Let your floor breathe!

These floorings look great: all over the world, concrete  floors in warehouses, schools, hospitals, and many more have been finished with self-leveling epoxy coating systems.  These systems offer numerous benefits. They can correct uneven substrates, protect damaged concrete, and provide a smooth, beautiful, glossy or matte finish that comes in a wide variety of colors and effects, giving every space a visual upgrade.

However, one complaint has become increasingly common, which is that blisters can ruin the look of the floor. Concrete is a permeable material where water (vapour) can move freely into, out of and within the structure. This moisture transfer phenomenon can lead to flooring failure, which add up to expensive repairs.

 Attempts to develop epoxy systems that address this issue were unsuccessful for many years because of their limited ability to mitigate moisture vapour. But then, an innovative waterborne curing agent by Evonik’s business line Crosslinkers captured the market. With its introduction in the year 2000, Epilink® 701 waterborne curing agent offered a revolutionary new approach to moisture mitigation by allowing floor coatings to breath. So trapped moisture can escape through the floor without causing blistering. In addition, the product offers exceptionally fast cure speed and excellent robustness in formulated coatings and self-leveling floors. This means floors can be laid and returned to service quickly, without the extra costs involved with reducing the moisture content of the concrete. 

For 20 years now, leading floor coating manufacturers have chosen Epilink® 701 to formulate breathable coating and self-leveling floor systems. When tallied up, it’s the equivalent squared meters of floor coating to cycling more than ten times around Earth’s equator on a one meter wide bicycle path. That’s track-record industry performance in a nutshell – or in other words: This is called a real success story!