Resin flooring is a regular feature in most commercial and industrial settings – and when you consider its many outstanding characteristics, it’s easy to see why.
A practical and popular flooring option – it’s tough in high traffic areas, with resistance to slips, abrasion and spills, hygienic and easy to clean, and it looks the part. In fact, the list goes on. But which resin flooring is right for you?
The first consideration is your environment – how do you want the floor to perform? What are your ‘must-haves’?
To help you decide, there are three main types of resin flooring – and like most things, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. But you don’t have to make the decision on your own – at Central Flooring, we’re here to help.
Epoxy
This tough resin is the most widely used go-to flooring system in commercial and industrial buildings, manufacturing and engineering, aviation, automotive and warehousing – to name just a few.
Epoxy floors have excellent adhesion to concrete and other surfaces. Once cured, Epoxy can withstand endless high-volume footfalls, and impact and traffic from heavy equipment and products. It guards against a whole host of spillages including chemicals, fuel and oils.
It’s a safe and hygienic option – as resin is poured, it creates smooth even surfaces which means there aren’t any joins or crevices for dirt and bacteria to hide, making it easy to clean and keep clean. It can also have a resistance to slips – which is ideal for areas where the floor is more likely to get wet or where there’s a constant flow of people.
Whilst Epoxy floors are durable – they can also be aesthetically easy on the eye. The look of the floor may not feature at the top of your most wanted list, but they do come in many bespoke colours and finishes – ideal if you want to incorporate a wow factor or your corporate branding into the mix.
Polyurethane
Polyurethane or aka PU resin floors share some of the same characteristics and perks as Epoxy – its durability, its excellent adhesion abilities and its resistance to chemicals, acidic food stuffs and slips.
Like Epoxy, it comes in all sorts of colours and finishes. But its pièce de résistance is its high tolerance to temperature – both direct heat and extreme low temperatures.
Depending on the sector you work in, if operational downtime is going to be a key factor for you when choosing a resin floor, then PU takes less time to cure than Epoxy resin, but longer than Polymethyl Methacrylate – a synthetic resin.
Polymethyl Methacrylate – aka PMMA
The number one characteristic of PMMA is its fast application and setting time. This low maintenance synthetic resin flooring tends to be used in industries where prolonged durability and minimum production downtime is considered necessary. The same goes for repairs and upgrades. PMMA is slightly easier to repair and recoat than epoxy and polyurethane floors.
PMMA also shares some of the same characteristics as Epoxy and PU in that its incredibly strong and can withstand foot and heavy vehicle traffic. It’s also resistant to slips and chemicals – and is a hygienic option.
Talk to Central Flooring
Still unsure which flooring system will work best for you? Talk to us.
We’re one of the UK’s top independent resin flooring contractors, employing a very experienced team of more than fifty. Our contracts managers and installation teams are located all over the country, helping us to cut our carbon footprint – and costs to our clients.
Central Flooring is an approved installer for every flooring system. We have brilliant working relationships with the top resin flooring manufacturers including Vebro, Altro and Flowcrete.
If you’d like us to provide a free site survey – please get in touch.