It can be bewildering.
There so many different types of resin finish on the market, from a thin coating to a 9mm thick screed, sometimes with choices of coloured flakes or aggregates. Added to that is the fact many different types resin products superificially look identical!
A high-build epoxy resin floor coating application
It’s worth starting with the fact that some 70-80% of all resin flooring applied is in essence the same basic product! That’s right; there might be many different manufacturers making slight variations but the vast majority of resin flooring applications are undertaken using High-build Epoxy Resin coatings.
High-build Epoxy Coatings are easy to apply and meet most industrial flooring needs including providing a durable, water-proof seal, being able to take FLT traffic, giving good general chemical resistance and being able to incorporate an anti-slip aggregate if required.
So why might a High-build Epoxy coating not meet my needs?
A high-build coating, whilst thick by coating standards will typically only give a thickness of around .5.-.08mm so the coatings will follow the contour of the concrete and will look like a coating. If a showroom-like, mirror smooth finish is required, a 2-3mm Self-smoothing Epoxy finish is usually put down.
Self-smoothing Epoxy finishes have special levelling additives giving a smoothness that cannot be achieved by brush or roller. Obviously at 2-3mm thickness, it’s also going to last longer than a 0.5-0.8mm epoxy coating.
A 2-3mm self-smoothing epoxy resin application.
But what if my floor is going to subject extremely high-levels of impact resistance?
In some cases, an epoxy finish, even at 2mm thickness, will not be enough to withstand high levels of concentrated, heavy-duty with regular high impact usage. This includes environments such as hotel kitchens but might also include heavy engineering area.
A product typically applied in these instances would be a 6mm Polyurethane screed (but you’ll need it to be applied at 9mm thickness if you have boiling water spillage or regular steam-cleaning.)
A 6-9mm polyurethane resin screed.
But a single colour won’t cut it; I want a floor with a bit of a ‘wow’ look!
In this case, you have two main options; either a resin floor incorporating coloured flakes or coloured aggregates. This typd of flooring is in most instances applied at 4mm thickness and can incorpotate either epoxy, p.u. or most typically MMA resin. This is because MMA resin is actually harder than either of the other two types of resin and cures a lot more quickly too. The process for installing a quartz or flake resin finish involves a primer, base compound and seal coats and so is time-consuming to install unless it is an MMA system. MMA Quartz and MMA Flake systems are typically applied in environments such as airport terminals, shop fronts and hotel foyers but can applied anywhere where both durability and appearance is important.
A genunie ‘wow’ factor can be given to a resin floor with special mixes of coloured flakes or aggregates.
So is that everthing?
In essence, the vast majority of resin flooring finishes on the market are covered in the above discussion and most products available will be a variation of one of the four items listed above.
However, there are some special grades of resin flooring produced for specific requirements, which are worth noting:-
Anti-static resin finishes – typically applied in the healthcare and electronics industries, ussually in the form of a 2-3mm self-smoothing screed.
High-chemical reistance coatings – typically polyurethane systems and often applied on top of either epoxy coatings or self-smoothing epoxies for protection from high levels of chemical attack.
Epoxy DPM systems – these are a special developement of high-build epoxy coating which can be applied onto newly laid concrete, allowing for other systems to be applied on top without the normal waiting time for a slab to cure.
Oil-tolerant Epoxy coatings – these primers are essential for the longevity of a resin finish if the the slab has oil-contimination and negates the need to burn out embedded oils and lubricants.
Epoxy resin concrete repair kits – very useful for repairing isolated cracks, holes and broken shoulders of expansion joints, prior to installing other systems.