Business and Operations Run on Resinous Flooring: Everything you need to know about Resin Floors

When commercial or industrial operations are looking for a flooring solution which will support their business – along with their staff and customers – there’s simply no option more ideal than resin-coated concrete floors.

Concrete is an excellent starting point for a floor, but without the right formulated coatings could cause problems.  Concrete flooring is porous, easy to damage, and unattractive.  Adding a resinous coating to the concrete transforms it into a flooring capable of standing up to heavy use, while minimizing maintenance.  It’s a good long-term solution for almost any business, and virtually required in industries with high standards of cleanliness.

Black Bear Coatings and Concrete is uniquely qualified to create custom resinous floors for businesses across the northeast.  No matter your needs, we will value engineer the perfect floor for each individual environment.

 

What is resin flooring?

Before you decide to install resin floors in any building, take time to understand its functionality. Resinous flooring systems are a series of high-performance liquid coatings applied to existing floors. This product helps prevent physical and chemical damage. The product comprises a multi-part “glue” mix, hardened for production. The use of resins is often considered safe in terms of aesthetics, durability and aesthetic qualities. Resinous flooring is a mixture resin-based hardeners with chemical properties. The glue-like substances react and dry into the hardened plastic layers on original flooring.

 

The benefits of resin floor coatings

1 – Resinous flooring strength

Resin-coated concrete is the strongest readily-available option.  Resinous floors are abrasion resistant so they withstand virtually unlimited foot traffic. They are great for high traffic spaces and most are suitable for heavy equipment such as forklifts and mobile machinery.

2 – Resinous flooring longevity & durability

A resinous floor can be expected to last at least a decade or two without the need for major repairs or replacement. In low-impact settings, it could last up over 20+ years without a significant renovation.

3 – Resinous flooring cleanliness and hygiene

Resinous floor coatings are spread across the entire floor, and create a single seamless non-porous edge-to-edge surface.  There are no cracks, grout, seams, or other places where microorganisms can take hold.  Resinous floors are a must-have for food and beverage production, biomedical businesses, marijuana grow rooms, and any other operation which requires a sterile environment.

4 – Resinous flooring maintenance & care

Cleaning and maintaining a resinous floor is relatively easy. A simple washdown will typically suffice, however if sanitization and harsh chemical cleansers need to be used for compliance, the resinous coating can be formulated to withstand the impact.  There are no special maintenance requirements, giving resinous floors an exceptionally low long-term TCO.

5 – High chemical resistance

Resinous coatings are naturally resistant to chemical spills, including acids and bases.  Special formulations can be deployed to add extra resistance to specific chemicals if needed.

6 – Lower cost

Despite all the advantages, resinous floor coatings are among the most reasonably-priced types of flooring.  A basic epoxy blend can be as low as $2-3 per square foot, for large pours.  Even custom blends rarely rise above $10/sqft, making it economical to deploy.

For these reasons, resinous floor coatings are the flooring of choice for:

Warehouses

Grocery stores

‘Big Box’ stores

Biomedical facilities

Food & drink processing

Marijuana grow operations

Hospitals

Cafeterias and restaurants

Hotels and other hospitality businesses

Government offices

Industrial factories

Vehicle showrooms

Lobbies and foyers

And many more

 

Parts of a resin flooring system

For understanding resin flooring, one must be familiar with the layers in its construction. Most resin based floorings have multiple layers of various resins. The flooring is installed onto existing floorboards called substrates. The following resin coatings will be applied according to the intended properties depending on the surface. Primer underlayment, bases coat and top coat are merged in order to form one complete flooring solution. For resin coats you may easily blend compatible resins to maximize their benefits. Substrates are the floors beneath the resin layers.

 

What is resinous flooring made of?

There are numerous materials which can be poured over concrete to create a resinous coat, but three materials are most commonly used:

Epoxy coating 

Epoxy is the ‘default’ resinous coating in most applications.  Epoxy flooring is affordable and ubiquitous.  Epoxy has excellent resistance to crushing damage, making it the best option for situations where heavy machinery are use.  Epoxy also offers the most options in colors and textures, including highly attractive metallic swirls for customer-facing applications.

Urethane coating

Urethane is  more resilient than epoxy, giving it better protection against falling objects and cracking, although it’s slightly less strong against crushing weights.  Urethane also features excellent UV and weather resistance, making it the best option for outdoor features or areas which will receive a lot of sunlight.

Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) coating

MMA is a bit more specialized, with two primary benefits.  First, it has excellent cold resistance, and is the preferred flooring for freezers and other cold rooms.  It can even cure in sub-zero temperatures.  Also, MMA cures and finishes more quickly than other options, with treated rooms typically ready for use in just a few hours.

 

How to choose a resin flooring type?

To find a resin flooring solution to suit your needs, you must prioritize your decisions. When choosing a resinous flooring material, you must weigh the risk and the advantages. It is best to define the priority list. Take into consideration the budget, reduce installation risk, and durability features. Maintenance is very easy with a good resin floor. After exploring each option, choosing which one is important can become difficult, but working with a professional resin floor contractor can help.

 

Cost of resin flooring

For the optimal value, costs are second only to performance on a resin floor. One of the main benefits of epoxy and similar resinous flooring has been due to the value. The costs do depend on the exact type of solution and formulation, whether you need any extra additives for safety and compliance, however the end typically justifies the means with epoxy and urethane being the longer lasting solution. If you’re looking for a price-point, epoxy floors can be as little as $3 per square foot for a basic coating, up to $10-$12 for more complex and custom blends, designs, and additives.

 

How to install resin flooring?

For long-lasting flooring systems it’s necessary to have experience in resin preparation. Disclaimer: You need to always follow your manufacturers application guidelines to get maximum results. Resin floor installations need planning and careful planning, they have multiple stages of work.

Installation is similar in all cases.  We start with a plain concrete floor, which is then deep-cleaned and scrubbed to remove all impurities.  Then the resin is mixed (typically from two or three separate components) and poured over the concrete.  A combination of manual spreading, and gravity, causes the fluid resin to flow over the entire surface.

Once the coat is in place, and fully covers the concrete, it’s left to dry and harden.  This can take between 48-72 hours for epoxy or urethane, or less than a day for MMA.

 

Engineer the right resinous floor coating to last longer

 

Black Bear Coatings & Concrete specializes in commercial and industrial flooring. We have extensive experience engineering and installing resinous floor coating solutions for concrete floors. Let’s get one thing straight, not all resinous floor coatings are the same. It’s important to match the demands of your facility with the right coating product. Floors treated with resinous coatings are durable, low-maintenance, and can be installed with minimal downtime.

For example, epoxy flooring solutions provide seamless, slip-resistant coatings that are safe, hard-wearing, and easy to clean. MMA floors can be installed rapidly with different colors, finishes, and non-slip textures. Urethane coatings are a great alternative for environments with stringent conditions like high temperature cleaning, wet processing, or chemical contamination. Their seamless surface prevents bacteria growth and discourages chemical and water intrusion.

 

Resinous epoxy floor contractors in New England – Partner with Black Bear for Commercial & Industrial flooring solutions

To learn more about selecting the right resinous floor coating system for your environment, contact the experts at Black Bear Coatings & Concrete. With over 30 years of collective experience engineering floors for companies in every industry, we value engineer the right solution and find a commercial or industrial resinous floor that will meet your business and budgetary needs.

Contact us for a free on-site consultation to learn how we can design and install better flooring options for your facility. Safety, accuracy and dependability; that’s Black Bear’s promise and evident in every product we deliver. Seamless resinous flooring is no different. Contact us today to learn why.

 

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