Although the materials are available, installing an epoxy floor yourself is a challenging project. Here are seven reasons why a do-it-yourself epoxy floor installation can fail.
1. Poor surface Preparation
A surface needs to be properly prepared. This means it should be dust-free and the substrate must be ground or shot- blasted
Always grind (or shot- blast) the surface before installing the new floor!
2. Humidity
Solvent based Epoxy products do not bond well with humidity. Make sure that the surface is completely dry no pipes or taps dripping no rising humidity from beneath the ground.
3. Weak Substrate
This happens when the Epoxy floor product is much stronger than the substrate (for example low quality cement) What ends up happening is that you don’t actually have the epoxy layer detaching from the cement but the cement detaching itself from the cement.
4. No (or wrong Primer) Always use suitable primer for Industrial Floors!
Floors experience heavy wear and tear Don’t assume the industrial floor screed will simply just stick to the substrate. Always make sure that the primer is suitable for the substrate 4. No (or wrong Primer)
5. Incompatible Surface
Make sure the substrate is compatible for epoxies both in terms of adhesion as well as tensile strength. For example never coat epoxy on wood! Wood is far more flexible than epoxies which leads to the epoxy cracking simply because it cannot follow the expansions of the wood floor.
6. Contaminated Floors
Such problems occur in old installations (for example food and drinks factories, car service shops, workshops) that want to install an epoxy floor coating over the old contaminated floor. All oils, greases, residues must be properly cleaned before attempting any type of fresh coating. Don’t expect proper bonding otherwise.
7. Faulty Resin/ Hardener mix
ver seen the coating not cure properly? Did it remain sticky or soft long after the application was finished? This was caused by a faulty mix between the resin and the hardener: – Mixing incorrect or inaccurate proportions of the components – Not mixing the material properly or for a long enough time.