How to Maintain an Epoxy Floor

For many home and business owners, flooring maintenance can be costly, time-consuming, and exhausting. Many conventional flooring systems require expensive cleaning products and lengthy cleaning regimens that are labor-intensive.

However, this isn’t the case with epoxy flooring. Epoxy floors are a low-maintenance flooring solution that can save you time and money on your regular maintenance.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at what you’ll need to maintain your epoxy floor, how to keep it clean, and what to avoid when performing routine maintenance. Keep reading to learn more!

There are several tools and products you’ll need to maintain your epoxy floor. These can vary depending on whether it’s a residential epoxy floor, commercial epoxy floor, or industrial epoxy floor. First, let’s take a look at the tool list you’ll need:

• Angle Broom or Dust Mop
• Wet Mop or Power Floor Scrubber
• pH-neutral Floor Cleaner
• Mop Bucket

With epoxy flooring being a low-maintenance floor, this list is relatively short but effective! You’ll want to use an angle broom and standard wet mop for smaller, residential epoxy floors. If you’re working with a larger commercial or industrial epoxy floor, you’ll need to use the dust mop and power floor scrubber. Not to mention, if you’re stuck wondering what a pH-neutral floor cleaner is and worried about the price, there are plenty of affordable options, such as Zep pH-neutral floor cleaner that runs around $10 per gallon for the concentrate.

All you’ll need to do to complete your daily flooring maintenance is sweep or dust mop! All dirt and grit should be removed from your epoxy floor every day to ensure none of these particles become embedded in the floor or cause scratches over time. Removing them daily will prevent any kind of damage that would occur if dirt and grit continue to sit on the floor for days or weeks at a time. If your space is small, you can complete this task in just a few minutes with an angle broom. If you’re in a larger area, you can complete this task in roughly 30 to 45 minutes with a dust mop, depending on just how ample your floor space is.

When it comes to your weekly epoxy flooring maintenance, you’ll be mopping or scrubbing the floor once a week. Once a week is the average frequency for mopping the floor, although if your space receives a high volume of foot or vehicle traffic, mopping may need to be completed more often. Simply fill your mop bucket with hot water and add your pH-neutral floor cleaner according to the manufacturer’s directions. If your floor is smaller, a traditional mop will do the job just fine in a short time. If your floor is larger, you may need a power floor scrubber to cover the area more effectively.

No matter what kind of floor you have, you’ll always have the “as needed” maintenance. This includes situations like spills and tracked-in messes. When these situations present themselves, you’ll need to clean up the mess to prevent it from spreading throughout your home or business and from potentially staining the floor. The good news is that epoxy flooring is highly resistant to many different chemicals as well as water, so spills are not as likely to happen with epoxy as it is with conventional flooring. If a spill or mess finds itself on your floor, simply make your hot water and pH-neutral floor cleaner solution and mop it up!

There are a few things that you should avoid when maintaining your epoxy floor. These include:

• Citrus-based floor cleaners.
• Overly soapy floor cleaners.
• Abrasive scrubbing pads.
• Topical coatings like floor wax.

Citrus-based and soapy floor cleaners are known to cause a film to form over epoxy floors that will dull the finish. If you mistakenly use one of these cleaners and dull your floor’s finish, simply use the correct cleaner with hot water and re-mop the floor to remove the film and restore your floor’s finish. Prolonged use of abrasive scrubbing pads to clean up messes will eventually cause fine scratches to accumulate on the epoxy floor’s surface. Topical coatings like sealants and floor wax are entirely unnecessary. The finish on epoxy flooring is designed to never need any additional coatings to maintain its glossy surface.

With this simple maintenance regimen, your epoxy floor should last for 25 years or more!