So, you’ve decided to go with an epoxy coating for your concrete floors. It’s a good choice as epoxy coating is affordable, durable, and will make your space look great. However, before you rush into the installation process know that there is a lot of prep work that needs to be completed first.
Many people make the mistake of oversimplifying epoxy flooring installation. Sure, it may look easy enough on YouTube but most of the work involved with an epoxy coating comes before the epoxy is evenly mixed. It’s all about floor preparation and skipping it is the most common reason for epoxy coating failure.
What Happens When You Skip the Floor Prep?
Ask any professional epoxy installer and they will tell you that the most important part of a successful installation is the prep work. For older floors, this may include leveling the surface, filling and repairing any cracks, thoroughly cleaning the surface, and concrete floor grinding to get rid of any pre-existing coatings or paint. Without a clean rough texture to work with, you are going to run into issues with adherence which can result in unsightly peeling and stripping of your fresh epoxy coating.
Also Read: Concrete Floor Grinding for Beginners
But what if you are working with fresh concrete? Cleaning and concrete floor grinder are still essential parts of an epoxy application. Skip either one and you’ll run into trouble down the line.
How to Get Your Concrete Surface Ready for an Epoxy Coating
There are three ways to achieve the rough concrete surface necessary for an epoxy installation: concrete floor grinding, shot blasting, or acid etching.
Acid Etching
Acid etching is probably the only one of these three concrete floor prep options suitable for a DIY application. The other two require heavy machinery and some degree of experience to handle.
You’ll need an acid solution and a long-handled stiff bristle broom for this method. Firstly, dampen the concrete surface slightly and then follow the directions for applying the acid solution spreading it out evenly across the floor surface, and working it with your broom. Give it 10-15 minutes to sit and work its magic but don’t let the surface dry.
Before you clean off the acid solution you need to neutralize it. You can buy special products from 1 part baking soda to 5 parts water will work. Let that solution sit for about 10 minutes and then thoroughly rinse the concrete surface ensuring no residue remains.
Concrete Floor Grinding
Concrete floor grinding is the preferred method of most professionals for preparing concrete surfaces for an epoxy coating. Using a mechanical grinder and diamond grinding blocks the concrete surface is smoothed out to the desired texture and the residue is simply vacuumed away. This method gives the most control in achieving the perfect surface finish provided you have the skills to operate the floor grinder correctly. If not, you may end up with odd-looking circular rings covering your floor.
Shot Blasting
Shot blasting is another machine-assisted method of smoothing out and flattening concrete floors. Both shot blasting and concrete grinding work well but shot blasting is typically reserved for larger commercial jobs. A shot blasting machine pelts out ting metallic beads at a high velocity, essentially chipping away at the concrete surface until the correct texture is achieved. As the machine rolls, it collects all the debris leaving very little mess to clean up afterward.
No matter what method is used, you should not skip preparing your concrete floors before and epoxy installation as mistakes can prove to be expensive and time-consuming to fix!
