We all know that the finished epoxy flooring is seamless as a whole. Therefore, when constructing epoxy flooring, you need to go to deal with some expansion joints in the concrete floor.
No matter how good the quality of the material used to construct the epoxy floor coating, after a year, experiencing thermal expansion and contraction, if the original concrete floor is cracking, the epoxy floor layer attached to the top layer will also crack. That’s why it’s even more necessary to treat the expansion joints well. To avoid disputes over the quality of the project.
Because we often decorate large areas of workshop flooring, our company has accumulated a lot of construction experience, so we also have some methods for how to deal with expansion joints. Today, these construction plans are listed for your reference.
- With epoxy resin mortar material to fill the expansion joints, and then according to our customers to design the original plan for construction.
But this way can’t guarantee that the floor coating at or near the expansion joint won’t appear cracking and crusting phenomenon. Because the epoxy mortar material is inelastic, cannot resist the stress of concrete contraction and cracking, and finally cannot avoid ground cracking.
- After the completion of the epoxy flooring, with a cutting machine in the original expansion joints position cut out 2-5 mm wide expansion joints, and then clean up the debris in the joints, the next with elastic material (such as polyurethane elastomer) to fill the expansion joints, in this process, to pay attention to avoid as much as possible outside the joints stained with plastic material. Finally, an epoxy midcoat and topcoat are applied.
The filling of the elastomer needs a certain depth, otherwise the elastomer is prone to detach from the concrete due to poor adhesion.
The second treatment and compared to the first, due to the elastic glue disperses the concrete contraction and the formation of stress, expansion joints on the coating cracking possibility is greatly reduced, the overall color of the ground, but because the coating on the elastic glue is still rigid, when the concrete contraction is more violent, the elastic glue on the flooring coating (coating and top coat) is possible to crack, but the crack is not very large.
- Flooring construction, first try to leave the expansion joints, immediate coverage, should also record the location, and then in the flooring coating is completed, the expansion joints will be cut and trimmed neatly, to ensure that the width of more than 5mm, preferably trimmed into the width of the narrow ladder shape, and then the dust and debris in the seam removed, paste seams on both sides of the tape, using polyurethane elastomer filled joints until straight, in the elastomer semi-dry state tear off the tape.
The third method in the cleanliness and aesthetics requirements of high electronics, pharmaceutical plants are often used, can basically avoid expansion joints at the floor coating cracking phenomenon, and can be used flooring more beautiful. The disadvantage of this method: Because the color of polyurethane elastic material is less, it is not easy to achieve the color consistency with the overall floor coating.
- Local ground expansion joints, also often used to pave and paste glass fiber cloth to enhance the anti-cracking method, the construction method is: First with epoxy mortar material will fill the expansion joints smooth, and then coated with primer material, and then paste the width of about 10mm glass fiber cloth 1-2, then rolled in the coating material, surface coating, etc..
This method can not only ensure the overall color of the ground, but also resist the cracking caused by concrete contraction, but if the design thickness of the floor coating is too thin, it is not easy to operate, easy to appear the phenomenon that the ground is higher than other places. So at least 2mm epoxy flooring will only use this solution.
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