POURED EPOXY FLOORS

Resistant to loads, abrasion, aggressive substances and at the same time absolutely non-toxic. These are ideal requirements for business, administrative offices, car parks, residential buildings. Epoxy-based floors meet these criteria perfectly.

Composition

The composition is multi-component:

• Epoxy resin. Most often in the form of bisphenol-based oligomers. 
• Hardeners. The most common are amine hardeners. These are hexamethylenediamine, polyethylene polyamine, triethylene tetramine, cycloaliphatic polyamine. Maleic and phthalic anhydride and carboxylic acids can also be used as hardeners.
• Stabilizers.
• Products that increase strength characteristics of the base (casein, latex).
• Pigments (for a variety of decorative coatings).

Advantages of synthetic epoxy resin-based floor

• Service life of epoxy coating is 30-40 years. This is even longer than the service life of porcelain stoneware, which is familiar to everyone and unquestionable in its strength. Porcelain stoneware floor is in service for 30-35 years without repair. At the same time, epoxy substrate is much less demanding in care than porcelain stoneware. 
• Impressive antistatic and current-dissipating properties. Coatings are therefore suitable for facilities with a high risk of ignition from electrical discharge. 
• Tests confirm high resistance to UV radiation. In this aspect, resin properties are close to glass, steel, fluoroplastic. Even when the sunshine is constantly falling on the surface, the change of shade is insignificant. Physical and chemical properties of the coating are retained. Pigment almost doesn't fade. 
• Excellent adhesion is guaranteed to any substrate, including stone and concrete. 
• Consumers note the product resistance to temperature and humidity variations. Temperature range: -50 to +50 °C. There are no restrictions when using the construction product at such facilities as unheated car parks, warehouses, production shops.

It is not polyurethane. Even during installation there is no unpleasant smell. You can immediately lay the coating and use it.

The material has great potential to solve designer's tasks. It is particularly good to maintain the loft style, which is now at the peak of popularity in business centers, bars, cottages, and hostels. Microcement is the only viable alternative.

Why do some consumers reject epoxy floors?

Despite the fact that the material is at its peak, there are also those who prefer to buy and lay a completely different coating. Epoxy poured floor, on the other hand, raises a lot of questions. What does this have to do with?

Far from just taste preferences! There are two rational reasons:

• It takes a thorough preparation of surfaces. It requires the help of qualified professionals, who know the technology in detail and know how to thoroughly eliminate all the imperfections of the base coating: starting with chips and microcracks. 
• Such coatings aren't cheap. For office, warehouse, car park, many people prefer to choose a cheaper, simpler solution.

However, both issues are solvable. Let's start with the price. At first glance, the costs are substantial. But if we compare how much money will be needed to repair other coatings (asphalt - in the car park, linoleum - in the office, parquet - in the apartment), it becomes obvious that epoxy coatings are a long-term investment in the future.

And it is possible to minimize the estimate if you turn directly to direct sellers of epoxy-based products. Absence of intermediary markups when purchasing products in large quantities is essential. If you need epoxy resin-based floor, Hauptmann and products of the same name are an excellent option.

As for pouring labor intensity - yes, you need to know the technology, have experience with the product. The flatter the surface, the less product is needed. The more experienced the craftsman is, the lower is the cost.

Epoxy self-levelling floor pouring technology

Floor installation begins with complex cleaning of the site. The presence of garbage, oil stains and paint is not allowed. If you have any, you need to thoroughly "process" them with vacuum cleaner and solvent.

Primers, compositions for fixing and finish coat application, and pore filler should be compatible with each other. Products from the same manufacturer would be a perfect match. Hauptmann systems are a good example. These already include primer, pore filler, sealing and backfill products.

The primer is applied with a special epoxy roller. Spread the filling product evenly with a paint scraper. 

Please note! If you want to strengthen the base and reduce its hygroscopicity, it is better to use styrene-acrylate primers. If the focus is on resistance to fuel oil, oils and water vapor permeability, a water-emulsified primer (e.g. HAUPTMANN EPO W 420) is an excellent choice. 

Sanding is performed immediately after application of the fixing layer. You do not need to wait for it to dry. When installing the flooring it is often difficult to decide how much sand to take. Experienced craftsmen recommend not to save. The surface should be fully saturated. If this does not happen, the floor quality will be inadequate. If there is another distortion - excess sand - it is easy to fix. Remaining sand can be removed with a vacuum cleaner or brushes. 

Once the sand is backfilled, proceed to sealing procedure. This can be done with a paint scraper or a wiper - depending on which qualities are most important - perfect surface smoothness or floor with rough anti-slip coating. 

The wiper is also used at the time of pore filling. Structural roller is used to form monolithic structure. If the objective is not simply obtaining a monolithic single-color floor (this is the option chosen for industrial enterprises), laying of decorative coating (for restaurant, club) is placed directly on the base coat with colored chips. Or after curing, the base becomes a platform for drawings with acrylic paints. 

When pouring the mortar, the interval between "batches" can not exceed 10 minutes. Violation of this technology, again, can negatively affect the coating performance.

Epoxy poured coating for industrial floor

Poured systems are suitable for production facilities of different types:

• Food industry enterprises. The coating with epoxy base is poured in bakeries, beverage companies, fruit and vegetable bases, flour and cereals and confectionery factories, butter, dairy, cheese-making, canning plants. It is also a popular option of coating on modern meat packing plants, poultry farms, fisheries. Coatings also meet the stringent requirements of salt, alcohol, tobacco industries, including fire resistance. 
• Heavy industry enterprises. It can be factories that produce machine tools, household appliances, cars. Epoxy products with quartz sand are not inferior to cement-urethane systems by strength characteristics. At the same time, the first ones have better resistance to cracking. 
• Light industry enterprises, which are engaged in processing of raw materials, production of shoes and clothing. Loads at such enterprises, contrary to the name of the industry can be high. The reason is the use of machinery that creates vibration.

Important! When choosing a floor for industrial enterprise, sanitary and hygienic standards for the enterprise of a particular sphere and intensity of floor use are to be considered. The rationality factor comes to the fore. For example, according to the standards for dairy production facilities, both thin and thick coatings can be used. The former are more economically advantageous. The latter are more expensive. However, if the process in the factory involves constant spills and impacts, only the thick-layer (filled) systems will really last a long time.

Synthetic epoxy-based decorative floors

Epoxy systems with colored chips are increasingly chosen for apartments, shopping centers and offices. 

As well as industrial floors they can be thin and filled. The first are laid in the residential premises (entrance hall, living room, bedroom, hallway, balcony), the second - in business centers, stores with high traffic. 

The main difference between the decorative solutions from industrial solutions is their decorative layer. The base is the same. Though, in the finish coat there is a variety of decorative components:

• glitter (to give a glossy effect), 
• flocks, 
• chips.

Important! The function of chips and flocks is similar - giving colorfulness to the coat . The chips are volume chipped colored paint, and the flocks are flat polymer components. 

Some manufacturers replace chips and flocks with diamond crumb. Visually, such crumb looks very nice. However, such solutions are not practical. The surface with such inclusions is difficult to grind. So it looks a little inaccurate. 

The decorative layer is applied only to dry surface. As necessary, it can be renewed. However, in practice, this is rarely desired. The color retains its brightness for many years.

A fashionable trend - epoxy poured flooring for room zoning. Many use a single texture (e.g. matte smooth) while allowing themselves to "play" with colors. The bedroom is filled with snow-white coating, the living room floor is filled with bright chips, and the entrance hall is filled with nonstainable (dark) surface. 

Now it's fashionable to have 3D floors. In numerous videos it is emphasized: 3D floors make the room look more spacious, they highlight the furniture to advantage. However, in practice, this is often not the case. Instead of increasing space, it creates a disorientation effect. Instead of "supporting" the furniture, there become too many elements in the interior. That's why in following trends it is important not to take it too far. Excessive dapple, coarseness look ridiculous.

Special aspects of use

When determining product consumption, it is convenient to "bind" to 1 m2 of space and to mortar density. It's easy to remember: 1 square meter of surface, provided the product density is 1 kg/l, 1 liter of pouring is required, the thickness of such epoxy coating is 1 mm. The higher the density is, the more material is needed for pouring. For example, using a product with a density of 1.5 kg/l, 1.6 kg of resin per 1 mm of thickness is required per 1 m2. 

Personal protective equipment is necessary when carrying out works. Quality epoxy coatings are not toxic. However, during an active chemical reaction the composition should not come into contact with skin. 

Be careful when combining epoxy resins with polyester resins. It is better to refrain from using them together. If this is not possible, observe the following rule: apply epoxy resin only on top of polyester. Not the other way around! It's important to make sure that the first layer is fully cured. 

Choose the composition with regard to the room specifics. Carefully follow the manufacturer's recommendations during installation. Then the epoxy floor will last for many years.