Commercial Epoxy Flooring VS. Concrete Floors

When it comes down to deciding the type of flooring that you will need for your commercial facility, the two big flooring options are typically commercial epoxy flooring and a sealed or polished concrete flooring. While both flooring options use your concrete slab, both provide more advantages in different environments.

Epoxy flooring is the process of installing multiple layers of epoxy resins mixed with chemical hardeners that are applied to ground or shot blasted surface. Depending on the type of epoxy you have chosen, the epoxy flooring may be applied with a roller or a squeegee. These coatings then chemically cure to form one almost indestructible barrier between your flooring and your concrete that is extremely durable and chemical resistant.

Because commercial epoxy flooring is installed in a liquid state, the finished product is seamless and extremely resilient to many forms of chemicals such as solvents, acids, and alkalines. This is very important to facilities that often use these chemicals or even in case an accident may occur in your facility. The surface of the commercial epoxy will not allow your concrete slab to absorb and spread any chemicals that will be on your flooring. Commercial epoxy can protect your facility from serious environmental damage where a concrete flooring would cause copious amounts of environmental damage.

Commercial epoxy flooring can be applied in facilities that are exposed to harsh chemicals, have heavy traffic and even food and beverage facilities. Commercial epoxy flooring offers a truly unique list of benefits that not many other traditional flooring options can compete with such as, Increasing the weight capacity of your flooring, resists punctures and abrasions and can even be used to brighten your facility with its super reflective surface without the use of extra lighting. Commercial epoxy exceeds where a concrete flooring would typically fail such as biotech pharmacies, chemical plants, and other manufacturing plants.

A polished concrete surface, on the other hand, is formed by the process of running our specialized industrial grinders equipped with fine polishing heads repeatedly over your concrete slab which we have previously treated. This process is what creates the smooth and burnished effect of polished concrete.

Most concrete floorings are only designed to be used in properties that only handle a medium workload and cannot handle the harsh environment of most commercial settings. Some of these environments include harsh chemicals, high pH substances, wet processing, food production or packaging, toxins or potential environmental contaminants. If your facility will be exposed to any of these, you’re better off with a commercial epoxy flooring. Another factor of concrete flooring such as polished concrete is that they will need constant repolishing and maintenance so they are not ideal for 24-hour facilities.

From using concrete flooring, you should not expect for your concrete to be able to handle more weight or fix any major imperfections. It is recommended that you polish new concrete for the best results. Concrete flooring can also be used to increase the lighting in your facility without the use of any additional lighting fixtures and provide better air quality as it is easy to clean the dust that may fall on it.

All in all, if you’re looking for flooring that can handle whatever you can throw at it, we recommend the use of our commercial epoxy flooring