Epoxy Floor not curing ? Troubleshooting and solutions

Have you ever encountered

- Epoxy resins that were still soft after days?

- Did they feel tacky or sticky?

Epoxy floor systems are composed of two basic components:

A) The resin

B) The hardener component

In order for the floor to cure properly the two components need to be mixed so that chemical bonding takes place.

A sticky or tacky floor is the result of inadequate bonding

What may have caused this problem?

1. No Hardener

Someone may have simply forgotten to add the B-component (for more information click here)

This can be common with workers that have no prior experience with epoxy products.

Beware of large scale flooring projects where it is easy for a disorganized crew to lose track of who’s doing what

1. No Hardener

2. insufficient

hardener

Epoxy flooring products are sold in pre-weighed packs of A and B components.

If too little hardener is added to the resin then this will lead to improper curing.

Insufficient hardener

This problem is quite common if someone decides to not mix the entire quantity of an epoxy pack but instead they take out a partial quantity

(little bit of A and a little bit of B)

Insufficient hardener

Partial quantities must be measured as per manufacturers instructions

Insufficient hardener

Crucial point:

There are many different types of products out there and each manufacturer has different ratios of A and B. Don’t assume that there is one standard ratio for all epoxy products.

Insufficient Hardener

3. Poor mixing

Epoxy products should always be mixed with an electrical mixer.

Mixing should last at least 2-3 minutes

Poor mixing

Do NOT use a stick or some other hand-operated tool.

The mixing will NOT be uniform throughout the product and proper curing will not take place

Poor mixing

Beware of product stuck at the bottom of the bucket. It is common to see this product not getting mixed properly

Old (or out of date) products are more prone to such problems since the solids have a tendency to sink to the bottom making mixing harder

Poor mixing

4. Slow curing

Sometimes the problem may be simply due to very low temperatures that delay the onset of curing

Low temperatures and cold substrates will lead to slower curing times

Slow curing

Try heating a specific area to see if this helps speed up the curing

Epoxy flooring products should not be applied in temperatures under 10oC (50oF)

Slow curing

solutions

The bad news is that a soft and sticky epoxy floor will never cure properly. (unless cold temperatures are to blame)

Don’t expect the resin to eventually ‘dry’. It will always be weak and soft, and collecting dirt

Solutions

Simply adding some hardener on top of the soft surface won’t work. It may somewhat improve the situation but you will still have a messy and underperforming floor

The only proper solution is to remove the soft coating, clean the surface with solvent and re-coat

Solutions

Any Questions?

Do you require any further information?

Any advice on how to repair your floor?

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