Epoxy is a great option for properties because of its durability and resilience. When installed correctly, epoxy floors can easily last for decades as an attractive and easy to maintain floor. But when mistakes are made during installation, epoxy can fail, leaving you with a floor that is no longer suitable for your business.
These are some of the ways in which epoxy often fails due to mistakes made during the installation process.
Epoxy Flooring Damage from Installation
After your epoxy installation, you expect to have a beautiful floor that is ready to go, so it can be alarming if you begin to notice issues with the floor. Based on what you are seeing, there are a number of issues that could have caused an epoxy floor to fail:
- Small Bubbles – While epoxy is non porous, the concrete beneath it is not. These small bubbles are a result of air in the concrete base seeping out into the epoxy. This step can be avoided by sealing the concrete appropriately before applying the epoxy.
- Blisters or Craters – These are the result of larger air bubbles. A blister is air trapped in the epoxy while the crater is an air bubble that has burst. Since an epoxy floor is supposed to be perfectly smooth, this ruins the effect. It is also due to outgassing from the underlying concrete slab, but it is more likely to be the result of a slab that was in poor condition when epoxy was applied.
- Tacky Areas – After curing, if there are patches of your floor that are slightly sticky or feel soft when you walk on them, then this is most likely the result of an improper ratio of resin to hardener that has led to the epoxy not being able to cure completely.
- Peeling Epoxy Coating – The concrete base for epoxy has to be completely clean in order for the epoxy to adhere. Dirt or grease on the surface can cause the epoxy not to stick completely and it will begin to peel off shortly after installation.
- Dinginess or Flow Lines – Floors can look dingy in appearance or have visible lines where the epoxy flowed if the resin was at the wrong temperature during the installation process. Although these floors may be structurally sound, this is likely to leave them with a less than ideal appearance.
The best way to avoid these challenges and get a reliable epoxy floor from the beginning is to use an experienced commercial flooring contractor who regularly installs epoxy floors in commercial properties. This contractor will be equipped to handle the different specifications of commercial properties and work with conditions in your area to achieve a perfect resinous mixture and curing time for the dependable epoxy floor that you want to achieve.
Colorado Concrete Repair has installed epoxy floors at a wide variety of commercial properties throughout the Front Range and we have the experience to get a perfect installation every time without you having to worry if your epoxy floor will last for years. Contact our team to learn more about the epoxy flooring process and how we can guarantee the leading results in Denver.
