Here are useful tips learned during more than 40 years of installing epoxy urethane floor seals and coatings on Fortune 500 company concrete floors, as well as in basements, garages, and decks. These tips can help you avoid mistakes that can limit the life of your floor.
There are three broad steps to doing your floor project: planning and preparation, repairing, and applying the coating. This article is the first in a three part series, and deals with planning and preparation.
General guidelines for applying an epoxy coating to your floor:
Now let’s get started with tips on how to plan your job and prepare your floor.
Remember, “Life imitates Star Trek.” You may begin to notice in the future that virtually every floor in the galaxy seems to have a flow-coated, two-part coating on it. I am seeing fewer and fewer new wood floors, linoleum, or oriental rugs. How about you?
Follow the rules and your job will turn out with the great look you want.
For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com or phone 1-800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7).
Archive for the ‘Flooring’ Category
Epoxy Floor Paint Projects: Tips and Tricks That Save Time and Money
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010Installation and Refinishing Concrete Floor Project: Tips and Tricks That Save Time and Money
Thursday, July 8th, 2010Here are useful tips learned during more than 40 years of installing epoxy urethane floor seals and coatings on Fortune 500 company concrete floors, as well as in basements, garages, and decks. These tips can help you avoid mistakes that can limit the life of your floor.
There are three broad steps to doing your floor project: planning and preparation, repairing, and applying the coating. This article is the third in a three part series, and deals with applying the epoxy paint to the floor.
General guidelines for applying an epoxy coating to your floor:
Now let’s get started with tips on how to coat your floor with an epoxy or urethane floor paint.
Epoxy floors can last decades, but only with proper installation
Sunday, July 4th, 2010After experiencing lifting and pealing of floor products, many industries have reduced their expectations for shop floor life to three or four years. This is unfortunate because epoxy floorshave an intrinsic service period of a decade or more if the subfloor is properly prepared prior to laying down the coating.
Even new floors require proper preparation before a seal coating is applied. New concrete is dusty or the first few years as the microscopic latents are kicked off the surface. If concrete is exposed to wear, it will eventually deteriorate. Friction wear, erosion, and contamination all play a role. Dust, cracks, crumbling, rough surfaces, and the inability to keep the environment clean are symptoms of a floor that has not been protected and is moving towards an unserviceable condition.
The secret to success in producing floors that last a decade or more is paying attention to the preparation process. Instead of using simple raw materials like hydrochloric acid and tri-sodium phosphate, it is better to employ cleaners that have penetrants, rinse agents, and detergents built-in. Such specialty products ensure that the etching and cleaning of the subfloor results in a strongly bonded epoxy layer.
Mission-critical sites in industries such as printing, food processing, air travel, and breweries rely on decade-old epoxy floors that are used 24 hours per day.
Recently, at least one manufacturer has begun providing kits of materials customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. These kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts, so professionals and amateurs alike can successfullyinstall a quality floor.
On the Web, individuals and project managers can obtain free, job-specific quotes on materials or nationwide turnkey installations by completing a simple questionnaire at www.concrete-floor-coatings.com.
For photo examples and more detail, visit www.concrete-floor-coatings.com
For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at: harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com
Phone: 1-800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)