While you may absolutely love your epoxy floor, it’s the chipping and cracking that got you thinking. Is it best to patch or resurface the epoxy floor? Well, there’s no one-answer-fits-all cases, may we say. That’s because such decisions should be taken based on how bad the epoxy flooring coating is. And whether or not this is a busy facility or your home garage floor.
It makes sense to say that busy industrial and commercial garage floors, lobbies, warehouses, and offices need the best solutions to the cracking problem. The situation is not the same as that at home, where the traffic is limited and so the cracks may be patched if the damage is not extensive.
On all occasions, one thing is for sure. The epoxy flooring damage must be addressed. Whether this is done with patching or it’s best to resurface, it remains to be discussed.
Are we talking about a few epoxy floor cracks?
A few cracks here and some chips there can be fixed. Or, better stated, they are usually worth fixing. This is often done by filling the cracks and holes with mortar and leveling with a trowel, leaving it to dry. Once it is dry, you can cover it with a layer of epoxy coating. If you find an epoxy patching kit on the market, the process will be easier and faster.
Are there epoxy flooring bubbles?
If you notice bubbles on the epoxy floor, there’s likely air trapped under the coating. This is due to temperature fluctuations. It may also happen if the epoxy coating was not applied correctly or the solution was not properly mixed. How to fix these little blisters and craters? Well, first you need to level them. And since this is likely not one single bubble but several of them, it’s best to use a diamond gritter to buff down the epoxy floor and then re-epoxy the floor.
Is the epoxy floor peeling?
Epoxy coating peels should be scrapped. Then, this area should be cleaned before epoxied again.
When resurfacing epoxy floors becomes a better option
Now, the secret to avoiding dealing with the same problem once again in the near future is to evaluate its extent and the condition of the epoxy floor. You see, the decision on whether to patch or resurface the epoxy floor is not taken only on the extent of the damage but also on why it happened in the first place. An example to get the meaning.
• If part of the epoxy coating cracks and the concrete floor underneath is smooth or there’s no concrete subfloor, there’s a problem with the overall installation of the epoxy floor.
You see, if you are to patch the epoxy floor, you need it to stay patched. If the problem stems rather from the concrete floor and not the epoxy coating, the news is good because it wasn’t the epoxy coating that failed you and so the floor can be patched, assuming the damage is not extensive. Of course, chipped epoxy floors can be patched even if the problem is with the concrete substrate but chances are high that the patching won’t last for long since there’s no concrete to support the coating and since the job was not done correctly, to begin with.
This leads us straight to our answers. Resurfacing epoxy floors is a better option when the installation was not correctly done from the start. And when the damage takes a good portion of the whole floor. And so, patching becomes a solution only for minor cracks, which can be filled. And when the problem is not the epoxy but the concrete flooring under the epoxy. Not that some serious problems couldn’t be handled with some patchwork, but the patchwork will not be as permanent as resurfacing and so you will face similar chipping and cracking problems all over again.
