When it comes to flooring your home or business premises, you will notice 2 options are more popular than others. Epoxy and urethane coatings have become the preferred choice for many good reasons. They both have many advantages as well as differences that make them applicable for certain circumstances.
Epoxy coating is made of epoxy resin and hardening agent that are applied in 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 ratio. The resin is a low viscosity liquid but when mixed with curing agent, a chemical reaction happens and the two materials bond, solidify and strongly bond to the substrate, creating a strong coat. The application process is quick and safe but curing takes 12 to 24 hours. It can be applied in a thick layer to perfectly cover substrate imperfections. It is often expensive but delivers excellent quality. There might be cheaper versions in the market but the risk of low quality and highly hazardous material is serious and health threatening.
Urethane coating is a high-gloss smooth finish over concrete substrate. It is also called polyurethane coating which is made of a polymerizing carbamic compound. The resin is thick so it must be applied in several thin layers to prevent lumping which will take time. Due to the thinness of applied layers it cannot hide underlying flaws thus will need epoxy primer as the first layer. It is not a good choice to coat rusted steel surfaces because it has no resistance against corrosion. It has affordable pricing which makes it an ideal choice for large area floorings.
Epoxy vs. Urethane flooring
• Both are extremely strong and durable
• Both are highly resistant to abrasion and scratch
• Both are non-toxic materials
• Epoxy is heat and weather resistant but Urethane is only UV resistant
• Epoxy has well adhesion to other floor materials but Urethane takes more layers and time to cover the substrates
• Epoxy is more forgiving about application mistakes but Urethane doesn’t hide mistakes
• Epoxy is corrosion resistant but Urethane is not
• Epoxy is customizable by variety of colors and finishes but Urethane is only glossy
• Epoxy is expensive but Urethane is affordable
