What’s happening in the video… Half way through the application of this epoxy coating system, the facility changed their mind on the color of their new concrete floor coating.  They wanted a lighter colored floor.

This epoxy floor coating system being applied here included the addition of an optional urethane top coat…which came in handy as urethane coatings have great hiding power.

You can apply a white coat on top of a black coat and you won’t see any read-through whatsoever.

This urethane top coat only needed a one coat application with a squeegee followed by smoothing with a roller.

Frequently asked questions about an epoxy floor coatings and urethane floor coatings…

Is there a difference between a urethane cement top coat and a urethane top coat?

Yes. A Urethane cement top coat is exactly what it means. Urethane and plus cement. So you’ve got Portland cement in a urethane, an aromatic urethane.  Urethane top coats are commonly referred to in the industry as a CRU, or a chemical resistant urethane and they are different from an epoxy.

You can apply a urethane top coat at about 3 ½ – 4 mils, and you can basically put a white color right over a black floor and not see the black. So it’s got great hiding power; it’s got about 76% solids content to it and is an aliphatic urethane.

Aliphatic Urethane Coatings

Aliphatic urethanes are different from epoxies. You get better hide on the aliphatic urethane’s than you do on epoxy top coats. But if you want to get a hide with an epoxy top coat just apply a high build epoxy on top of your floor and you’ll make the color below it go away with zero read through.

However, a urethane top coat is a chemical resistant urethane, aliphatic based, and you get much better hide with urethane aliphatic’s than you do with epoxy top coats. To compare these apples to apples we consider say, 4 mils to 4 mils.

If you apply 4 mils of an epoxy, even if it’s a 100% solids, you’re going to get read through from the color below it. If you put 4 mils of an aliphatic urethane coating on top, let’s say this is a gray floor, you’re going to get no read through.

So in this case, the aliphatic urethane’s would win that race. But it’s dependent on the solids content of the aliphatic urethane.  For example, if it has 76 % solids content, it will hide very well at 4 mils.

What types of floor areas are best suited for epoxy floor coatings?

Considering areas of a plant that are subject to heavy abusive traffic like turning radius areas of fork lift trucks, the excellent abrasion resistance of the aliphatic urethane floor coating at 76% solids, it would be better to use two coats of aliphatic urethane to provide hiding while addressing heavy duty requirements of a floor coating.

In summary, heavy duty top coats applied to areas of substantial use are better applied at the time a flooring surface is being applied. It is just more economical than another shutdown later on.

The costs are much greater taking a two step approach. Money spent on really fortifying flooring areas with the best possible combination of coatings is a much more economical approach to maintaining all flooring areas.

Related videos – You may also be interested in:

	Tools to use when applying a floor coating.
	Floor coatings protect concrete floors and provide longevity.
	How to go from cracks and spalls to even and smooth with concrete floor paint.
	How to avoid shutting down any size facility during a floor coating installation.
	What to do after an installer quotes on your concrete floor resurfacing project.

See more videos about applying an epoxy coating to a concrete floor.