Any concrete garage or business floor surface can benefit from a high-quality epoxy floor coating. Whether you’re a homeowner who was inspired by a neighbor’s garage, a property manager or simply want to learn about the best garage floor epoxy and how to coat epoxy like a pro.
Professional epoxy flooring can endure a long time if installed correctly. However, there is a lot of misinformation and incorrect advice out there, making it difficult to determine the optimum epoxy floor paint application procedures and quantify the differences between store-bought and industrial-grade epoxies.
Epoxy Floor Coatings: An Overview
A 100 percent epoxy resin has the advantage of not reducing the thickness of the coating while it dries, as a water-based or low-cost solvent-based solution would. A water-based epoxy, for example, can be applied at a thickness of 6 mils and will dry to a 3 to 4 mil film. Solvent-based epoxies, on the whole, will apply heavier and shrink less, drying at a thickness of 5 to 8 mils depending on the solids % by weight or volume.
Epoxy that is based on water
Water-based epoxy is easier to work with because it takes longer to cure and has a higher malleability due to its lower viscosity. Furthermore, because of the simplicity of use and cheaper prices, homeowners are more inclined to choose water-based epoxy over alternative solutions.
Epoxy with a solvent base
We will not go into detail about any non-water-based solvent for the purpose of brevity. However, xylene is the principal solvent in most non-water-based epoxies. As a result, tools and rollers may need to be abandoned and, in most situations, cannot be cleaned or reused.
Epoxy resins in solid form
The best floor coating to date is a three-step epoxy floor system with one-hundred percent solids for its intermediate coat but be warned: this system is not for ambitious beginners. Instead, this style system needs the services of a professional who understands what is required, knows exactly what must be done, and can complete the task quickly.
Two-Part Epoxy Coatings vs. One-Part Floor Paints
When it comes to high-quality solvent-based epoxies, things can get a little confusing and inconsistent. Solvent-based epoxy isn’t all the same. Some are quite durable, while others are not. Covering all product details in depth in a way that allows you to make your own decisions would be a long and laborious article, not to mention the applications of what you read.
