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Contents
Epoxy flooring has become a widely accepted type of flooring in most commercial, industrial, and residential buildings.
Due to its high performance, which is obtained by a mixture of a resin and hardening chemical, the use of epoxy flooring in homes has continued to soar.
The use of epoxy flooring allows for flexibility in its formation and use. During the formation of the flooring coatings, special additives are added to achieve the desired result. These additives include UV inhibitors, accelerators, adhesion promoters, and flow control.
They cause an increase in abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, and cure of epoxy floors.
The use of epoxy flooring for your home, however, comes with a series of pros and cons. Before employing this flooring method, you must get acquainted with the effects it will have on your home and you as the occupant of the home.
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Epoxy flooring is famous for its durability. Its ability to remain in form after years of use makes it more advantageous over most types of flooring. However, it's best to have an already existing layer of concrete below the epoxy flooring to get optimum durability.
The cost of installing per square foot of epoxy flooring has proven to be cheaper than installing per square foot of other types of flooring.
Epoxy coatings are usually installed over an already existing concrete floor. This doesn’t only give the floor a strong foundation but also reduces the need to spend much on epoxy coating materials.
Even when the need to replace the epoxy coats arises, only the epoxy coat is removed; the concrete floor is left untouched. This is unlike some flooring systems that will require shattering the floor surface before a new one is built or installed.
When you talk about visual appeal, think epoxy floors. Their bright reflective surface helps to give your home a warm and inviting mood. Instead of leaving your floor bare and uneven as a result of concrete flooring, you may give it a finishing touch with an epoxy coating.
The epoxy floor is also seamless. To increase its appeal, you may try out some combinations of coat colors and designs.
Epoxy floors can withstand tough conditions. Your floor won't be affected in the case of oil spillage, gasoline spillage, or chemical spillage.
This flooring type can withstand the effects of extreme weather conditions such as heat. It's also resistant to the actions of bacteria and germs. All you need to do is to maintain a good cleaning culture whenever there's any form of spillage on your floor.
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One beautiful thing about installing an epoxy floor in your home is that you get to choose from a wide range of options.
You may choose to go for self-leveling coating floors, which are nice for the kitchen and dining room, Terrazzo coating floors, which are best suitable for hallways and balconies, or gravel coating floors, which are not only decorative but also allow you to imprint any symbol or design of your choice.
Installing epoxy floors in your home allows you to personalize designs. You may choose to simply install them traditionally as well.
Epoxy floors are shiny and reflect light. Even in the presence of insufficient light in the home, it's possible to locate objects and obstructions on your pathway.
Because of its reflective and seamless nature, cracks or openings that may cause an accident on the floor are easy to notice. This will quickly let you determine when its time to carryout repairs.
You can install some anti-slip coatings alongside your epoxy floor coatings to reduce the chances of accidents.
Issues on maintenance are top considerations when choosing a flooring type for the home. With the use of epoxy floors, it’s easy to give your floor proper maintenance and make it look appealing at all times.
Due to the seamless nature of epoxy floors, they’re easy to clean without having dirt stuck in between partitions of the floor as may be common with other flooring types. There are no rooms for dirt to hide during cleanups.
The smooth surface allows for quick cleaning and the use of basic cleaning equipment to achieve maximum results. The addition of an anti-microbial additive during installation will help to reduce the worries of bacterial activities on your floor, especially in the kitchen and dining room.
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It takes an epoxy floor as long as 30 days to harden completely. This duration may be inconvenient if multiple construction activities are going on at the same time or if you’re already living in the building.
However, there are advancements in the formula for curing products and improved curing methods that may hasten the hardening process.
Although epoxy floors are durable, they are temporary solutions to your flooring needs. It's common for cracks to begin to appear on the floor over time. These cracks then develop into openings, which ruin the beauty of the floor.
Note that as you install an epoxy floor, you’ll have to keep changing it after a period of time, depending on the weight of your furniture and the rate of activities in your home.
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Series of activities must be carried out on the floor before an epoxy coating is installed on a concrete floor. The concrete floor has to be thoroughly cleaned and free from dirt, oil, or grease before an epoxy coating can be applied. Repairs will also have to be done on the concrete floor before an epoxy floor is installed.
This process will be strenuous in the absence of advanced cleaning tools and equipment. And the durability of the epoxy floor may be affected if the process is not properly done.
Installing an epoxy floor requires a certain level of humidity; this is because of its sensitivity to moisture. If this precaution is not well observed, moisture may ruin the strength of the floor and make it less durable.
An epoxy floor produces an offensive smell similar to that of ammonia when it gets wet during installation. The fume causing this smell is toxic and dangerous to health.
People with an asthmatic condition may have their breathing problem triggered by this fume. It also causes inflammation in the throat, eyes, nose, and irritation to the lungs. This offensive smell makes it unsuitable to install an epoxy floor in the presence of the occupants of a home.
There’s bound to be a lot of movement in a home of large family size. The magnitude of load in the home will be on the high side. This will have an indirect impact on the lifespan of the epoxy coating.
Chips and cracks begin to develop on the floor as a result of the dragging and rolling of objects and walking on the floor. To avoid this, epoxy floors should be restricted to areas of the home that don't experience high impact.
Little drops of water or fluids may cause the epoxy floor to become slippery as a result of its shiny surface. This makes it a bad idea to install this kind of floor in a home with toddlers and aged people. Careless handling of fluids in such homes may lead to accidents.
However, some measures can be put in place to make the floor less slippery. You could add silica sand, aluminum oxide, or Shark grip during installation. Containment mats can also help to create resistance on the floor.
Note that trying to mitigate the slipperiness indirectly increases the cost of installation.
The removal of an epoxy floor requires the services of a professional. The floor has to be ground using an industrial grinding machine, which might not be readily available. Hiring a professional with the right equipment is expensive.
The concrete floor below the epoxy floor may get broken if the removal process is not carried out with care. The possibility of such damages makes the use of this flooring type less desirable.
There are tendencies of discolorations to appear on your epoxy floor. These discolorations usually occur when the epoxy isn't mixed properly or when ultraviolet rays from the sun hit the floor.
The sight of multiple undesired colors on your floor can be unappealing, and correcting this abnormality will incur some cost; the risk of having this experience is discouraging.
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