Does Your Flooring Need a Clear Coat of Epoxy?

Does Your Flooring Need a Clear Coat of Epoxy? (Clear Coat Epoxy)

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Epoxy floorings are a great and durable option to help your floors look great and stay protected. Whether you choose a colored or flaked epoxy flooring, a clear coat epoxy level is necessary for a longer lifespan. With DIY epoxy kits, you can easily protect your garage, basement, warehouse, workstation, or other room while adding a quick design element. But if you really want your floors to stand up to damage and stand out in design, you need a clear topcoat of epoxy. 

Additional Durability

Epoxy is already a naturally tough substance that can withstand lots of wear and tear. Many people choose epoxy floorings for their garages and workstations. The epoxy coatings are less likely to scratch or ding, and they come in a variety of colors and styles to fit any room aesthetic. However, without a topcoat, your floors can still suffer damage.

A clear coat of epoxy adds another layer of defense to your floors. Because it’s clear, the coating won’t adversely affect your floor’s color or design. When the top layer of your floor gets damaged, it’s easier to repair and fix than the other layers of epoxy. The added thickness a clear topcoat of epoxy provides also absorbs impacts better and helps avoid hot tire lift.

Color Protection

When you use a colored or flaked epoxy flooring, you want to make sure you protect it. Although epoxy floorings naturally last longer than other flooring types, colors can fade and wear away over time. If you choose a colored epoxy flooring, chances are you want it to maintain its vibrance and effect. With a clear epoxy coating, your colored floors last even longer. 

Color flakes are particularly protected by a clear topcoat. The flakes are embedded into the epoxy, and it’s easy for dirt and other debris to wedge into the edges, making the epoxy difficult to clean. Every movement over these floorings, too, harms the flakes. Even something as simple as sweeping and mopping can weaken the bond between the flakes and the rest of the epoxy, causing them to pull or even chip away. With a clear coat, however, the flakes are protected.

Added Visual Value

When you apply a clear epoxy coat to your floors, you’re also enhancing their visual appeal. The topcoat of clear epoxy adds depth to your floors by increasing the thickness without applying additional colors or effects. The surface, therefore, looks richer and has a more luxurious appearance than a normal coat of epoxy alone.

A clear coat will also add gloss and shine to your epoxy flooring. This additional shine helps reflect the light, creating a brighter surface than normal epoxy coats alone. Because the clear coat isn’t colored, there’s nothing affecting how the light reflects. Adding more light to your room is great for workstations and garages that can use the visual aid without the space or means for more lamps.

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Care and Maintenance

Epoxy floors are already great for easier cleaning and maintenance. The surfaces of the epoxy coats are spill-resistant and scratch-averse. However, adding a clear coat of epoxy can make cleaning and maintaining even easier. You can sweep and mop without having to worry about damaging the surface of your colored floors, which is particularly necessary if you have a flaked flooring.

Clear topcoats also help protect your floorings from scratches. Large scratches aren’t as likely to happen on epoxy floors, but microscopic ones can collect over time and wear away into larger ones. The clear epoxy coating will hide these scratches by acting as a sacrificial layer. Without coloring or design, it’s harder to notice imperfections on the top layer, meaning your floors will look better longer, and your colored layers will be protected.

Recoating

When you have epoxy flooring, you can rest easy knowing that it will look great and last longer than other flooring options. However, nothing lasts forever. When your floor gets damaged or becomes particularly dirty, you may need to recoat your floors to continue getting the effect of epoxy. If you have straight colored or flaked floors, this can be costly and time-consuming.

However, if you have a clear coat epoxy covering, you can quickly and easily recoat your floors to regain their shine. You can take up the top layer and redo the whole layer. You can also recoat over the topcoat or use DIY kits to fill in large scratches and other damages. With a clear top layer of epoxy, you can keep your flooring looking its best without too much additional work or money.

Anti-Slip Additives

When you have epoxy floors in areas with high foot traffic, you may want to apply an anti-slip additive to help protect both the floor and walker. These additives are typically translucent to help them not stand out on colored floors. However, if you apply these additives directly to your colored flooring, the granules are more visible. If you apply them to a clear topcoat, however, they are much more hidden. Without a clear layer, your floor can look like sandpaper with the bumps that the additives create.

DIY Clear Coat Epoxy Kits

If you’re redoing your floors or want to protect the floors you already have, applying a clear coat epoxy top layer is essential. At Epoxy-Coat, we provide DIY clear epoxy coat kits so you can easily apply a protective top layer to your floors. Our kits are easy to use, and you’ll see the difference a clear epoxy coat can make right away. You can browse our DIY kits online or give us a call at 1-800-841-5580 to learn more about how we can help your floors stand out and stay protected.