What is Epoxy Flooring?
Epoxy flooring is becoming popular for homeowners seeking a durable, aesthetically pleasing, and clean surface. Epoxy resin is the main element that coats epoxy flooring. It resurfaces concrete floors and adds decorative features, such as colour or shine, to residential, industrial, or commercial spaces. An epoxy floor resists harsh chemicals, dirt, and abrasion, making it a hygienic and protective option to its elements for any space, but especially for garages.
Epoxy floors are known for their durability and unique aesthetic, but there are several more features and advantages. However, it’s essential to choose the right type of epoxy floor coating for your specific flooring project. Keep reading to learn more about epoxy flooring and what kinds of environments they are suited for.
For commercial or industrial environments, epoxy and polyaspartic floor coatings are an economical, environmentally friendly and easy to maintain flooring solution, particularly well-suited for commercial kitchens, manufacturing facilities, laboratories, warehouses, recreational facilities, hospitals, garages and other tough environments.
These hardwearing coating systems can be applied directly to concrete surfaces with little to no preparation. Once applied, the coating dries quickly into a seamless, high gloss finish, making it both a practical and attractive choice for the long term.
Available in a variety of colours, epoxy and polyaspartic floor coatings can be applied as one solid floor colour throughout an area, or multiple colours can be applied to designate work areas, walkways and other zones for improved on-site safety and traffic flow.
Prior to installing epoxy or polyaspartic floor coatings, our staff will properly prepare the concrete surface and repair any cracks and holes in order to give you a seamless floor. While polyaspartics have a reputation of being difficult to work with, TTM Finishes has many years of experience applying both these types of specialized coatings.
How Many Types Of Epoxy Flooring Are There?
TTM Finishes offers three types of epoxy flooring: solid colour epoxy, transparent epoxy, and metallic epoxy. Each flooring has different features and benefits, including the following:
- Solid Colour Epoxy: When combined with the proper protective coating, solid colour epoxy creates a smooth and consistent finish for your floor while also giving exceptional resistance to stains, chemical agents, and scratching. Due to its adaptability, it is a popular choice for both residential and commercial uses.
- Transparent Epoxy: This see-through flooring complements industrial-style design by enhancing the natural beauty of concrete by providing a wet and glossy appearance. When adequately protected, this thicker layer, which functions similarly to a sealer, offers greater resistance to numerous factors such as stains, scratches, and chemicals.
- Metallic Epoxy: Metallic epoxy has eye-catching and contemporary metallic river motifs, making it ideal for commercial spaces, restaurants, and upgrading residential settings. It gives an enhanced touch to any environment while being extremely durable, resistant, and low maintenance. Metallic epoxy is the most customizable floor coating of all epoxy kinds, with a vast range of colour options.
The Difference Between Epoxy Floors and Other Floor Coatings
The primary difference between epoxy floors and other floor coatings is their chemical elements and application process. While most coatings, such as oil-based or water-based paints, are single-component solutions, epoxy consists of two components that must be blended prior to application: the resin component and the hardener component.
Traditional paints may be an option when contemplating garage floor coatings, but they are unsuitable for heavy foot and vehicle traffic. Therefore, epoxy resin coatings are highly recommended due to their superior durability and longevity.
However, there are superior options for garage floor coatings, including polyurea coatings. TTM Finishes’ specialists frequently recommend a polyurea coating with particles for garage floors or in industrial environments due to its enhanced flexibility. This powder floor coating is more resistant to temperature fluctuations and ground movements than epoxy, making it a more resilient and long-lasting option for garage flooring.
Advantages of Epoxy Floor Coatings
Less expensive than other floor finishing options, an epoxy flooring system is an investment that can last a lifetime with proper maintenance and stand up to the everyday abuse of most commercial and industrial settings.
- Durability: Epoxy floors are incredibly durable and withstand heavy foot traffic, machinery, and equipment. They are impact-resistant, abrasion-resistant, and wear-resistant, making them ideal for garages and factories.
- lasts a lifetime
- Oil & Chemical Resistance: Epoxy flooring offers superior resistance to chemicals, including lubricants, solvents, acids, and alkalis. This resistance makes it appropriate for use in factories, warehouses, and garages.
- seamless, high gloss finish
- Improved Aesthetics: Epoxy flooring improves the aesthetics of any space by providing a glossy and professional finish, available in gloss, semi-gloss, and matte finishes with anti-slip properties
- Anti-slip Surface: Safety is perhaps the most significant benefit of an anti-slip epoxy-coated floor. These surfaces are designed to minimize the risk of slips, trips, and falls, which are some of the most common causes of accidents in both residential and commercial spaces. The textured or roughened surface of an anti-slip epoxy coating provides increased traction, especially in areas where the floor is likely to get wet or oily, such as kitchens, bathrooms, pool decks, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities.
- Conductivity and static control: Since epoxy is an insulator, it is common for a person walking across a standard epoxy floor to generate static charge through friction. When there is static, electrostatic discharge occurs. This can be problematic in specific industries. However, Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) floors, also known as static dissipative floors (1 Mohm to 1000 Mohms) or conductive floors (.025 Mohms to 1 Mohm), provide superior static control, meaning it protects people and equipment from static electricity.
- Low maintenance: Epoxy floors are simple to clean and maintain due to their smooth surface. Due to their resistance to elements on the surface, they do not collect grime, dust, or bacteria, making them hygienic for an easy cleanup.
Advantages of Polyaspartic Floor Coatings
Polyaspartic coatings are ideally suited for use garage floor applications and medium use industrial environments. Compared to epoxy alone, polyaspartics cure faster – withing 2-4 days – and can be applied in environments with very cold or very hot temperatures, both indoor and outdoors.
- top coat application every five years or so
- can be used indoors and outdoor
- can be applied in extremely low or high temperature environments
- oil and chemical resistant
- resists fading
- seamless, high gloss finish
- anti-slip surface
Industries That Benefit From Epoxy Flooring
Several industries benefit from epoxy flooring, including the following:
- Manufacturing and Warehousing: Due to its durability and resistance to heavy machinery and equipment, epoxy flooring is perfect for manufacturing facilities and warehouses with heavy foot and vehicle traffic.
- Healthcare and Pharmaceutical: Epoxy floors are sanitary and excellent for healthcare facilities, hospitals, laboratories, and pharmaceutical industries due to their seamless and easy-to-clean surface.
- Automotive: Epoxy flooring is a popular choice for automotive workshops, showrooms, and parking garages due to its chemical resistance and ability to handle oil and automotive fluids.
- Retail: Epoxy floors are ideal for retail businesses, shopping malls, and commercial organizations due to their aesthetic appeal and capacity to withstand significant foot traffic. Plus, increasing the appearance of retail flooring can help the store stand out from its competitors.
- Restaurants: The chemical, spill, and stain resistance of epoxy flooring makes it perfect for industrial kitchens, breweries, and restaurants. It also enhances the aesthetic appeal, whether it’s upscale or a casual dining atmosphere.
- Educational Institutions: Epoxy flooring is an ideal alternative for schools, universities, and other educational institutions due to its longevity and low maintenance requirements.
- Aviation and Aerospace: Since epoxy flooring can endure aeroplane traffic and chemicals, they are ideal for airports, hangars, and aerospace facilities.
Epoxy Flooring Installation
TTM Finishes takes great care in creating and installing our epoxy flooring materials to provide a high-quality finished surface. Our installation process starts with a comprehensive location evaluation to select the appropriate system and any required testing. Factors such as slab quality, space usage, and building age are considered. Tests such as Calcium Chloride or Relative Humidity testing may be performed to determine moisture content and potential contamination since de-greasing oil contamination ensures proper adhesion.
We customize a preparation procedure based on findings and on-site visits, as preparation is crucial for creating methods for a solid bond to the substrate. This procedure may involve media blasting, diamond grinding, or removal with jackhammers and chipping guns. The installation procedure differs based on the system selected, such as broadcast, mortar, or self-leveler. Speeding and troweling the material, squeegeeing and rolling it, or distributing it are all common installation methods.
All crucial details, such as waterproofing, cove base, penetrations, and drains, are thoroughly addressed and planned before installation. Our expertly trained installation teams carefully execute every detail to provide a high-quality epoxy floor installation to last for any space.
Cleaning and Maintenance For Epoxy Flooring
While seamless epoxy floors are known for being simple to clean and maintain, each location has unique regulations and criteria to comply with. TTM Finishes managers work with customers to deliver the ideal cleaning solution for their area’s needs. Contact us if you have any questions or inquiries about epoxy flooring or to book an epoxy floor installation in Toronto, Mississauga or surrounding areas today.
FAQ
How long does an epoxy floor last?
Epoxy floors’ lifespan can vary based on elements like the quality of the installation, the volume of traffic and machinery use, and maintenance procedures. A properly constructed and maintained epoxy floor can often last 20 years or more, making it a long-lasting flooring option for commercial, industrial, and residential settings.
If you have any questions or want more information about epoxy flooring in Toronto, Mississauga and surrounding areas, contact us.