If you’re considering a floor coating for your commercial building or the garage or outdoor areas in your home, you should give careful consideration to the type of coating you want to use. Epoxy floor coatings, polyaspartic floor coatings and acrylic overlays can all be a great choice for many different commercial and residential applications. Applying a coating will make the flooring much more strong and durable compared to just having bare concrete. The coating will also make the floor far easier to clean and ensure it doesn’t fade. Floor coatings also add lots of aesthetic value and provide a stylish, eye-catching finish. The only issue is that some floor coatings are susceptible to different types of damage from UV rays, which is why it’s important that you choose a UV-resistant coating in many different situations.
Benefits of Using UV-Resistant Floor Coatings
While having sunlight shining directly on the flooring will cause more damage, some types of man-made lighting can also damage a floor coating. If you don’t choose a coating that is UV resistant, you may quickly start having issues with the coating fading or changing color. Over time, the UV light can also damage the coating and cause it to begin breaking down. This is another advantage of choosing a UV-resistant coating since it will prevent this damage and help the flooring to last far longer and not need nearly as many repairs.
Choosing a UV-resistant floor coating is especially important for commercial properties since it will ensure that your flooring contains to look beautiful and remains in good condition for a much longer time. UV protection will also save you money in the long run since it will help prevent the flooring from failing so you don’t need to pay to repair it or have it replaced much sooner. Having to replace or repair your floor coating can also cost you valuable time and money since you’ll normally have to shut down in order to have the work performed.
If you’re planning on using a floor coating in outdoor areas or want to opt for polished concrete flooring for a patio, outdoor seating area, etc., it is especially important that you choose something that is fully UV resistant. One of the best options in these situations is to go with an acrylic overlay. An acrylic overlay can be put on top of tile, concrete and many other materials, and it can be either a clear coat or add color to enhance the appearance of the floor. The overlay will strengthen the existing floor and make it more resistant to scuffs, scratches and general wear and tear. It is also highly resistant to UV damage so you won’t have to worry about the color of the existing flooring fading or the flooring starting to break down due to continual sun exposure.
Other Factors to Consider When Choosing a Floor Coating
When determining which type of floor coating is the best choice for your specific application, one of the most important factors is what the space is used for. For areas like garages, warehouses and workshops, your bigger concern should obviously be durability and safety instead of style and appearance. In these situations, you will want to choose a coating that has high impact resistance. If you have any pieces of heavy machinery or will be driving on the floor, you also need to make sure it is strong enough to support all of the weight.
For customer- or client-facing areas like lobbies, retail establishments and restaurants, you’ll definitely want to focus on color, style and appearance. However, durability is also important since you want to make sure that the floor coating can stand up to lots of foot traffic and won’t easily get scratched or scuffed.
Safety is also a major factor in virtually every application since you want to make sure that the flooring isn’t slick. There are a variety of non-slip coatings that are a great choice for areas like restaurant kitchens and automotive environments where you’ll often have to deal with grease, oil and other things getting spilled on the floor.
No matter what type of application the floor coating will be used on, you should also think carefully about your budget. Polished concrete and stained concrete flooring tend to cost less and be more budget friendly compared to epoxy coatings. However, these types of concrete flooring are also not as strong and durable and can sometimes be a bit slick. As such, you want to find the right type of flooring or coating that fits your budget and also fully meets all of your specific needs.
Understanding All of the Different Floor Coating Options
Epoxy floor coating, aspartic floor coating and acrylic overlays are all great options, but each one tends to be better suited to specific situations. For instance, standard epoxy and metallic epoxy coatings are great for high-traffic areas or places where lots of things might get spilled on the floor. That’s because any type of epoxy coating will help the floor to resist wear and tear and staining while also making the floor extremely easy to clean and maintain. Epoxy coatings are also highly resistant to heat and damage from chemicals and provide a non-slip finish.
A polyaspartic coating is usually the preferred choice for commercial garages, warehouses, factories and other commercial applications where strength and durability are more important than style. This type of coating forms an extremely strong bond with the underlying concrete floor. That allows the coating to essentially reinforce the concrete so that it can support far more weight and is much more resistant to cracking or breaking. A polyaspartic coating will also make the floor much more resistant to damage from shocks and impacts. The coating will also fill in any existing cracks or other damage so that the concrete lasts much longer.
Another advantage of this type of coating is that it is only a single layer whereas epoxy coatings are always at least two layers. This makes a polyaspartic coating less expensive to install. The coating also dries extremely quickly and can be walked on in around two hours, which means that the downtime necessary to install the coating will be greatly reduced. The only real downside to a polyaspartic coating is that it is clear so you’ll be able to see any stains that are already present. However, you could choose to first paint the floor before applying the coating.
Opting for an acrylic overlay is not only great for outdoor spaces, but also for situations where the existing flooring is stained. An acrylic overlay also has many more uses since it can go directly over many types of existing flooring whereas epoxy and polyaspartic coatings are only suitable for concrete floors.
With 20 years of experience serving the Phoenix area, Valley Concrete Coatings & Polishing is the contractor to trust for all of your floor coating and concrete polishing needs. We offer a wide selection of different floor coating options including epoxy, metallic epoxy, polyaspartic and acrylic overlays, and our team can consult with you and help you choose the best coating for your specific needs. We also have a wide range of colors available so that you can easily find a look and color that matches your preferred style or fits with the rest of the existing décor. To schedule a consultation and learn more about your floor coating options, contact our team today.
