Seamless, polished, flawlessly finished surfaces are what you expect with concrete floors installed in your properties. Concrete and epoxy flooring are traditional and practical choices of material among residential and commercial spaces for decades.
You may have just bought a new home. Now, you may need help trying to size up the nature of the materials to use. It could also be that you acquire a second-hand estate and need some renovation or deep repair. What material and restoration technique could you be applying, especially to floors, as a foundation of a building structure?
Nowadays, technology advances, newer and more innovative products are turning up in the market.
Depending on the type of flooring requirement you are seeking to fulfill, polishing concrete and epoxy coating techniques are available.
What is concrete polishing?
Isn’t it amazing that you can see a clear reflection on the floor? That is a seamless, flawless floor finished with concrete polishing. Concrete is practically a high-gloss surface. Being made of pure solid material and leveled adequately during the installation process, the outcome leads to a smooth, even, and clear cemented surface.
Producing concrete is through mixing aggregates. These are primary cement materials - sand, gravel, water, and rocks. The materials are mixed at a high temperature, pounded, ground to yield excellent powdered solid raw materials.
Concrete is the main component, especially of industrial floors and structures. To finish and treat the applied concrete either on floors or slabs, walls and posts polishing is done. To achieve an even surface and a finely finished floor, a final painting or a top coating of protective layers of various materials and methods is applied. It depends on what the structure needs and how it will function.
What is Epoxy Flooring?
Basically, epoxy is a two-part-solid material applied to pre-existing concrete floors. The concrete could be unfinished or already finished with a pure cement surface.
An evened-out existing slab can be refinished or applied with a topcoat for protective and resistant purposes. So, epoxy functions like a sealant.
Producing Polished Results: Main Similarities
Knowing how the two yields polished results, the question you ask now is, “are they totally the same?” This summary of their similarities can help you. Read on!
- Concrete polishing and epoxy can both serve as a polished top surface for your flooring system. A protective layer that makes surfaces sturdy and resists high impact causing damage is the benefit of both epoxy and polished concrete.
- The two methods for flooring make stain-resistant and damage resistant. (Below, the differences of a particular type of flaw will be discussed further.)
- Concrete polishing and epoxy coated floors are ideal for residential and commercial spaces. (Functions differ, know the specifics as you read further below.)
Significant Differences: The Specifics
While concrete polishing and epoxy are both innovative flooring systems, specific differences set them apart- in terms of application, maintenance, and function.
1- Polishing Equipment Epoxy flooring is the same as the concrete finished with polishing; both are hard-solid-based slabs on the floor.
Concrete is produced using a grinding machine. The raw solid mix of sand, gravel, and rocks are ground together. The cement mix is used to put on the flooring area. The surface is polished and level using grinding equipment, until the surface becomes smooth and clear from small uneven spots.
Meanwhile, epoxy flooring is a multiple layer coating system, usually three layers. It starts as a liquid component that cures into a solid product after some time. The result is a flooring product that has an equal sturdiness of concrete.
With epoxy, somehow, you need the existing concrete slab. Coating happens when you need to upgrade the floor into a unique functioning flooring system, with the extra resistant property.
2- Cleaning Let us make your cleaning solution quick and straightforward. To clean chemical stains easier and prevent them from discoloring the floors, apply an epoxy coating. If dust and debris are you need to get rid of regularly, polish your basic concrete floors.
Concrete polishing does not necessarily prevent chemical stains. Leave it to epoxy.
To make it clearer, epoxy is less abrasion-resistant. Scratches can appear on an epoxy coated surface if not maintained within a few years. This coating also needs to be reapplied after 5 years or less than 10 years. Concrete polishing lasts for a decade.
3- Resistant Quality – Epoxy vs. Concrete Polishing Water-resistant Epoxy So, epoxy flooring is the one you need if you like a water-resistant floor. This is why garage and commercial spaces like restaurants, food manufacturing, and laboratory areas rely on finishing basements with epoxy.
The slip-resistant property also goes with epoxy more than concrete polishing.
Damage and Impact Resistant – No Scratch Concrete Otherwise, if the area you need to refinish does not risk exposure to too much wet season, and water activities, a practical solution is polished concrete. In terms of sturdiness and strength, concrete with a glossy surface is what you need to stand on.
If you need abrasion and scratch-free floors, a concrete finished with excellent polishing is the no match solution.
4- Areas Suited for Installation Upgrading a long-existing floor can be resurfaced with an epoxy coat. Especially if you are managing a commercial space that needs protection for chemicals and liquid substances—improving the floors with epoxy results in a better slip-resistant surface.
For durable and easy to maintain floor, concrete polishing is best. It is ideal in homes, commercial, and industrial spaces that are not much exposed to heat, weather changes, and chemical exposure. Enhancing patios, driveways, kitchen floors and lounge in hotels, etc. is where concrete with polished surfaces fits well.
