There are a lot of flooring materials out there but epoxy flooring is one of the most durable. However, if workmanship-related issues are present, the floor can turn into something that could give you regular headaches. Defects in epoxy installation can be very damaging. Fortunately, most of them are avoidable.
Soft Spots
These are spots on an epoxy floor that has remained soft even after curing and drying. This is caused by the improper mixing of the material before it was installed. Epoxy is a mix of equal parts of resin and hardener. What some installers fail to do is scrape the material that sticks to the side of the bucket and those that settle on the bottom. Only the middle is well-blended so when the leftovers are poured, it does not necessarily harden to what it’s supposed to. When mixing epoxy, make sure that you use a scraper to include all materials on the side and at the bottom.
Contamination
Contamination can cause the epoxy to crawl, also called fish eyes. These are spots where the epoxy seems to repel or stay away, leaving a black spot. The most common cause is when unseen stains of oil or grease are present on a concrete slab. It is important to prepare the slab thoroughly, washing and drying it before installation. It is important to note that contamination can also happen in between coats. Even if the first coating was fine, if contamination happens on that first coating, the second coat may crawl. Keep anyone away from the floor after the first coating to prevent anything from contaminating that layer.
Insects or Bugs
Epoxy has that certain quality that attracts bugs. Once a bug gets stuck on the coating, there is no way you could take it out without ruining the epoxy. It is fine to get one or two bugs here and there but don’t let anything more than that attempt to get on a newly installed epoxy floor. What you can do is turn the lights off in that room to keep insects from going on the floor.
There are many other defects out there but these are some of the most common. They can be easily avoided with just simple things like proper preparation, mixing, and installation. All the effort and work you or the installer would exert will be well worth it in the end.
