Whether you are planning to have an epoxy flake floor installed at home, or for one or more parts of your business premises, the temptation could be that to save yourself some money, you try to install it yourself. There could be many DIY projects that you have completed successfully in the past, and therefore, are confident this will be the same.

Whilst it is not for us to doubt in any way your past record, nor your DIY skills, we would ask you to pause for a moment and think about what it takes to install an epoxy flake floor.

First, while they may start as liquids, applying them is not the same as painting a ceiling, and that is assuming that you have got the balance between the chemicals exactly right. There is also the work required to ensure the concrete floor underneath is prepped exactly as it needs to be in terms of evenness and to make its adhesive qualities optimal.

If you were to even get beyond laying it, there is the no small matter of the flake distribution. Many amateurs think that you do this as though scattering birdseed in the park for the pigeons, but soon realize it is not as they end up with barren areas and others with mounds of flakes.

Let us take a look at why installing epoxy flake floors should be left to the professionals, these floor professionals can be organised by either your builders or professional shop fitters.

Floor Preparation

This is vital, and if done wrong, the worst cases can lead to the epoxy coating delamination or peeling. All contaminates need to be removed, and then, in order for the epoxy resin to adhere properly, the pores at the surface need to be opened up correctly. It may be necessary to grind areas of the concrete to prepare it properly, and this is also not an easy task.

Wet or Moist Concrete

If the epoxy coating is to be laid, the concrete floor underneath must be bone dry. Often, DIYers will try to apply it on newly laid concrete, which is still wet, or on concrete which has been washed clean, but where all the water has not dried yet. Professional installers will be able to perform a special moisture test to ensure the concrete is suitably dry

Wrong Proportions Of Chemicals

One of the most common mistakes that DIYers will make is to mix the epoxy chemicals wrongly, by either adding too much or too little of either the resin or the hardener. Even if they get this right, they then cause a problem by not mixing them in the right way. They tend to mix too fast which causes air to be trapped in the epoxy, leading to bubbles in the surface when it is being installed.

Spreading It Too Thin

Unlike paint, which you can spread further without necessarily affecting its appearance, trying that with epoxy floor coatings is going to result in a variation in the gloss finish on different areas of the surface. Another reason for running out is that not enough epoxy was purchased due to not taking account of the pores in the concrete which is going to absorb some of the epoxy.

So, as you can see, there are many ways in which installing epoxy flake floors can be done wrong, and rather than waste time and money trying to do it yourself, take our advice and hire a professional flooring company who will get it right the first time.