How soon can you take photos of your freshly waxed car on your new garage epoxy floor? Epoxy consists of two parts mixed together: a resin to which other chemicals can be added, and a hardener. The chemical options used can make a difference to epoxy cure time, but, how soon you can use a floor really depends on one factor.
How long before you can park your vehicle on an epoxy floor is determined mostly by how much weight you want to put on the epoxy floor.
Epoxy’s history as a concrete floor sealant in industrial plants, warehouses, and commercial spaces has sparked interior designers’ interest, and now many of us embrace epoxy coatings for their numerous benefits. However, even though plastics and epoxies have come a long way baby, from their industrial roots, patience is still a requirement before you drive a vehicle on it.
Your epoxy floor may look dry, despite that, epoxy is like nail polish; the surface can feel dry but the middle layer is not. Just like nail polish, a clear topcoat layer of a UV stabilizer is often added which also protects the colour and finish.
You should not even walk on an epoxy coating for approximately 12 hours, refraining from using hard-soled shoes. At the height of my high school days, I applied my 1985 iridescent mauve nail polish a half an hour before going out. Arriving at my destination, removing my coat which always had large shoulder pads, I noticed that my perceived dry nails were an illusion of chemical science. The smudgy polish became modern art on the sleeves of my coats. Although the top of my nails felt dry, the centre layer was still soft.
CURE TIMES after your final topcoat layer:
Please note: Industrial epoxy floor cure times are longer than home garage-floor cure times: 5 days versus 3 days
It is imperative epoxied industrial floors cure for a longer cure time. Otherwise, heavy machinery can leave depressions.
How long before you can:
Walk with socks on interiors or home garage floors: 12 hours
Walk with work boots on interiors or home garage floors: 24 hours / 1 full day
Drive on home garage floors: 72 hours / 3 days
Move heavy items on commercial or home floors: 24 hours / 1 full day
Drive heavy equipment on industrial floors: 120 hours / 5 days
Can you shorten the cure time of epoxy flooring?
Warmer temperatures will shorten the cure time, but not significantly. Humidity will not shorten the cure time of our epoxy. The environment should be on the dry side, the maximum humidity levels allowed are 85% saturation of water to air.
Read about the additives available to create interesting surfaces in our article ‘Epoxy Flooring: Five Things to Help You Decide.’
The temperature necessary for epoxy floor curing:
The area must be at least 24 degrees Celsius (75 Fahrenheit) for the whole time the floor is curing. It is fine if the temperature is higher, up to 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit).
Our website link to epoxy colour options and finishes:
See Ontario Specialty Coatings Epoxy Page. Hover over the drop-down for visual samples of our Opaques, Metallics, Full flakes and Quartz flooring options.
Read our article ‘Epoxy Floor Colours: 3 Colour Tips to Help You Decide’
How thick should epoxy floors be?
Our epoxy floors are poured 2-3mm thick and are of the highest durability, whether for industrial or home use.
How is the concrete prepared for the epoxy coating?
We prepare the necessary taping-off of the area to keep down the dust. Although our machines include industrial vacuums, the process has a degree of dust at the beginning:
The concrete needs proper preparation by means of blast-tracking, a process of pulverizing, or opening up a thin surface layer of concrete with a diamond blade to create a rough surface required for the epoxy adhesion.
Are there other finishing options for a concrete floor?
Concrete grinding, similar to blast-tracking provides a surface that allows concrete restoration, levelling, and concrete polishing.
Ontario Specialty Coatings grinds into the concrete surface to reveal the aggregates under the surface creating a beautiful terrazzo floor effect and polishes its surface. Read more here:
Call Ontario Specialty Coatings at:
(519)-203-8800
As epoxy experts, we’ve been busy pouring the highest quality epoxy floors for more than six years.
June 25, 2021 11:22 am