Commercial epoxy flooring products applied by Elite Epoxy Floors, serving Jackson County, MO and the entire Kansas City area, are very different from those found in home improvement stores. They are high-grade commercial and industrial strength epoxy floor coatings available to professionals. They transform a regular concrete floor which is absorbent and vulnerable into one that repels chemicals and resists damage. There are many advantages to commercial epoxy flooring over DIY products.
A high-quality resin is combined with several other resins to make commercial epoxy flooring. This produces a cross-linking system which makes the epoxy floor coating flexible. It doesn’t peel, chip, dent, or crack when applied properly. The coating used by professionals is generally a 2:1 mix of epoxy and a hardener. Both parts are 100% solids, meaning that the product does not contain water. In contrast, most kits available in Kansas City home improvement stores are epoxy paints that contain up to 50% water. Epoxy coatings that do not contain water are much harder than epoxy paints and bond better with concrete.
The application process of commercial epoxy flooring also contributes greatly to its durability and longevity. Professionals use either a diamond grinder or a shot blaster to mechanically clean and abrade the floor to prepare it, ensuring that the epoxy will adhere properly to the concrete and not peel over time. DIY kits typically use acid etching to prepare the concrete, which does not create as strong a bond.
The final appearance is another area in which commercial epoxy flooring excels. The design options in home improvement store kits are fairly limited. They are usually either solid gray or brown, or a light spread of colored vinyl flakes over a solid color, serving primarily to mask imperfections in the finish. Epoxy application can be tricky, and roller marks, bubbles, and pin holes are nearly inevitable when applied by someone without experience. Epoxy flooring installed by Elite Epoxy Floors in Jackson County, MO can be made to look like real marble, your choice of many solid colors, a speckled mix of colors, or granite.
Epoxy floor coating kits available in home improvement stores are definitely less expensive than commercial epoxy flooring installed by professionals, and if you’re lucky they might even look really nice… for a couple years. DIY products typically begin peeling and chipping within a year or two, while professional applications can look great for as long as ten or even twenty years. When you look at the cost of repeated applications, professional epoxy coatings are clearly the better value.
To learn more about commercial epoxy flooring, call Elite Epoxy Floors at (816) 729-7143. For a free estimate, click here.