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Polished Concrete vs. Epoxy Floor: What’s the Best Choice?

Service: Epoxy Floor, Polished Concrete

When trying to decide between polished concrete vs. epoxy floor, what’s the best choice for your home, commercial space, or other property? It can be tough to decide since there are several different factors to take into consideration. Many contractors, business owners, and property managers know they would like something low-maintenance, long-lasting, and durable that will enhance the style and appeal of their space, but beyond that, they may have a tough time determining whether polished concrete or epoxy flooring is the best choice for their particular needs.

The decision primarily comes down to two factors: your budget and how your space will be used. If cost is the primary driving factor in making your decision, you’ll probably choose polished concrete, because this can represent as little as half of the investment when compared to applying an epoxy coating. Business owners and property managers often opt for polished concrete when the surface will only be subject to light or medium use. This is why you usually see polished concrete in homes, offices, retail spaces, and other settings that are subject to mostly foot traffic.

For facilities that require a chemically resistant surface that can withstand exposure to dangerous substances and the kind of wear and tear that heavy machinery can have on flooring, epoxy is often the best choice. Because of the demands in these types of settings, epoxy surfaces may require refurbishing every three to five years, whereas polished concrete floors may only need to be serviced every 10 years. Epoxy coatings are highly versatile, so they can be customized to fit your needs. Given these considerations, you are more likely to see epoxy in garages (both commercial and residential), fitness facilities, car dealerships, food processing plants, and a wide array of other industrial settings.  

Since polished concrete and epoxy coatings each come with their own unique merits and qualities, determining which might be the best choice for your space depends on having a thorough understanding of both options. Let’s explore these concrete flooring alternatives to get a better sense of which one might be the best choice for your particular needs.

Epoxy Concrete Floor: Built for Durability

For commercial and industrial settings, along with some spaces within residential properties, concrete finished with an epoxy coating is an excellent choice for an attractive flooring choice that is both durable and affordable. Epoxy coatings consist of a hardener and a resin that, when mixed and applied to concrete, create a strong, chemically resistant surface that can withstand nearly any set of demands.

This innate durability makes epoxy concrete floors perfect for spaces that are likely to encounter water or chemical spills, heavy foot or machinery traffic, or other substances and activities that would break down a less durable flooring choice. While most applications are commercial, some garages in homes have these types of floors. Epoxy can also be an excellent choice in other types of facilities where it is important to reduce mold, mites, and allergens, all of which can proliferate much more easily in carpeting than on hard, easy-to-clean concrete.

There are many other benefits to an epoxy concrete floor, whether they are installed in a residential, commercial, or industrial space. Epoxy concrete floors can have a high aesthetic appeal. Depending on the desired style, they can impart a modern or classic feel and can complement a space with an appearance that is industrial, luxurious, or anything in between. In short, epoxy concrete floors are extremely versatile and almost infinitely customizable. Best of all, they are an environmentally friendly choice in several ways; for example, they increase light reflectivity by up to 300%, which means you can reduce the wattage or number of lights in your facility and save on your electricity bill.

Whether you are looking for an indoor or outdoor flooring solution, an epoxy-coated concrete floor can be an excellent choice for your needs. In heavy-traffic facilities like manufacturing plants, warehouses, showrooms, hospitals, and even airplane hangars, epoxy floors can stand up to the tough wear and tear that comes with these industries.

Epoxy floors can last for decades with normal to heavy use, and they don’t require special maintenance beyond regular cleaning. Best of all, epoxy floors can be customized to fit the aesthetic of any space, with colors and decorative patterns that impart both beauty and utility.

Now that we’ve learned a bit about epoxy coating for concrete floors, let’s take a look at other concrete floor options, including polished concrete, garage floor paint, a seamless resin flooring system, and more.

Polished Concrete Floor: Classic Versatility

Similar to epoxy flooring, polished concrete flooring is an affordable, attractive, customizable, and environmentally friendly flooring choice for many businesses, homes, industrial spaces, and other facilities. Polished concrete is made by first grinding the surface of the concrete to remove any imperfections. After that step is complete, a concrete polishing machine uses diamond polishing pads to create a smooth and durable surface that matches your desired sheen, whether it’s a low-luster matte, a glossy-mirror-like finish, or anything in between.

Like epoxy floors, polished concrete floors are excellent in high-traffic facilities, as well as in spaces where reducing allergens is a priority. Polished concrete flooring uses no harsh chemicals and produces little to no toxins during installation, making it a safe and appealing option for many different types of applications. Polished concrete also increases light reflectivity by up to 100% — not quite as much as epoxy flooring, but enough that many people still see savings on their utility bills, thanks to a reduced need for extra lighting.

If you are looking for flooring that is long-lasting and durable, affordable to install easy to maintain, and also elegant and attractive, polished concrete floors might be an excellent choice for your home, office, retail space, or another facility. With a wide variety of style options — including stained concrete with many different stain colors, scoring, banding possibilities, and other design alternatives — you can design a polished concrete floor that will impart exactly the unique atmosphere and aesthetic you want for your space.

Garage Floor Paint vs. Epoxy: What’s the Best Choice for Your Space?

Thinking of finishing the floor in your garage for a more polished look? Aesthetically, finishing your garage floor can make all the difference, but you have to keep in mind the fact that garage floors take plenty of abuse from everything that goes on in the garage. This might include both foot and vehicle traffic, as well as regular scuffing from home gym equipment and lawn maintenance and home improvement tools, not to mention occasional chemical spills.

When deciding if garage floor epoxy is worth the investment, you’ll be weighing out the pros and cons of garage floor paint vs. epoxy coating and have to assess exactly how much and what type of traffic and abuse your garage floor’s finish will need to withstand. You’ll also need to decide whether you’d like your garage floor to have certain qualities, like being slip-resistant.

People who choose to apply garage floor paint or concrete paint, often do so based on the low cost and relative ease of concrete paint, as compared with applying an epoxy finish. Garage floor paint rolls on as easily as wall paint, and in a low-traffic garage where woodworking, home improvement, and other similar activities aren’t a factor, it can generally hold up well over the short term. It’s also simple enough to retouch when needed.

Epoxy is a better choice for garages that see more activity and different types of traffic, as tools, weights, car parts and more can all do significant damage to the finish on a painted concrete floor. Epoxy coating, on the other hand, is one of the most durable finishes there is for concrete. Epoxy concrete floors can also be customized as far as color, design, and other decorative qualities to make your garage floor stand out as a unique and attractive space.

Epoxy paint for garage flooring is somewhat more expensive than regular concrete paint, and the labor associated with its application is a bit more intensive as well, especially since proper prepping of the floor is essential before the epoxy can be applied. But epoxy will last far longer than regular garage floor paint, which makes it a better choice for many people’s needs.

Is Seamless Resin Flooring Any Different?

The term “seamless resin flooring” is an umbrella term referring to a group of flooring materials that offer both affordability and long-term durability. Epoxy is one type of seamless, resin-based flooring material; two other types are polyurethane and methyl methacrylate (MMA).

Of these three, epoxy has traditionally been the most common and popular for commercial and industrial facilities and even for private residences, largely because of its design versatility; there is a wide variety of color and other style options available when installing epoxy flooring. Polyurethane and MMA are also customizable, however, and each type of seamless resin flooring comes with its pros and cons.

All three types of seamless resin flooring offer functional and durable flooring that is easy to clean and maintain. Polyurethane flooring can also withstand extreme and rapid temperature changes without cracking, and MMA floors can be installed quickly, even in very low-temperature conditions.

Concrete Look Epoxy Flooring

Do you want the clean look of polished concrete with the added protection that an epoxy coating can provide? Ultimately, there is no way to make epoxy look like concrete. In most cases, an epoxy floor looks like a surface that’s been painted over, although, of course, epoxy offers many more benefits than paint. That said, you can choose to apply a clear epoxy coating over concrete to maintain the appearance of concrete while getting the durability you might need out of your floor.

AllStar Can Help You Determine the Perfect Flooring Choice for Your Facility’s Needs

Whatever factors and design preferences you need to consider when deciding on the right type of flooring for your home or facility, AllStar can help you make the choice that’s right to meet the requirements of your space. AllStar’s skilled craftsmen have decades of experience in installing all types of concrete flooring in homes, commercial spaces, and industrial facilities. Our expert contractors work closely with clients to bring their visions to life, and we pride ourselves on our proven track record in exceeding client expectations.

Whatever your concrete needs might be, whether you decide to go with epoxy or polished concrete, or another flooring option, you can depend on AllStar for expert advice and installation. When you hire AllStar for your concrete flooring needs, our project managers will work diligently to ensure that we go above and beyond to deliver beautiful, high-quality results, on time and budget.