April 26, 2016

Epoxy Flooring Quality Problems and Solutions

Posted by REDRHINO Staff Writer

Two Problems With Ordinary Epoxy Flooring “Lifetime” Guarantees

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A lifetime guarantee on epoxy flooring sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? If you’re looking for someone to help you put the right coating on a retail or industrial space, you’re probably going to hear about lots of them.

The only problem? That lifetime guarantee you’re being offered isn’t actually worth a whole lot.

Don’t get us wrong – when the right epoxy flooring chemicals are used, and they’re installed correctly by a team of trained professionals, it certainly can be incredibly durable. But, that’s very rarely what you get when you call in an inexperienced local vendor.

To shed more light on the issue, here are the two biggest problems with ordinary epoxy flooring lifetime guarantees:

1. Your floor will probably be there a lot longer than the company will. There are businesses that come and go quickly in every industry, but things are especially bad when it comes to small, local epoxy flooring vendors. A lot of them don’t truly understand how to work with these chemicals or install coatings correctly, but they know that it will take a year or two before the evidence starts to show up. So, they do the job quickly, take your money, and are gone before you ever really figure out what happened.

2. Epoxy flooring manufacturers keep very tight restrictions on their warranties. A lot of smaller companies will tell you that they don’t have to give you guarantees because epoxy flooring chemical manufacturers offer long warranties on their products. That’s technically true, but what goes unspoken is that these warranties are extremely specific, and require that your flooring be installed under very specific temperature and humidity conditions. In other words, your chances of having a manufacturer refund your money, or give you free flooring, are very low.

To be clear, this isn’t a knock on the manufacturers, but rather a reminder that these chemicals need to be treated carefully. Hiring the wrong team, or working with a floor that hasn’t been prepared properly, can easily make even the best coatings next to useless.

It’s unfortunate that more companies don’t stand behind what they sell, or honor the warranties they give, but the fact remains that business owners and building managers need to be extraordinarily careful when working with epoxy flooring vendors.

Commonplace Concrete Flooring Problems

Epoxy Flooring Quality Problems and Solutions

Concrete floors remain susceptible to unattractive blotches without a professional epoxy coating. Avoid costly repairs by investigating the weaknesses of untreated concrete.

Potential Chemical Stains:
The porous properties of concrete make unsealed floors more likely to receive permanent damage from accidental spills. Small cracks and openings create accessible routes for staining liquids to reach far beneath the surface of concrete flooring. Lawn control chemicals are likely to rust or eat away at unprotected concrete. Mowing runoff from sprinkler systems or grass carries these staining chemicals directly to your concrete driveway. Environments that experience heavy winters are rife with driveway-damaging chemicals. Salt and ammonia-based chemicals are commonly used on city roads as de-icing solutions. Both chemicals ravage unprotected concrete surfaces with flaking surfaces.

Moisture Vulnerability: Regular exposure to moisture threatens permeable concrete. Infiltrating H20 can cause cracks to widen and deteriorate underlay adhesives. Other moisture risks come from exposure to plant life. Seeds are able to take root in concrete chasms given sufficient access to moisture. Many driveway weeds problems begins with moisture-vulnerable unsealed concrete. Microscopic mold spores easily navigate the tiny gorges of porous driveways. Even a small amount of moisture will spur the growth of potentially toxic patches.

Sealant Protection:
The right protective treatment significantly reduces these concrete-flooring risks.

3 Epoxy Flooring Installation Details That Are Easy To Miss

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The minute you go looking for an epoxy flooring installation company, you’ll find that there are literally dozens to choose from. Given that flooring isn’t exactly rocket science, a lot of business owners and building managers will simply go with the vendor that’s closest, or the one that offers the lowest bid.

That can be a big mistake, however – epoxy flooring might not be rocket science, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a little bit of science and expertise involved in the process. In fact, having your coating installed correctly can go a long way toward making it safer and more durable.

With that in mind, here are three epoxy flooring details that are easy to miss… and that you want your installation team looking out for:

1. Floor preparation. If the surface that you’re applying epoxy flooring to isn’t ready, then it really doesn’t matter what kinds of materials you use. To properly install epoxy coating, you want a clean and dry concrete surface. That’s one of the reasons that we make smoothing and blasting a key part of our service – without this vital prep work, our flooring wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful or durable as it should be. Unfortunately, this is an area where a lot of low-end epoxy flooring companies will rush the job because they know you won’t notice until it’s too late.

2. Installation environment. In this case, the “installation environment” for epoxy flooring refers to the temperature and humidity. Floors need to be completely dry for coatings to set properly. So, in addition to being thoroughly cleaned, they should also be free of drips and undetected moisture. We test surfaces thoroughly to ensure that we are dry before we begin, but that’s not something every company does.

3. The chemical mix. As those who have worked with epoxy flooring in the past will already know, it can be very fickle. That is, even if you’re using the very best chemicals and materials, they need to be properly mixed and prepared in order to give you beautiful flooring. Our team of experts knows how to get the most from the various chemicals we use, so you can always be sure you’re getting the best value when you hire us.

Avoiding Epoxy Flooring Fails

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Epoxy Flooring is no easy task – there are several reasons why an Epoxy Flooring can fail if not done properly. To avoid a costly re-do, hire a team that is confident, experienced, and well known. Below are a few important steps to not be taken lightly, and that REDRHINO will never skip.

1. Poor surface preparation. If the surface is not properly dusted, clean and dry, then the resin will not stick. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen, REDRHINO – usually with diamond grinding or bead blasting – prepare the substrate to make the surface ready for resin.

2. Humidity. Solvent-based epoxy does not mix well with humidity. Again, if the surface is not dry, or if there is a pipe dripping, it will severely devastate the epoxy. Because REDRHINO knows all about this, they take the important step in double checking the humidity levels, and making adjustments based on the levels.

3. Contaminated floors. With old installations (food and drink factories, car service shops, or workshops) that want the epoxy installed over the old floor, it is incredibly important the that service is suitable for epoxy. Meaning it is free of grease, oil and any other residues. The floor must be cleaned properly for the resin to bond as intended. REDRHINO has the years of experience to know when the harmful remnants are excluded.

4. Faulty Resin/Hardener Mix. If the resin and hardener were not mixed well, disregarding either the ratio of resin:hardener, or not mixing the material for enough time to cut costs and labor time, then the resin will remain in a sticky or soft state for longer than needed, allowing dust and damage to be done.

Restore Damaged Flooring

Using a damaged floor is huge risk. You may make the damage more severe, incurring more costs down the road, and you put your health and that of your workers in danger. For these reasons, it is important to undertake repairs as quickly as possible to restore damaged flooring.

Heavy Duty Industrial Floor Topping
If you work in an area that is subject to high amounts of physical stress, like a loading dock or other industrial environment, chances are your unprotected concrete floors will be heavily damaged. Over time, impacts can cause scratches, cracks, and even large faults. Heavy duty industrial floor topping is an effective way to restore your floors and protect them from future damage. REDRHINO uses trowel-applied surfaces with a nominal thickness of ¼’’ to resurface badly damaged concrete floors. In addition to repairing your floors and removing any safety risks, heavy duty industrial floor topping will protect your floors from new cracks and scratches.

Mechanical Room Flooring System
Your floors don’t have to be subject to large amounts of physical stress in order to suffer damage. Over time, moderate stresses such as rapid temperature change, constant vibrations, and light impact can also damage your floors. Although the damage might not be apparent at first, neglecting to repair any small issues could land you in more trouble down the road. The mechanical room flooring system is a great option for restoring the integrity of your machine decks, turbine room floors, mezzanines, and boiler room floors. REDRHINO uses a flexible system to protect your floors from the everyday pressures of your work environment.

How to Care for Your Beautiful Epoxy Flooring

Epoxy Flooring Quality Problems and Solutions

You’re been considering epoxy flooring for your business, and you’ve heard its very easy to take care of, as a flooring option. It’s also beautiful and has lots of colors and customization options. But, is it really practical? Epoxy compound is unbelievably durable and solid that’s why it started as top choice in industrial settings and commercial kitchens. But, today with endless customizable choices, it’s made it’s way into main dinning areas in resultants and retail locations throughout the world. Don’t let its beauty deceive you; so whether your flooring is in a garage, restaurant or commercial location, caring for your epoxy flooring is simple.

Here are 5 simple ways to care for your floor:

  1. Oil Spills. If your epoxy flooring is in the garage, and you have minor oil spills, you can just wipe it clean with a regular paper towel or a clean soft cloth.
  2. Maintenance. For regular maintenance a soft bristle brush will do the trick.
  3. Heavy cleaning. For heavy cleaning of a very dirty floor, make sure you remove any debris and then you can mop floor with a hard foam mop, hot water and clear ammonia.
  4. Solution. You only need, about 5 ounces of ammonia per gallon of water to remove dirt, make sure you don’t use any abrasive products. We like ammonia or for a more difficult stain soft and scrub.
  5. Stains or rust. If you have a hard to get off stain r a spot that rusted, you can use soft and scrum, clean cloth and hot water to remove the stain.

D.I.Y or H.I.R.E?

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With Google at the power of our fingertips, it’s easy to feel confident in taking things into our own hands – and for the most part, you should. But when it comes to Epoxy Flooring, however, there are many things to consider.

Will written instruction be enough? Do-it-yourself Epoxy Flooring kits of course come with instructions, but will that cover all of your questions? There’s comfort with experience in execution, and we at REDRHINO have nearly 10 years of experience.

Do I really have everything I need? A kit can only provide so much; but will it give you all of the tools necessary to prepare the surface for the resin (usually by diamond grinding or bead blasting), and will it tell you to make adjustments based on temperature or humidity? It’s not very likely.

Oops! Something went wrong, now what? Having not used an established company, there is no warranty to cover or help me fix my floor. With REDRHINO, we offer you a 7 year warranty to help you feel confident that not only will the job get done right the first time, but that there is a company backing up their work.

Granted that’s just the tip of the iceberg, it’s very important to weigh the options and really consider hiring the professionals behind the REDRHINO team. Give us a call @ 888-293-2681 today to discuss your next project!

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Expoxy flooring warranty
The RedRhino Warranty

At RedRhino, we are working hard every day for our reputation as your number one choice for epoxy flooring. As part of that commitment, we think it's important to stand behind our products and our work.

You may notice that some of our competitors claim to give "lifetime" guarantees on flooring. But, once you read the fine print, you find that their promises don't really stand up to their marketing. Look a little further into the reviews, and you'll find that you can't be sure they'll stand behind their flooring for more than a few years… if they are even still in business.

Using warranties from epoxy flooring manufacturers can be difficult, as well. Although most do guarantee their products for a certain amount of time, those guarantees depend on very precise (and occasionally, unrealistic) application settings involving temperature, humidity, concrete surface preparation, etc.

We understand the frustration that customers feel when dealing with these issues, which is why we offer a more straightforward warranty package than anyone in our industry. We can do this because we understand the intricacies of epoxy flooring, and make sure that our teams are trained professionally. They won't apply resin until your floor is ready, and won't rush through the job because they know you need it for years to come.

To find out more about our seven-year guarantee, and why RedRhino is different from other flooring companies,
call us today at 800-806-5508.