Epoxy Flooring – Types, Advantages & Disadvantages

What is Epoxy Flooring?

Epoxy is a thermoset plastic, paint, glue, or plastic manufactured from two or more industrial chemical compounds. A substance that is produced by combining two separate components is referred to as epoxy. Often, “resin” is used to describe this component which is a chemical compound comprised of short-chain polymers with an epoxide group at one end.

An epoxy floor is one that has an epoxy layer on it that is at least two millimetres thick. The depth of epoxy is what distinguishes epoxy flooring from the epoxy coating. Resinous flooring is another name for it.

Epoxy flooring is extremely resilient, environmentally friendly, and attractive for any surface. The most durable flooring option, this flooring is desirable since it has a higher level of resilience to wear and strain. Concrete floors typically have an epoxy coating added to them in order to provide a smooth, long-lasting surface and to boost the floor’s capacity to support heavier loads.

Epoxy floors are mostly used in industrial settings, warehouses, and commercial structures to ensure hygienic and secure conditions for personnel, machinery, and stock.

This kind of floor coating is made of hardeners and resin. To make a coating that works well in a range of flooring applications, additives such as accelerators, flow control, UV inhibitors, adhesion boosters, etc. can be applied. These additives can be used to get a variety of desirable performance characteristics, such as better abrasion resistance, quicker cure times, more chemical resistance, etc.

Epoxy can be made more aesthetically pleasing by including various colours, decorative coloured quartz aggregate, vinyl flakes, glitter, etc.

Types of Epoxy Flooring

1. Epoxy Mortar Flooring:

This type of epoxy flooring is made up entirely of quartz sand and solid epoxies. This mortar epoxy is used on floors when greater resistance to chemical and impact loads is required. Before putting another type of epoxy floor, cracks can be repaired using this epoxy.

Places To Use:

•   Warehouses
•  Mechanical spaces
• Restaurants
•  Manufacturing facilities
• Garages
•  Commercial Kitchens

2. Self-Levelling Epoxy Flooring:

To provide a smooth, resilient, and even texture on the surface of the floor, this form of epoxy is applied over new, old, cracked, or damaged concrete floors. It improves the floor’s aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Places to Use:

• Commercial kitchens
•  Garages
• Facilities for sports
• Industrial structures
• Showrooms
•  Warehouses

3. Quartz-Filled Epoxy Flooring:

High-performance epoxy polymer resin and tinted quartz grains are combined to create this epoxy. This epoxy is used in decorative settings where hygienic and slip-resistant qualities are required.

Places to Use:

• Lobbies
• Offices
• Showrooms
• Locker rooms
• Restrooms
• Schools
• Cafeterias

4. Anti-Static Epoxy Flooring:

In order to avoid any static dangers in these places, an anti-static epoxy floor is applied because an electrostatic charge can be hazardous in a variety of working environments. A conductive substance on this floor accumulates static electricity and diffuses any potential discharge.

For spaces that house combustible goods, the anti-static epoxy floor is a far preferable option. It is appropriate for environments where there is a risk of ignition due to the usage of flammable gases or liquids.

Places to Use:

• Pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities 
• Chemical, electronic, or medical facilities.

5. Epoxy Flake Flooring:

Epoxy flake flooring has coloured flake components incorporated into the epoxy to produce a colourful appearance. Moreover, this flake adds grooves to each surface to prevent falls and slips.

We may improve the aesthetic appeal of any room by utilising this epoxy, which is available in an endless number of colours, shapes, designs, and textures.

Places to Use:

• Sports facilities
•  Locker rooms 
•  Showrooms
• Restrooms
• Bars
• Garages
• Medical offices
• Commercial Kitchens
• Schools
• Churches
• Launderettes
• Hospitals
• Laboratories
• Grocery and Retail Stores

Advantages of Epoxy Flooring

Cost Effective:

The cost of epoxy floor coating might be high. Yet, since you won’t need to replace it for a while, its endurance alone makes it a very affordable choice.  Also, it is obvious that epoxy flooring will continue to cost less over time when you take into account the savings on auto repairs, lighting, cleaning, and installation.

Simple to Clean:

Other flooring coverings pores and cracks tend to trap dirt and bacteria, making them challenging to keep clean. Epoxy flooring, on the other hand, offers a smooth, totally sealed surface. Epoxy flooring is significantly simpler to clean and maintain since it lacks pores and fissures.

In actuality, all that is required to maintain the new appearance of epoxy flooring is warm, soapy water.

Faster Application:

Epoxy flooring’s quick and simple installation is another advantage. As a result, you won’t have to permanently stop operations or halt manufacturing, saving you both time and money. To minimise disturbance to your business, Ultrasyntec can work after hours.

Environment Friendly:

Epoxy coating requires a low amount of manufacturing time and uses healthy resources. Also, you don’t need to maintain your epoxy flooring with harsh or dangerous chemicals. Large industrial and commercial facilities don’t need to use additional lighting since an epoxy surface delivers more illumination, which saves energy. Epoxy coating is durable, so you won’t need to think about changing it for a long time, which results in less waste. Last but not least, since it also helps to prevent the typical wear and tear on your vehicles, you won’t need to replace tyres and other mechanical parts as frequently, therefore leading to less waste.

Aesthetic Appearance:  

Due to its attractive appearance, epoxy flooring is favoured by many business owners. Old and worn-out floors are given new life by an epoxy coating, which produces a dazzling and incredibly appealing floor surface.

Also, there are a variety of textures and colours available. So, you can coordinate your flooring with the rest of your space or even with the colour scheme of your business. 

Safe Working Conditions:

With so many colour choices, it’s also possible to utilise various hues and patterns to identify specific areas of the floor as zones. This makes epoxy floor coating perfect for vast places where it’s necessary to identify loading bays, forklift tracks, and walkways for the safety of workers and vehicles. Extreme and unexpected impacts, slips, high temperatures, and even fire are all things that epoxy coating is resistant to. Furthermore, an epoxy floor coating can increase brightness by up to 300 per cent. This is a result of the way the glossy epoxy surface reflects light. The result will be better visibility and a safer working environment for your employees and clients. And you save money by not having to install additional lighting.

Chemically Resistant:

Epoxy flooring can tolerate repeated chemical exposure because of its resilient and extremely durable structure without losing effectiveness or being affected in any manner. Due to the possibility of frequent exposure to these severe environments, epoxy coating is appropriate for the floors of industrial plants, warehouses, and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.

Minimises machinery damage:

Epoxy coating creates a smooth, seamless surface that is more forgiving than other forms of flooring on the machinery that goes over it and is also strong enough to support the weight of a continual stream of traffic. As a result, the business will incur cheaper maintenance expenditures due to less wear and tear on its transportation equipment.

Highly Durable:

Epoxy coating binds effortlessly to the surface of the floor, producing enduring & high-quality surfaces. The strength and durability of epoxy floors are also exceptional. This makes it the perfect option for industrial and commercial spaces. Forklifts, large machines, and other moving objects, as well as foot traffic from consumers and employees, can all be accommodated by epoxy coating.

Also, due to the resistance of epoxy flooring to rapid contact, any mishaps like spills or fallen merchandise won’t harm your floor surfaces.

Disadvantages of Epoxy Flooring

• While being strong and chemically resistant, one of the major drawbacks of this flooring is that it is just temporary and must eventually be replaced.
•  Preparing a concrete floor is a laborious operation that takes a lot of time and work.
• Epoxy coating removal and repair is a difficult and time-consuming procedure.
• There will be contact noise when walking on the epoxy floor because it is so firm.
•  Without underfloor heating, it feels a little frigid.
• The flooring won’t last as long if the installation is done improperly.