Whether you are planning to have an epoxy flake floor installed at home or for one or more parts of your business premises, the temptation could be that to save yourself some money; you try to install it yourself. There could be many DIY projects that you have completed successfully in the past, and therefore, you are confident this will be the same.
Whilst it is not for us to doubt in any way your past record or your DIY skills, we would ask you to pause for a moment and think about what it takes to install an epoxy floor.
First, while they may start as liquids, applying them is not the same as painting a ceiling, and that is assuming that you have got the balance between the chemicals exactly right. There is also the work required to ensure the concrete floor underneath is prepped exactly as it needs to be in terms of evenness and to make its adhesive qualities optimal.
If you were to even get beyond laying it, there is no small matter of the flake distribution. Many amateurs think that you do this as though scattering birdseed in the park for the pigeons, but soon realise it is not as they end up with barren areas and others with mounds of flakes.
Let us take a look at some of these issues in more detail and explain why installing epoxy flake floors should be left to the professionals.
Floor Preparation
This is vital, and if done wrong, the worst cases can lead to the epoxy coating delamination or peeling. All contaminates need to be removed, and then, for the epoxy resin to adhere properly, the pores at the surface need to be opened up correctly. It may be necessary to grind areas of the concrete to prepare it properly, and this is also not an easy task.
Wet or Moist Concrete
If the epoxy coating is to be laid, the concrete floor underneath must be bone dry. Often, DIYers will try to apply it on newly laid concrete, which is still wet, or on concrete that has been washed clean, but where all the water has not dried yet. Professional installers will be able to perform a special moisture test to ensure the concrete is suitably dry.
Wrong Proportions Of Chemicals
One of the most common mistakes DIYers will make is to mix the epoxy chemicals wrongly by adding too much or too little of the resin or the hardener. Even if they get this right, they cause a problem by not mixing them correctly. They tend to mix too fast, which causes air to be trapped in the epoxy, leading to bubbles in the surface when it is being installed.
Spreading It Too Thin
Unlike paint, which you can spread further without necessarily affecting its appearance, trying that with epoxy floor coatings will result in a variation in the gloss finish on different surface areas. Another reason for running out is that not enough epoxy was purchased due to not taking into account of the pores in the concrete which is going to absorb some of the epoxy.
So, as you can see, there are many ways in which installing epoxy flake floors can be done wrong, and rather than waste time and money trying to do it yourself, take our advice and hire a professional flooring company that will get it right the first time.