Solid Epoxy Floor v.s. Roll on Rock® Flake System

With multiple flooring options available these days, it could become overwhelming and confusing to choose the perfect floor for your space. While a smooth, monolithic epoxy floor could be appealing, it could end up costing 2x the amount of a flake system.

A solid epoxy floor does not always guarantee a smooth finish. There are many underlying issues that could cause your floor to show ridges, bubbles, or other impurities. It all begins with the substrate. If the concrete is not a perfect pour, the concrete will have ridges, waves, and be uneven. An uneven, wavy floor will require prep work to become somewhat smooth. From hard-troweled to soft, the type of concrete and finish will determine how much the grinder marks will show through as well as any ridges or waves from the application. A solid floor is unforgiving and will show any marks underneath its coating such as aggressive grinder marks, cracks, divots, lifted edges, and ridges.

Concrete substrate is similar to a honey comb in that it has millions of tiny air pockets that could cause outgassing in your coatings. Outgassing occurs when the primer displaces the air in these pockets as it absorbs into the capillaries of the concrete. The air gets trapped underneath the coating and has nowhere to go. It pushes up and out through the coating, causing multiple bubbles in the coating. The recourse would be to let the first coat dry and sand down any bubbles. However, more bubbles could arise in the second coat and could become a nightmare. Outgassing could become extremely costly, with many hours of labor and extra product to cover the bubbles that arise.

With the Roll on Rock® Flake system, the floor does not need to be perfectly smooth. The texture from the flake and the build of the top coat will disguise any imperfections or outgassing from the concrete slab. For a Roll-on Rock® floor to successfully be installed, Versatile recommends to grind the concrete prior to application just to simply open the pores of the concrete for maximum adhesion to guarantee that the floor does not delaminate. The floor does not need an aggressive grinding for the floor to look great.

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Unless an anti-slip product is added when installing a solid epoxy floor, the floor coating will not offer any slip resistance. The resulting surface will be very slick if any moisture is applied to it. This could cause injuries due to slips or falls. In addition, the solid epoxy floor will show all scratches on the surface. This will difficult to repair, as the color varies by batch, and the coating will show wear patterns and will eventually dull over time. Micro bubbles, lint, or debris on the surface will stand out on a solid epoxy floor. A recoat might be the only solution.

Installing a floor coating in one solid color could be painstaking to ensure the coatings are applied perfectly smooth with no micro bubbles or orange peel from back rolling the topcoat. Any lint, dust, or debris that falls on the floor while drying will stick out.

If a singular-colored floor is what is desired, Versatile offers over 80 Solid Flake colors.  A flake floor system is forgiving in the sense that the texture from the flake will hide any roller marks, micro bubbles, or dust that lands on it.

The Roll on Rock® system is cost-friendly, starting out at $1.10 a square foot; where a solid epoxy floor will start out at $1.50 a square foot and could increase in price depending on the substrate. If you or your customer would like a solid color epoxy floor, Versatile offers over 80 different solid color flake options that will suit your needs.  For more information, please reach out to us at 714-829-2600 Ext. 573.