Epoxy Vs Polished Concrete Floors

Each approach has great benefits and attributes.

Epoxy vs polished concrete floors.

While there is a higher installation cost for epoxy compared to polished concrete a commercial epoxy system improves the weight capacity and impact resistance of the concrete. If you want your concrete floor to look like concrete or at least an embellished version of concrete opt for polishing. However with polished concrete you could stain but it would be vibrant at all. Concrete polishing is a smooth and clean surface that does not peel or scratch as compared to epoxy flooring which can scratch.

These compounds then form a chemical bond with the concrete slab. Epoxy flooring and other high performance resin based systems are available in a variety of formulations designed specifically to protect the integrity of the concrete slab when subjected to a broad spectrum of environments and usage. Polished concrete finishing is achieved by repeatedly using industrial polishing heads and grinding machines on the concrete floor to form a smooth and burnished surface. Though the two sciences contrast in many ways a floor coated epoxy and a polished concrete floor is comparable and both are low in cost.

Epoxy floor systems do not have the limitations that you will encounter with polished concrete. Or if the floors will have spills such as chemicals and oil then epoxy is the way to go. The best look with long lasting floors. That said you can choose to apply a clear epoxy coating over concrete to maintain the appearance of concrete while getting the durability you might need out of your floor.

Epoxy flooring systems however are made of a chemical mixture of hardeners and resins. While stained or polished flooring require that the slab surface be in very good to excellent condition before treatment epoxy flooring is attractive and highly effectively even on concrete that is uneven cracked or otherwise damaged. Epoxy costly nearly double what a polished concrete floor cost a high quality epoxy will last 3 5 years depending on the volume and type of traffic. Which ever approach you choose they will be the best solution for your industrial flooring needs.

However when it is time for refurbishment it only costs a fraction of the initial installation. While polished concrete can be a viable option for a number of commercial settings it does present a significant list of limitations that s where epoxy flooring systems come in. The main difference between a polished concrete floor and an epoxy floor is that polished concrete reveals the concrete itself while epoxy is a continuous coating over the top of the concrete. In most cases an epoxy floor looks like a surface that s been painted over although of course epoxy offers many more benefits than paint.

This is also the most common type of flooring commercial flooring.