Things to consider before adding this service!
Painters are always looking for new opportunities and are eager to expand their services in new business areas. One field that has always seemed attractive for painters is to offer services in applying floor coatings. Their prior background in working with a multitude of coatings gives them a significant starting point. However painters should be cautious. Epoxy floors (as well as other types of resinous floors for that matter) can be very challenging.
Here are three important factors you need to look out for.
- Floors are not walls.
Unlike walls, floors are subjected to wear and tear on a consistent base. Any coating installed on a floor must be able to withstand this continuous pressure. Your floor will need to put up with daily foot traffic, possible vehicular traffic, heavy objects and sharp objects being dragged across the floor. - Epoxy floors require the proper type of floor substrate in order to guarantee the success of the project.
A poor floor substrate can be unforgiving. Bad quality cement may cause the floor paint to chip. A substrate contaminated from oils and other chemicals may cause delamination of the floor. Porous floors may end up absorbing a lot of expensive product and can create all sorts of problems like trapped air, bubbles and pinholes
- Resinous floor products are usually multi component systems.
This means you need to mix the various components that make up the product before commencing work. You will need to take into consideration factors such as working life before starting a job. Furthermore small differences in air and surface temperatures can affect the viscosity as well as the proper curing of the project. If you don’t get the proportions correctly mixed the mistake may come back to haunt you. Keep these factors in mind when going to work on a project. See more here to compare.
All of the above is not meant to scare you, but more to serve as useful advice if you decide to add epoxy flooring to your services. The field of epoxy flooring can be an immensely rewarding line of work and I strongly encourage serious professionals to explore this field. Many paint companies offer training or certifications, check with your local supplier to find out.
Akis Apostolopoulos
akis@ktisis.eu
www.ktisis.eu/en
100% solids Man you’ll lose your nose hairs
Couple other important factors.
Mix, Mix, Mix.
Be Very Careful to follow mixing directions – Yes, they matter!
Often times Epoxies call for mixing the individual components first before combining them. Then you will often see instructions like: Mix together for 6 Minutes.
Overkill you say? Don’t even think about abbreviating this step. Trust Me.
To ensure proper adhesion, the substrate will need to be roughed up by either an angle grinder with a diamond blade (time consuming and costly for the blades) or by a shot blaster that shots little bearings onto the surface to rough it up and then sucks them up with a vacuum. Some floors (like an outside garage) can be power washed very thoroughly before being coated.
Special primers help with adhesion and sealing.
Ratios are not usually a problem, as the cans come pre-measured and are simply combined (after proper mixing) to form a batch. For instance, if it’s a two thirds to one ratio, the Part A can might have only 2/3 of a can of material and Part B will have 1/3. You simply pour Part B can into the Part A can, and mix them up. No need to measure or have a separate container.
Thanks Mike!
I am glad that I came across this article :). I just came home after paying Floortex in Vaughan for doing epoxy flooring in my garage. The will start their work tomorrow! I can monitor their work now. I’ll make sure that my work is done properly. Thanks for the article Akis !! 🙂
Another thing you will want to pay extremely close attention to is any moisture content in the substrate. You can accomplish this by taking a piece of plastic (say nine inches square) and placing it on the floor. Tape the edges down so that the plastic is tight and everything is sealed up. Leave that there for 24 hours. When you pull the tape up, there should be no moisture condensation between the plastic and concrete. If there is, don’t coat the floor or you are apt to get water blisters all in you new coating – Trust Me, been there, done that!. I’m not a big gan of coated concrete. Concrete can be cleaned a number of way, but once coated, it limits what you can do. You may want to consider floor tiles that inter-lock which are made for Garage floors. Costco may even have them Costco.com
Thanks for the info Mke! 🙂
In Hawaii we say, A ole pilikia – No problem!
Hope things turn out well.