The floor coatings revolution is rushing forward at a startling pace, and it’s taking your business along for the ride. New technologies do everything faster, better, and cheaper. Today’s floors laugh in the face of environmental hazards and volatile compounds, and why wouldn’t they? They have the cure times to give you a turnkey application process and the strength to resist the heaviest forklifts. They prevent the growth of microorganisms and have a level of thermal shock resistance that last year’s floors could only dream of. That’s why we at Fresh Paint Inc. are always excited when a client approaches us with tough demands—we know today’s flooring is up to the challenge.
The Magic of Epoxy
Epoxy is more adaptive than the market gives it credit for. Add chips or terrazzo effects, and you have a floor even Vogue would write home about. It’s the superhero of flooring. It’s self-leveling and has a top psi of 6,000, but fabricators have dialed up those superpowers even more in recent years. Traditional epoxies allow their carrier agents to evaporate after application, but 100% solid alternatives have no water or solvents to speak of. They’re tougher than traditional resins and have no volatile compounds, so they resist stains and abrasions better than their water-based counterparts. They also harden within a mere 40 minutes. Now that’s power.
Urethane Marvels
Urethane floor coatings have become the rock stars of the industry for their hardness, UV-resistance, and flexibility. They’re Robin to Epoxy’s Batman, reinforcing resins against abrasion. You don’t need to know how to pronounce “polymerizing carbamic compounds” to appreciate their longevity. Urethanes also cure in no time at all, but don’t be fooled by their practical qualities. They can be stylish, too. They keep their glossy texture, so our clients adore them for their showrooms and offices.
Surface Preparation
Self-leveling primers are probably the most unappreciated coatings in the industry. They deserve to be given a leading role in the flooring market because they can be exposed to a huge range of temperatures while eliminating the need for sanding. The better your primer, the smoother and more lasting your upper layers will become, so preparation defines your aesthetic more than you might think. Of course, old fashioned sanding and shot blasting still have a role to play. The latter has enjoyed plenty of innovation as of late. It’s known for its aggression, but new CO2 ice blasting, electrolyte plasma, and electro-polishing techniques add delicacy and precision to the process.
Stenciling and Striping
Floors must do more than just sit around looking strong and beautiful. In factories and warehouses, they must direct traffic, distinguish areas, and protect workers from falls. They operate as your safety managers, so we ensure that they fit your regulatory landscape with longevity to boot. Your brand must pop as well, so we create custom floor stenciling that you’ll take pride in.
Let’s Get Cracking
Substrates don’t enter this world ready for a top coating. They must be smoothed down and repaired with a chemically-resistant, fast-curing compound that has extreme compression strength. Sanding takes care of more refined jobs, but crack and joint repairs are particularly challenging. They must have just the right expansion for your flooring and resist plenty of stress. We cure quickly enough to resist shrinkage and add isolation joints to manage stresses so that your repairs last.
Commercial floor coatings are turbo-charged versions of their former selves thanks to the industry’s innovative fabricators. Still, they’re only as durable as their application method, so our technique is as impressive as the coatings we work with.
