Metallic epoxy flooring is a beautiful choice for any room floor. Although epoxy is a favorite for garage floors, you can basically use it on any floor. And it will give you amazing color and design options that you probably haven’t seen before.
A metallic epoxy flooring is just epoxy with a metallic pigment added to it. These pigments look like tiny glitters but when mixed with epoxy they create a special effect by reflecting light at different angles. These pigments are framed into the epoxy as it hardens and give an exotic 3D look, the kind that can make your friends or visitors jealous.
The cheapest way to install an epoxy flooring is to do it yourself. If you’re a DIY person, epoxy flooring installation is always a fun and exciting project.
Of course, it’s not gonna be as easy as how professionals seem to do it, as they already have years of experience. But all it takes is a little patience and a lust for nice, and professional floors in your home. You’re probably thinking of how critical epoxy is when it comes to timing, as the chemical hardens at a specific duration. But you’ll be surprised. It’s not as hard as you think it is. And and it could be a fun little experience.
You’ll need:
- Working clothes
- Mask
- Power mixer
- Big & small squeegees
- Big & small roller and tray
- Extension poles for rollers
- Some garbage bags
- Some five-gallon buckets
- Spiked shoes
Here are the basic steps on how to install metallic epoxy flooring:
1. Clean the floor and make sure no dirt or dust is on the surface.
2. Prepare a nice mixing station that serves as your path out from the room surface your applying epoxy to. Cover its floor to protect it from epoxy when you walk out.
3. Mix pigment and primer in a bucket using power mixer. Mix 1 to 2 mins. Get as much as you can out, use tools like sticks to scrape. Primers are easy to install. They give you a lot of working time and they cover the surface amazingly. No pressure.
4. Wrap roller tray in black a garbage bag to protect when cleaning once you’re done.
5. Pour mixed primer on the garbage bag-wrapped tray.
6. Start with the room edges first. With a sweeping motion cover the edges of the 4 sides of the room generously using the small roller.
7. After you’re done with the edges you can start covering the whole floor. You wanna start at the part of the room away from the exit. Then work your way to the exit.
8. With the same sweeping motion cover the floor back and forth, start from the middle and apply from side to side, parallel to the wall. Use the length of your big roller as your measuring line, one line at a time. Apply thinly and go over to cover the floor entirely, working your way to the exit.
9. Now mix the metallic pigments with the part A epoxy on a bucket us, about 16 oz. jar of metallic pigments to every 3 gallon part A buckets. No pressure in mixing these parts as there’s no hardener yet. You can premix it whenever you like and then add the hardener once ready to apply.
10. Mix the hardener with premixed part A and metallic pigments using a power mixer for about 2 minutes. After mixing, make sure that you dump the content into a clean bucket to make sure everything mixes all the way. Scrape the sides to get as much as you can. Power mix again for 30 seconds to a minute on the fresh bucket. Do not forget to dump into a fresh bucket before applying to the floor as you do not want any soft spots.
11. Now you’re ready to dump the epoxy on the floor. Again, start farthest from your exit. Distribute the epoxy in a snake-like pattern following the one you did with the primer, wall to wall.
12. After that, use your squeegee to roll out the epoxy evenly, using the same pattern. Now this part is up to you. You can spread it in any direction based how you want the design to look like. Don’t worry if you can see through the floor. The epoxy will still need to settle, so just try your best to make it as nice and smooth as you can. Try to spread thick piles evenly.
13. After that use the big roller to flatten and smoothen the epoxy layer.
14. Once you’re done, let the epoxy settle and cure for a day. Next day, you can apply a clear top coat. First, sand down any irregularities or unevenness that you find. As with the primer, do the edges first, then work your way to the exit. You don’t have to hurry, you have a lot of working time with the top coat. Make it nice and smooth. The topcoat will give a super high marble-like gloss to the epoxy in about 2 hours.
And there you go. You have a very nice metallic epoxy floor that will last for years. If you’re still hesitant to DIY, maybe a little help from the pros can give you confidence. Professional installation is cheap. The pros can recommend the best materials you can use. By watching them work, you realize that it isn’t as hard as you thought, then you can start making little projects of your own.
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source https://www.miamiconcreteartisans.com/metallic-epoxy-flooring-installation/
