Elevating Safety and Aesthetics: The Power of Epoxy Floor Levellers and Coatings for Concrete Floors

Ask any industrial or commercial property manager and they’ll tell you that floor surfaces and covering are as much about safety as they are about the atmosphere of a working space. Concrete floors in particular present a unique set of wear, safety, and aesthetic challenges that require an equally unique solution.

Cracking, chipping, and deterioration are only a few of the concrete flooring problems that are brought on by poor consolidation procedures and unevenness; and the results can be far more unpleasant than just poor optics. Dangerous long-term moisture and chemical migration, contaminant retention, and harmful surface dusting are immediate downsides that can turn bare concrete floors into extreme exposure hazards.

Epoxy top coats and coverings are the best way to minimize the safety risks associated with bare concrete floors. Not only can they help stabilize the most urgent concerns associated with concrete flooring, but they can also improve the look and ambience of the areas they’re used in.

Epoxy Floor Levellers and Coatings Make Concrete Floors Safer

Make no mistake: while there’s no disputing the strength of concrete flooring, it takes high-grade concrete epoxy toppings and floor levellers to make them as safe, and as visually stunning as they can possibly be. Quick-curing, indoor and outdoor epoxies and levellers provide a durable, abrasion- and leach-resistant topping to concrete floors that eliminates operational and environmental exposure, while also blocking concrete’s high volume tendency to shed carcinogenic dust under high volume traffic. With their unbeatable strength and adhesive properties, these industrial floor coatings provide a degree of occupational safety that’s second to none when it comes to preventing respiratory, as well as trip, slip, and fall hazards.    

Unlike other types of protective and stabilizing admixtures used on concrete, epoxy floor coatings are formulated to go on smoothly and to flow freely into cracks, seams, and fissures which, if allowed to remain uncovered can compromise an entire floor’s surface. It’s the self-levelling properties of concrete floor coatings, however, that make them the smart solution for floor surfaces that require:

• Exceptional wear, scratch, and impact resistance;
• Superior floor coating trip and slip resistance; and,
• Extraordinary resistance to chemicals, spills, and heat.

The natural reflectivity, and ability to add colour pigments to floor coatings also makes them the ideal way to transform cold, uninspiring concreted floors into welcoming, well-lit common areas and work spaces that are suitable for wider ranges of use. Coatings equate to a significant savings in lighting and maintenance costs that any industrial or commercial property manager can appreciate, with built-in leverage that can help them increase that space’s operational appeal.

Epoxies are the Perfect Solution for All Kinds of Concrete Floor Surfaces

Modern concrete coatings are engineered to be effective on to either freshly cured concrete floor surfaces, or as a resurfacer for floors that have already seen heavy deterioration and would be too cost prohibitive to perform full-scale repairs on. This is where the non-shrinking, self-levelling attributes of these high quality floor toppings helps to make them the optimal solution for long term concrete repairs.  

With the ability to apply concrete toppings in seamless thicknesses that are suitable for either light top coating or heavy floor protection, they’re ideal for a full range of floor surfaces in facilities such as:

• Shop and assembly floors in production plants;
• Warehouse and retail spaces;
• Showrooms and open offices;
• Dayrooms and recreation rooms; and,
• Hallways and staircases.

Industrial quality floor-topping products aren’t just for commercial use, though. Their attractiveness and hard-wearing stability are equally advantageous for the concrete flooring typically found in homes and residential areas, including:

• Garages and entertainment rooms;
• Conservatories and sun rooms; and,
• Patios, decks, and balconies.

With their decorative potential, and high gloss ability to increase the brightness of any room by up to 300%, concrete floor toppings are the perfect homeowners and residential property manager’s alternative to expensive, easily damaged hardwood, tile, or carpet floor coverings.

Epoxies are Premier Concrete Topping When Sanitation Matters as Much as Safety

Regardless of whether it’s in an industrial, commercial, or even residential environment, sanitation is a central component of floor maintenance, especially where food grade activities are being conducted. The floors in food processing plants, commercial kitchens, and even cafeterias and dining halls not only need to be able to withstand regular wash downs with caustic and corrosive solutions, they also need to be extremely efficient at rapidly draining off the resultant grey water afterward. It’s no surprise, however, that epoxy floor leveller coatings contain all the characteristics needed for these surfaces.

High-strength concrete coatings are engineered to resist the uncommon temperatures and harsh chemicals found in food processing and service environments. And when applied above the polished concrete topping ordinarily used on food grade floors, their unique levelling properties makes them the best choice for topping sloped drainage floors, as well as re-pitching floors to create a more effective drainage slope.

In both cases, a concrete epoxy coating makes it possible to:

• Quickly drain off and evacuate grey water, and wash down the residue;
• Prevent liquid pooling or stagnation that could create a slipping hazard; and,
• Protect flooring from damages that could come from excess liquid absorption and carbonatation.

Slow, indoor evaporation environments simply aren’t the place where you want to risk a concrete floor’s stability due to prolonged wash downs. These floors need to stay moisture-free, and a liquid-resistant epoxy concrete coating can eliminate the potential for corrosive liquid damage or concrete failure.

The Final Word

At the end of the day, while concrete floors are undeniably strong, they’re not indestructible. A floor that wasn’t correctly consolidated, didn’t cure properly, or has simply undergone a lot of heavy wear is prone to cracking, delaminating, and releasing an array of toxic silicates and chemicals. These surfaces, as well as the people who use them need to be protected; and fortunately, the solution is readily available.

High grade concrete epoxy topping and floor levellers provide the hardy, quick curing protection that property managers need to prevent their concrete floors from becoming underfoot heath hazards. And with twice the tensile strength of concrete, these toppings can be counted on to last forever.