Your exterior concrete floors are as crucial as your interiors. But most of the time, what happens is that homeowners would only focus their attention on beautifying interior floorings.
But how about the exterior concrete around your properties?
The post you are about to read gives you the three best concrete coatings to use for exterior floors.
Concrete Coating: Three of the best that you should know
Outdoor floors may take most of your time and money to keep them in good shape. Being directly exposed to damaging factors like the weather and the natural elements outdoors makes them easily damaged or flawed.
Professional floor installers from Dallas concrete coating recommend common ways to protect the exterior concrete, especially making it weatherproof and resistant to wear and tear.
But first, why would you need to care for outdoor concrete? Here are a few reasons to consider:
- Minimize chronic damages as cracks
- Prtoect the ocnrte material
- Extend the lifespan of the material
- Save your budget from constant repairs
- Keep the area safe and accident-free
Now here are the standard outdoor elements that you want to keep away from your exterior concrete:
- Too much sun exposure can cause cracks due to contraction
- Moisture and too much water presence on the surface weakens the slabs
- Heavy machinery can put too much weight and cause cracks
- Sharp metallic objects and heavy items that can cause abrasions on the surface
Concrete Coatings to Protect the Surface
Concrete is a durable material, and no wonder many opt to use it for flooring systems in their properties. What goes together with concrete floors are coatings that are necessary to protect the surface and prevent significant damages from happening.
Get to know three of them:
1- Elastomeric coatings for heavy traffic areas
The first in this list talks about a distinct outdoor coating for concrete floors. The elastomeric coating provides an added membrane of the slab. It is an elastic ability that expands and contracts depending on the weather.
The elastic coating helps concrete floors to reduce cracks due to concrete expansion.
You would opt to use it for forklifts and heavy traffic areas. These will be spaces with exposure to massive vehicles like trucks and payloaders.
2- Urethane coatings
Urethane coats nowadays are continuously evolving. These are mainly used for moderately heavy traffic areas like garages. But they are also used for spaces with constant exposure to heat or sunlight.
These floor coats can resist heat damages from tries, car engines, and other heat-generating machines.
Epoxy probably is the most popular on this list. You would hear it as the King of Flooring for the many benefits and functions that it provides the floor.
The epoxy floor coatings are also versatile. It would often be used for garage areas where it makes the floor surface smooth but slip-resistant. Having that form gives you an easy-to-clean floor perfect for those spaces constantly exposed to grease and grimes.
However, the material will tend to get brittle under severe heat with epoxy. So, that means expert installers as Dallas commercial flooring would not recommend using this type of coating outdoors unless you apply an extra layer of acrylic-based coating or thin-film urethane to help it resist heat damages.
Nowadays, epoxy has also evolved. Epoxy mix coating is enhanced with a heat-resistant compound. Now you can use epoxy coatings for improving the slip resistance for outdoor concrete-like those on the patios and pool decks.