You've thought about getting some type of epoxy for your concrete inside. It might be your basement, a mudroom, or your garage. Epoxy sounds like the perfect refresh for your otherwise boring concrete. However, you're concerned about the durability of the floors. Will epoxy floors scratch? If they scratch, will it be expensive to repair them?
Elite Floor Coatings has installed epoxy on over two million square feet of concrete. The durability and scratch resistance of epoxy flooring is a common concern.
When you've finished reading, you'll know what circumstances can lead to a scratched epoxy floor and whether or not damaged epoxy coatings can be repaired.
From a broad perspective, an epoxy floor can get scratches or scrapes. However, not all epoxy floors will scratch.
The phrase "epoxy floor" is quite broad, and it could include:
All of those examples qualify as epoxy floors, but not all of them would scratch. Let's take a look at the key to preventing scratches: the top coat finish.
While we at Elite Floor Coatings describe ourselves as epoxy floor experts, we install more than epoxy. An epoxy floor isn't just layers of epoxy. We often finish an epoxy floor with a completely different top coat.
Yes, the layers beneath that top coat are epoxy. Perhaps epoxy mixed with paint chips or epoxy mixed with natural stone. But the surface layer is coated with something else.
To prevent scratches, many epoxy floors we install receive a top coat of polyaspartic or urethane. These top coat products are harder than epoxy and more durable. By finishing with a urethane or polyaspartic, we can prevent scratches.
Most of the time, epoxy is on the bottom. However, there are some epoxy floors with epoxy top coats. This is most common for floors that must be protected from acid. While urethane and polyaspartic can be damaged by acids, novolac epoxy is acid-resistant.
Some commercial applications that use acid-based cleaners need a novolac epoxy finish for their floors. The epoxy top coat could scuff, dull, or stain in these cases. However, it can also be thoroughly cleaned for the purposes of the space.
If epoxy can scratch, why is it such a popular flooring option? Even though epoxy can stain, scratch, dull, and scuff, none of that matters if it isn't the top layer. For most applications, the top layer is a polyaspartic or a urethane.
So, what happens if the floor does experience a scratch or a deeper gouge? There are plenty of repair options.
An epoxy top coat can address scratches by sanding and reapplying the top coat.
Sometimes, a scratch is more serious. It's less of a surface-level scratch and more of a deep gouge. In these cases, the concrete needs to be fixed. Whether it's a gash into the concrete or something heavy that's punched through the coating, it can all be repaired.
Whether or not your floor will scratch depends on the top coat of the floor. An epoxy floor finished with an epoxy does risk scratching. However, epoxy top coats are usually reserved for specific applications.
For most epoxy floors, the top coat is polyaspartic or urethane. With these top coats, the floor will not be scratched. Polyaspartic and urethane are harder and more chemical resistant than epoxy. These top coats can take significantly more abuse and abrasion.
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