Epoxy Floor Paint or a Professional Epoxy Floor?
A tin of epoxy floor paint from the hardware store and a professionally installed epoxy floor share a name, but they do very different jobs.
What epoxy floor paint is
Most floor paints sold as "epoxy" are one-pack or water-based paints with some epoxy in them. They go on thin, like normal paint, and they're rolled onto concrete that has usually only been washed. For a storeroom, a laundry or a floor that only gets foot traffic, that can be good enough and it's cheap.
What a professional epoxy floor is
A professional floor uses two-part epoxy that cures by chemical reaction into a hard plastic layer, several times thicker than paint. The concrete is diamond-ground first so the coating bonds into it, cracks are repaired, and a topcoat goes over the finish. That's what lets it take car tyres, dropped tools and forklifts.
Where DIY floor paint fails
- Garages. Hot tyres soften thin paint and pull it off in patches, usually where the car stops.
- Damp slabs. Moisture coming up through the concrete pushes paint off from underneath.
- No grinding. Paint on smooth or dusty concrete never properly sticks.
- Direct sun. Some products chalk or yellow near open doors and windows.
Repainting or recoating an old floor
If an existing painted or epoxy floor is peeling, rolling another coat over it won't fix it: the fresh coat sticks to the loose layer and comes off with it. The loose coating has to be ground off first. If an old epoxy floor is sound but worn, it can often be sanded and recoated, and the installer can tell you which applies at the measure-up.
Which one do you need?
For a garage you park in, a workshop or any business floor, a professional epoxy floor is worth it. For a light-use storeroom, floor paint may do. If you're not sure, send a photo of the floor and say how it's used.