Pennsylvania offers varied seasons with pretty cold winters and pretty warm summers. If you’re considering an epoxy coating to protect your concrete surface, you’ve probably asked yourself whether an epoxy floor will crack in extreme heat or cold.
The short answer is that epoxy coatings don’t crack in extreme heat or cold. However, concrete cracks when exposed to extreme temperatures. If the concrete underneath your floor coating cracks, it will compromise the coating on top.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t install an epoxy coating if you have a cracked concrete floor. A little prep and repair work can prepare your floor for epoxy coating, but it’s also important to note that extreme heat and cold will affect the epoxy installation process.
Keep reading to learn more about repairing cracked concrete for epoxy coating installation and the effects of extreme heat or cold on epoxy.
Epoxy Floor Repair
You must fill concrete cracks with a filler compatible with the coating materials. At Epoxy Floor Experts, you can count on our team to repair your cracked concrete floor and restore it to a flat surface to ensure proper epoxy adhesion.
Proper surface preparation ensures a quality epoxy installation. We focus on prepping the floor for installation so your epoxy floor will serve you well for years.
How Do Extreme Temperatures Affect Epoxy Floors?
Mixing an epoxy resin and hardener creates a chemical reaction that produces heat. Both the temperature of the concrete and the ambient temperature affect how fast the epoxy reacts and the degree of cure. An epoxy flooring application needs ideal temperatures between 50 to 80 °F.
For example, epoxy floor coatings applied in cooler temperatures may appear sufficiently hardened but will not cure completely or achieve their designed physical properties, ultimately leading to premature failure.
Here’s how extremely hot or cold temperatures affect the curing time, viscosity, humidity levels, and working time during the installation of an epoxy coating:
Curing Time
High temperatures speed up the epoxy curing process because heat hastens the chemical reaction between the resin and the hardener. That’s why you should always apply epoxy coatings per the temperature range indicated in the installation instructions.
On the other hand, low temperatures extend curing times.
Viscosity
You want the epoxy to have the correct viscosity to flow smoothly during installation. Both hot and cold temperatures affect the viscosity of the epoxy mixture.
Warmer temperatures affect workability because they reduce the epoxy mixture’s viscosity. That shortens the working time because you have to spread and apply the epoxy before it hardens.
While cold temperatures may give you ample time to apply and set the epoxy flooring, the curing time might be challenging. That may lead to poor surface smoothing as it will be more difficult to level the product. Extended curing times also mean waiting longer to use the floor.
Increased Humidity
Colder temperatures often increase moisture levels around curing epoxies. If the moisture gets into uncured epoxy and condenses into a liquid, it may cloud or blush the surface, creating a flat rather than glassy finish, and even cause defects in the surface texture.
The floor’s use matters as well. Whether you are looking to install an epoxy floor in a garage or an outdoor surface, such as a deck, we can help. Our experienced team can recommend the proper epoxy for your floor based on the floor’s intended use.
Will Epoxy Crack in Freezing Temperatures?
Once temperatures go below freezing point, standard epoxy won’t cure at all, requiring specialty epoxies. Epoxy won’t crack in freezing temperatures, but the cold will drastically reduce its ability to cure properly.
Hiring an expert comes in handy if you plan to have your epoxy flooring installed during winter. Most experienced floor coating companies can install epoxy flooring even during winter.
Besides recommending alternative floor coating options that you can install in cold weather, floor coating companies will often take the following measures to make the temperatures conducive for a winter installation:
- Warm the resin and hardener before use
- Warm the surface and environment
- Prepare the surface carefully
By implementing these steps during the preparation and application process, a professional floor installation team can mitigate the effects of colder temperatures to ensure a successful epoxy coating installation.
Epoxy Floor in Pennsylvania
Protect your concrete floor with epoxy floor coatings from Epoxy Floor Experts. Call us today at (844) 920-0283 to learn more about our epoxy coating services and request a free quote.
