The epoxy floor thickness will largely depend on the space that you’re installing the system in. If you’re putting an epoxy flooring system into your home garage, or in areas of your business that don’t get a lot foot traffic you won’t need an epoxy floor that is very thick. If you are installing a coating that is going to be in a work environments and is subject to heavy foot traffic and chemical spills then a thicker and more resistance coating will be needed.

Epoxy Floor Thickness

Let’s start with the very thin floor coats. A thin epoxy floor coat usually consists of a coat of primer and one or two coats of paint. Depending on the number of coats, the floor thickness should range between 300 and 600 microns. Such epoxy floor thicknesses are suitable for light applications where the primary purpose of the coat is to keep the surface clean and dust free. Such coats are only recommended for for light traffic areas like storage rooms, warehouses or home garages.

A thin epoxy floor is enough to keep low traffic floors looking great without a lot of maintenance. So if you’re refinishing your garage floor, or if you’re enclosing your garage to be part of your living space a thin epoxy floor with a thickness of 4-6 mils is an good choice. If you’re redoing flooring in your business and you want something easy to install that will look good for your hallways, storage areas, or break room a thinner epoxy floor will look beautiful and still be relatively durable. Be sure to understand the differences between water based and solids epoxy. Water based epoxies have a much lower solids count and therefore are not as durable but are more economical if working on a strict budget. A good way to build up thickness of a flooring system is to install a thick underlayment or primer coating and then layer on top of this with a urethane topcoat. Big box stores such as Home Depot tend to sell only water-based epoxies as these are more inexpensive. It is important to do your research however, as the lifespan of water-based epoxies is extremely low.

If you are looking for better resistance to wear and tear you need to look into a system that has at least 1-2 mm (0.04-0.08) in thickness. In such systems floor coats can be combined with layers of quartz sand to create a more durable surface.

Self Levelling Floors

Self levelling epoxy floors start at 2mm (1/16th inches) but are typically in the 3mm (1/8 inch) range. They are the most commonly preferred choice of epoxy floors as they have an impressive glossy and smooth look, they are easy to clean and have a durability that satisfies the needs for most industries.

In some industries 3-4 mm of thickness is not sufficient. These are heavy duty industries where there is significant mechanical wear, dragging of heavy objects and shifting of massive loads (where massive means at least 2-3 tonnes). Industries that involve metal constructions, wire and cable manufacturing, or heavy chemical abrasion fall into this category. In such industries epoxy floors can even go beyond the 5mm mark and reach 1 cm. Such floor systems usually consist of multiple layers that involve epoxy screeds, intermediate aggregates, and top-coats.

Anti-slip floor systems come in various thicknesses usually starting at 1mm and can reach a total film thickness of 4mm. For a demonstration on how anti-slip quartz floors are constructed have a look at the video here.

Anti slip can be applied with two different methods:

  1. Via a broadcast method where the quartz is broadcast on the wet coating. A final topcoat then applied on top.
  2. Alternatively the quartz can be mixed in with our product and applied with a trowel.

A few additional points to keep in mind:

  • The thicker your floor coat, the deeper your surface preparation needs to be. You want to make sure that a thick 5mm coat doesn’t just ‘float’ on top of the concrete, but is ‘anchored’ well into the substrate” for better flow.
  • Certain floor resin systems may require thicker coats. For example, in the cementitious polyurethane screed market it is not uncommon to see floor coats exceeding 12 mm (1/2 inch).
If You Need Epoxy Floor Coating For Your Industrial, Commercial or Garage Floor Please Give Us A Call (604) 922-9200 Or Contact Us Using Our Contact Page