any experience or opinions on epoxy flooring?
Hello ENers,
I am sorta mulling over the idea of having epoxy flooring in my home -- the high gloss kind. I saw in a magazine and it looked good.
Does anyone have any experience or opinions or helpful hints with this high-gloss, seamless flooring?
Thanks.
David
I agree that it looks great. I looked into it though and found it very difficult to find an installer. Most only do large commercial work.
I was also told that it's very difficult to keep clean and that if you ever need to fix a radiant leak it's impossible to patch the floor without it showing.
I ended up going with Armstrong Excelen VCT.
Tom makes excellent points. I'd also wonder how well it would look when the stress cracks patched for the application re-appear--which I assume they would.
Jake
I have had some experience with industrial epoxy floors in three labs in two different states. While the material is excellent for floors exposed to chemicals and or in areas requiring super sanitation, it might not be so good for a home.
The replacement of an old epoxy floor with a new one required shot blasting to prepare the concrete base for the new application. We had to wall off the area with heavy plastic dust-proof curtains, and the noise was horrific. The actual liquid epoxy went down in two applications with a strong chemical off gassing. We were unable to be in or near the area during the time this work was done. The second layer is highly glossy, so much so that an amount of sand is added to prevent slipping.
The second building floor had to be repaired, and while it was done carefully, the areas were quite visible.
The third epoxy floor, which I work on now, is 5 years old and was not properly done. At high tide, we have many pinholes which allow small amounts of water to seep upward. The building is on landfill on the bay shore. From this experience, I would think any application over a hot water system might be inherently problematic.
The epoxy floors are made to be seamless from room to room so that the chemicals etc . cannot permeate downwards. They are excellent for hospitals and labs and factories. Usually the coving is part of the floor, carried seamlessly up the wall to avoid leaks. The materials and labor make these applications very expensive.
If you would like to discuss the subject more, please send your email address.
Cynthia
