Epoxy Flooring Glossary: Terms & Definitions
Understanding epoxy flooring terminology helps you compare quotes, ask better questions, and choose the right system for your garage. This glossary defines the coating, chemistry, surface prep, and installation terms you will hear from contractors and product data sheets.
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Core Epoxy Coating Terms
Epoxy is a two-component thermosetting resin created when an epoxide resin (Part A) reacts with a polyamine hardener (Part B). Once mixed, it chemically cures into a rigid, chemical-resistant plastic bonded to concrete.
These base terms show up on every product data sheet and estimate, so knowing them makes it easier to compare systems priced between $4 and $12 per square foot installed.
- • 100% Solids Epoxy: Contains no solvents or water; nearly all material remains as a hard film after cure, typically 8-20 mils thick.
- • Solvent-Based Epoxy: Uses solvents as a carrier; thinner build, stronger odor, and higher VOCs.
- • Water-Based Epoxy: Uses water as a carrier; low odor and thinner build (2-5 mils), common in DIY kits.
- • Polyaspartic: A fast-curing aliphatic polyurea often used as a UV-stable topcoat over epoxy.
- • Polyurethane: A flexible, abrasion- and UV-resistant topcoat applied over epoxy basecoats.
- • Mil: A unit of thickness equal to 1/1000 of an inch; used to measure coating build.
Chemistry & Performance Terms
Performance specs describe how a coating handles heat, chemicals, sunlight, and traffic. These properties determine whether a system will last the typical 10-20 years expected from a professional epoxy garage floor.
- • Pot Life: The window after mixing during which the epoxy remains workable, usually 20-45 minutes.
- • Cure Time: Time for the coating to reach full chemical hardness, typically 24-72 hours.
- • Recoat Window: The time range in which the next coat can be applied without sanding.
- • VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds): Evaporating chemicals measured in g/L; lower is better for indoor use.
- • Amine Blush: A greasy, waxy film that can form on curing epoxy in cool, humid conditions.
- • UV Stability: Resistance to yellowing or ambering from sunlight; standard epoxy is not UV stable, polyaspartic is.
- • Shore D Hardness: A scale measuring rigidity of cured coatings; higher numbers mean harder surfaces.
Surface Preparation Terms
Roughly 80% of coating failures trace back to poor surface prep. These terms describe how a contractor opens the concrete pores so epoxy can mechanically bond.
- • Diamond Grinding: Mechanical prep using diamond-segment discs to profile concrete; the industry-preferred method.
- • Shot Blasting: Prep method that fires steel shot at the floor to create an aggressive profile for thicker systems.
- • Acid Etching: Chemical prep using muriatic or phosphoric acid; suitable only for thin DIY coatings.
- • CSP (Concrete Surface Profile): ICRI scale from CSP-1 (smooth) to CSP-9 (very rough) defining required roughness.
- • Moisture Vapor Transmission (MVT): Water vapor moving up through the slab; high MVT can delaminate coatings.
- • Efflorescence: White crystalline salt deposits left when moisture migrates through concrete.
- • Spalling: Flaking or chipping of the concrete surface that must be repaired before coating.
Installation & System Terms
A professional epoxy floor is a layered system, not a single product. Understanding the layers explains why a 2-car garage (about 440 sq ft) runs $2,400-$5,300 and a 3-car (about 660 sq ft) runs $3,600-$6,600, with a typical minimum project around $1,800.
- • Primer Coat: The first bonding layer that penetrates concrete and locks the system down.
- • Basecoat: The pigmented body coat that provides color and film build.
- • Topcoat/Clear Coat: The final wear layer, often polyaspartic or polyurethane, that resists abrasion and UV.
- • Broadcast: Throwing decorative flakes or quartz into wet epoxy until refusal.
- • Flake/Chip System: A decorative multi-layer floor with vinyl color flakes broadcast into the basecoat.
- • Metallic Epoxy: A designer system using metallic pigments swirled to create marbled, 3D visual effects.
- • Cove Base: An epoxy fillet applied where the floor meets the wall to create a seamless, sanitary edge.
Repair, Defect & Maintenance Terms
These terms appear in warranties, inspection reports, and troubleshooting guides. A quality installation, typically completed in 1-2 days with full cure in 24-72 hours, should avoid most of these defects.
- • Delamination: Loss of adhesion where the coating separates from concrete or between layers.
- • Fisheye: Small crater-like defects caused by contamination such as oil, silicone, or dust.
- • Orange Peel: A bumpy texture resembling orange skin, usually from improper rolling or viscosity.
- • Hot Tire Pickup: Coating lifting off when hot tires cool and stick, common with cheap DIY kits.
- • Crack Chase: Widening a concrete crack into a V-groove so it can be filled with repair resin.
- • Control Joint: Intentional saw-cut in concrete that controls where cracking occurs; can be honored or filled.
- • Densifier: A lithium or sodium silicate that hardens concrete, sometimes used before polished systems.
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GET MY FREE ESTIMATEThis is a preliminary project estimate — not a contract, proposal, or guaranteed final price. Final pricing may change based on actual square footage, concrete condition, moisture, cracks, repairs, existing coatings, preparation requirements, access, selected system, and other site-specific conditions confirmed during an in-home inspection.