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Concrete floors have a high grossing market throughout the world. They have a vast scope in commercial sectors and even residential sectors. They are most suited for industrial space to reduce considerable wear and tear. Durable polished concrete floors require less maintenance and cost. The usage of polished concrete floors in a property’s interior is a beneficial retail and residential construction trend nowadays.
Some top benefits of Concrete Flooring are
- Their maintenance is simple
- Improved sanitation condition
- It Increases Light Illumination
- Long-lasting
- Cost-Effective method
- Good For Environment
- Provides Non-Slip Surface
This article will list a few commonly specified concrete protective coatings and give an overview of their advantages, disadvantages, and typical applications.
Epoxy Floor Coatings
Epoxy floor coatings are popular due to their hardness and rigid plastic coating material. This material is made up of two components: epoxy resin and a polyamine hardener. Both are blended in a fixed proportion before the application to form a chemical reaction named hard coating epoxy. They are mainly bonded to base layers.
Some advantages of Epoxy Floor Coatings are:
- Hardness
- Durable
- Impact Resistance
- Suitable for heavy-duty applications like warehouses, industries, garages, etc
- Resistant to chemical products like bleach, grease, oils, cleansers, acids, etc.
Polyurethane Floor Coatings
Polyurethane is a polymer in nature that has the quality of not getting melted when heated. They are often confused with epoxy-coated floors due to their similar appearance. But they serve different functions than epoxy.
Polyurethane are relatively softer and more flexible than the epoxy one. The elasticity makes it suitable for areas with normal to heavy pedestrian traffic like railways, roads, etc. So they are resistant to injuries and prone to scratches. For regular households, polyurethane may not be the best choice. They are most sufficient in low-temperature zones.
You can see polyurethane floor coatings in-car parking, ice chambers, malls, airports, etc.
The best advantage of these coatings is that they are ready to use the next day of processing.
Before applying polyurethane coating, one crucial thing to remember is that it is susceptible to moisture, forming bubbles on the surface.
Polyaspartic Floor Coatings
Polyaspartic coatings are used as a complete flooring and topcoat system. These are better than the above two mentioned floor coatings. A single coat of polyaspartic is enough to complete the work than the epoxy and polyurethane coatings.
So they require less labour and material costs.
They are also a swift, ready-to-use type of coating that can be prepared in a few hours. Polyaspartic floor coatings are used chiefly in airports, malls, hospitals, with heavy foot traffic throughout the day.
Like epoxies, polyaspartic floor coatings also require careful surface preparation. Otherwise, it can result in various types of coating failures. These solvent-based coatings are dangerous to inhale; therefore, skilled workers from valuable concrete flooring services and appropriate respiratory equipment are required during the application.
Acrylic Floor Coatings
Acrylic Floor Coatings are often processed in a solvent, mainly water. They are a middle ground in terms of cost and overall performance. Unlike other floor coatings, they lack high durability. So they are required to get recoated more frequently than them. Although the initial cost of these coatings may not be costly, the maintenance expense is higher than other standard coatings.
Hence, while the initial cost of acrylic floor coatings may be relatively inexpensive, long-term maintenance costs are higher than those for other coatings. They have numeral shortcomings, so most of their applications are limited to decorative concrete surfaces with the least foot traffic and minimal abrasion risk.
Some merits of acrylic floorings are:
- They have faster curing times than others.
- They dry as fast in an hour after application.
- They reduce the overall labour requirements.