Many homeowners choose epoxy floor coating systems to extend the life of their floors while also improving their appearance. In addition, concrete coatings protect flooring from chips, fractures, and fading, and the smooth non-porous surface makes it incredibly easy to clean up spills. Although you can get many benefits from this type of flooring system, they also aren’t as trustworthy as polyurea floor coating systems. In fact, there are several reasons that epoxy floor coatings end up failing.
Surface Not Prepared Properly
If you think that it’s enough to just clean your floors, you won’t get proper bonding between your concrete and the epoxy. As a result, the coatings will end up peeling and chipping. Most people don’t realize that it takes much more work to prepare the surface for adhesion. Sometimes, it’s enough to etch your concrete with muriatic acid, but in most cases, it is better to grind or shot blast the concrete to create a good concrete surface profile.
Concrete Contamination
Even after you have gone to the extent of thoroughly grinding down the surface of your concrete, there is still a risk of contamination. Depending on where your concrete floor is, it might be susceptible to fatty acids, silicone, acrylics, and much more! These contaminants prevent a solid adhesion between the coatings, so you end up wasting time and money on the application. If the area is severally contaminated, the best solution is to heavily shot blast, cut, or replace the concrete.
Poor Bond Strength
Lastly, your coating project can fail if you don’t choose the right product for the job. While there are many DIY options on the market, most don’t hold a candle to the quality and strength of professionally-installed systems. At Symphony Concrete Coatings, we only offer coatings with the ultimate adhesive strength while leaving out unnecessary fillers. However, the strength still doesn’t compare to that of polyurea floor coatings.
If you have concerns about the different ways in which epoxy floor coatings can fail, we encourage you to reach out to us at Symphony Concrete Coatings to find out more about the other products that we have to offer. You can call to speak with one of our friendly service representatives about your needs, or we can provide you with a free, no-obligation quote after you submit our simple online form.