Best Industrial Floor Coatings

Best Industrial Floor Coatings: Epoxy Coating versus Concrete Recoating

Are cracks appearing on your industrial, manufacturing, commercial, or factory concrete floor, or does it need refinishing? Many older concrete floors are getting a fresh new life with highly affordable epoxy coatings.

Industrial floors have to be tough. They are exposed to the challenges from heavy vehicles, forklifts, occasional chemical spills and damage from dropped tools. If you must repair your industrial floor, you should consider an epoxy coating installed by London Ontario specialty coating experts. For less financial outlay than a concrete coating, but with just as much ability to withstand the wear and tear that industrial floors face, it may be your best choice.

The best industrial epoxy is a two-part, aliphatic polyaspartic polyurea with 83% solids that was developed for its UV stability (non-yellowing), superior chemical, UV, and solvent impedance. This system is a concrete flooring top-coat that is V.O.C. compliant and is approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). See the required preparation necessary for your existing concrete floor, below.

In Southwestern ON, contact Ontario Specialty Coatings for a professionally applied epoxy coating. Please call the phone number below or request a quote online.

Can your existing floor be easily coated with epoxy?

The only requirement to an epoxy floor application is an existing concrete floor as its base:

Epoxy is a self-leveling liquid that is professionally spread. For that reason, your existing concrete floor requires proper preparation for an epoxy coating: a process of surface cleaning, necessary repairs and blast tracking that opens the pores of the concrete to ensure epoxy adhesion.

Why choose epoxy over a concrete resurfacing coat?

Epoxy is concrete’s city cousin with beautiful contemporary options and colours.

Epoxy Coating Benefits:

Epoxy’s charisma comes from its contemporary looks, which it achieves with a color layer or additive layer, then topped with a clear coating. This clear coat can accept other chemical additions to meet your industrial needs.

See Ontario Specialty Coatings’ four epoxy coating options here.

Concrete Resurfacing Benefits:

A concrete resurfacing is as simple as a fresh coating of a liquid slurry of concrete and plastic that is typically 2 to 3 mils deep.

Concrete resurfacing withstands the same weight load as an epoxy coating, whereas a new solid concrete floor offers more ability to handle weight than either coating.

A concrete resurfacing can be stained, stamped and coloured.

Polished Concrete Benefits:

Concrete’s handsomeness is organic; you can grind it to various depths to expose the artistry of its aggregate and then polish it. Although this process is more detailed, the result is gorgeous. We provide concrete grinding and polishing services.

Please call us at the number below, or submit your information here for a quote for any of our beautiful flooring applications.

How much time should be allowed for epoxy coating installation?

Epoxy curing is achieved through a thermal setting. The chemicals that make up the epoxy react with one another creating heat that cures the layers over a number of days. Even though the top layer might feel dry, you must allow the correct cure time, especially in settings where the flooring will face heavy traffic loads.

Although a home interior floor may only need 24 hours before walking on it in work boots, an industrial setting requires five days before heavy equipment can drive on the floor surface. Please read our full article, Epoxy Floor Cure Times.

How long does an epoxy floor last in an industrial or commercial setting?

Realistically, nothing lasts forever. However, in the world of chemicals, an epoxy coating offers possibly the highest durability. It combines several chemicals to achieve remarkable tensile strength and load resistance.

Although the thickness or density of the epoxy is always a determining factor regarding how long it will last, Ontario Specialty Coatings uses only a thicker coating (30 mm) for all of our floor coatings.

A residential epoxy coating lasts almost a lifetime, typically 25 – 30 years. However, your industrial, factory, or manufacturing epoxy floor will realistically last anywhere from 5 to 10 years, depending on the wear and tear it receives. Additionally, regular maintenance can help extend its lifespan. The heavier and more consistent the traffic, the more likely that strain could lessen its lifetime. It is of a similar life to concrete coating or resurfacing.

Which wins against chemical spills: A concrete resurfacing or epoxy coating?

Epoxy floor coatings are at the top of the list of chemical resilience making chemical spill clean-up more efficient.

This makes it a green choice for many companies. As well, the epoxy itself is completely inert and harmless once hardened.

• Acids
• Solvents
• Salt
• Chlorine
• Oil
• Gasoline
• Chemical cleansers

Naturally chemical and water-resistant, epoxy serves as a perfect sublayer to which you can add specificities to achieve various surfaces. Read our blog post: Epoxy Flooring; Five Things to Help You Decide for more information about epoxy coatings or go to our epoxy page to see individual options.

• Skid resistance or gloss resistance
• Anti-static
• Metallic looks
• Quartz looks

Call us at (519) 203 8800 to learn more about epoxy or other coatings available.

We proudly install many types of concrete finishes, pool coatings, epoxy and rubber flooring applications.