments that last a long time and look great.
- If you pay close enough attention, you can prevent nearly every epoxy flooring annoyance you’ve ever heard of.
- In light of this, we have compiled a list of the seven most frequent causes of epoxy peeling and offered recommendations for preventing this issue.
- Poor Surface ProfileEpoxy peeling is most commonly caused by a concrete surface that has not been properly prepared.
- A poor surface profile is the primary issue with it.
- Acid etching the concrete is a bare minimum need for getting the right surface profile for epoxy.
- Learn the differences between acid etching and grinding here.
- Single-coat garage floor epoxy packages that are less expensive should be avoided due to the clean and etch solutions they typically include.
- Citric acid, however, is the weakest of the concrete acid etching solutions and will not successfully profile a hard troweled or machine troweled surface.
- Moisture in the concrete is the second most prevalent cause of peeling epoxy garage floors.
- Epoxy is impermeable to water vapour.
- Assume there is dampness below your slab anywhere it is below ground level.
- If water vapour is trapped under the epoxy covering, hydrostatic pressure can build up and eventually peel the epoxy off the surface.
- Look for damp spots on the floor.
- A basic moisture test should be performed before laying down epoxy on a slab that is below grade on any side.
- Oil And ContaminantsWhen you have the right profile for epoxy, you should double-check that the regions you cleaned of oil stains are actually receptive to water rather than repellent.
- The water-drop test is useful for ensuring these conditions.
- The concrete in an old oil stain will often be noticeably darker than the rest of the surface.
- There will still be silicone and tyre polymer residue after acid etching.
- You will need to grind the concrete to remove the acid etching residue if any of the areas you tested fail the water drop test after being acid etched.
- The amount of dust that remains after acid etching depends on how efficiently the floor was neutralised and flushed, as well as how much free lime was present on the surface of the concrete to begin with.
- Use plenty of water to flush the surface and make sure the floor doesn’t dry up throughout the acid etching procedure.
- Scrubbing the surface with a deck brush while it is mildly cleaned can assist.
- To clean stubborn grime, a pressure washer is ideal.
- In its absence, moisten the floor in parts and scrub it with a solution of TSP and hot water.
- Keep in mind that cheaper garage floor epoxy kits will wear out over time in heavily used areas.
- To compare this to peeling is inaccurate.
- This is not due to peeling but rather to abrasion at the coating’s surface.
- It’s not that difficult to apply an epoxy garage floor coating that won’t peel.
- All you need is a keen eye for detail and an understanding of how concrete garage floors should be prepared and tested before installation.
- Most of these typical issues with epoxy peeling can be readily prevented by just grinding the garage floor, with the exception of moisture problems.
- However, if you pay close attention and follow these instructions, you should have a successful epoxy coating that will not peel after application, regardless of whether you ground your floor or acid etched it.
FAQs About Garage Floor Epoxy
How long would an epoxy garage floor last?
You may extend the life of your epoxy flooring by taking the necessary precautions. Homeowners can expect their epoxy flooring in areas like patios and garages to retain its pristine appearance for even longer when proper care is taken. When properly maintained, household epoxy flooring has a lifespan of up to 10 years.
When coating a garage floor with epoxy, how many coats should you apply?
Two applications of epoxy are recommended for a garage floor. You should wait at least 12 hours, but no more than 48 hours, in between coats. After a few hours, the floor will be touch dry, but it will take several days to fully cure.
How long does epoxy last on a garage floor?
Epoxy flooring is made up of two chemical components—a base and a curing agent—that, when combined, cure to form a tough, resilient, “plastic-like” coating. Epoxy flooring, due to its chemical composition, is one of the toughest materials and will survive longer than virtually any other covering.
What are the drawbacks of having an epoxy floor?
Epoxy can become incredibly dangerous when wet since it is non-porous. When epoxy is used in a space that will be frequently used by people of all ages, but especially by young children and the elderly, the risk of injury increases significantly.
Can you simply scratch an epoxy floor?
Epoxy flooring is resistant to scratches because it is a hard resin coating, but just like any surface, it can be damaged by a sharp object.