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Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive by Ron Joseph November, 2004 Painting Steel Floor with Epoxy Coating Q. We are a manufacturer of air handling equipment that gets rather large in size such that certain sections are exposed to high moisture levels and human traffic. As a result, my challenge is to obtain a paint product on the floor that is durable, but requires minimal surface preparation. Presently, the floors are a hot rolled steel with welds that are brushed and ground. Prior to painting, the floor is washed with a solvent and a two component epoxy is laid on the floor. Some challenges that present themselves is durability to human traffic (hardness?) and due to the non-sandblast preparation, eventual rusting. Is an epoxy paint the right product or is there another product, curing process such as IR heat that could meet our needs of supplying a beter finished product? The advantage of IR heat in the painting process has only one benefit and that is to dry the paint coating faster. The use of the 2 component epoxy for durability is a good choice; however, if an abrasive such as sand were to be added to the epoxy paint, it will provide a tougher more durable wear-resistant paint film. There are suppliers of epoxy coatings that are filled with abrasive products
for non-skid coatings, or you may consider a 2 step process, first apply the
epoxy coating to the substrate. Follow by distribution of the abrasive sand
on to the still wet epoxy coating. In many cases a filled epoxy coating will
outlast a non-filled epoxy by 5 to 1. Regards, Jim Burke
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