What You Should Know About One-Day Resinous (Epoxy) Floor Installations

Years ago "epoxy floors" were exactly that, "epoxy" which is an extremely tough material, but it has a relatively slow cure time, typically 6 to 24 hours depending on the formulation. A multi-layer epoxy floor used to take multiple days to install due to the cure times between each layer. Nowadays there are many new coatings, mainly from the polyurea and polyaspartic family of formulations which offer very fast cure times and a number of other material properties which have dramatically improved the field of polymer or "resinous" concrete floor coatings. As a result of the fast cure times for these newer materials, many concrete coating contractors advertise "one day installations" for applications such as garage and patio floors. There is no doubt that a single day installation can be a benefit for both the installer and the customer so this single day installation is now frequently available from most contractors. However, a quality minded installer must first determine if a one-day installation is in the best interest of the customer and conducive to the long-term performance of the entire floor. It's important to know one of the primary failure mechanisms for concrete flooring comes from excess moisture vapor transmission from the ground side of the concrete slab coming up into the concrete/flooring interface. To mitigate this risk there has been years of industry research into moisture testing and prevention. Industry standard test methods have been developed and are defined by ASTM. Moisture testing of the concrete slab must be part of any initial job site evaluation. Typical moisture levels should be below 3lbs/1000sq-ft/24hours. If moisture transmission is high then different materials such as moisture vapor barrier (MVB) epoxies may be used on the base coat to withstand the high moisture pressure levels. This material selection could mean that fast cure materials such as polyurea and polyaspartic should not be used for the base coat and as a result the use of an MVB epoxy will extend the cure times and may prevent a 1-day installation. The performance of the MVB material is specified in terms of lbs/1000sq-ft/24hours and the best performing MVB products on the market offer up to 25lbs/1000sq-ft/24hours and these offer excellent reliability protection for your concrete coatings. Therefore, be certain that your installer is focused on long-term quality for the customer and not focused on fast installation regardless of the underlying conditions. At Advanced Concrete Coatings we never pre-maturely promise a 1-day installation. We must evaluate each project and then choose the materials which provide the best performance for the customer regardless of the install time. You wouldn't want your medical doctor to guarantee your office visit to be less than 5 minutes before he even meets you for the first time, would you? So, beware of blind promises from concrete coating contractors that appear to give them some advantage over other contractors. State-of-the-art materials are available to every contractor with few proprietary advantages so choose a contractor who understands the science behind proper material selections and adherence to industry standard guidelines for installation.