Commercial & Warehouse Floor Epoxy in Bethlehem, PA

Commercial and warehouse floor epoxy protects concrete that works for a living. The Lehigh Valley is one of the leading areas on the East Coast for warehouses and distribution centers, according to Wikipedia's Lehigh Valley article, which cites a 1.1 million square foot Amazon facility in Palmer Township and a FedEx Ground hub near the airport. Around those big buildings are hundreds of smaller ones: auto repair shops, fabrication shops, contractor garages, food businesses and flex space. Each floor takes a different kind of beating, and the coating should be chosen for it.

What commercial floors face

• Rolling loads: forklift and pallet-jack wheels grind into concrete and break down joint edges.
• Chemicals: oil, fuel, hydraulic fluid, cleaners and food acids stain and etch bare concrete.
• Dust: untreated slabs shed fine concrete dust onto product and equipment.
• Winter traffic: trucks and loaders track brine through dock doors.
• Downtime: every day the floor is closed costs money, so scheduling matters as much as the system.

Systems for working floors

HomeAdvisor notes that commercial and industrial floors call for a 100% solids coating, which builds a thicker film than the water-based products sold in kits. We pick the build for the use:

• High-build epoxy: 100% solids epoxy rolled or squeegeed in multiple coats for warehouses and storage.
• Flake or quartz broadcast: aggregate broadcast into the epoxy for texture in wet or greasy areas such as wash bays and kitchens.
• Polyaspartic or urethane topcoats: added over epoxy for UV stability, abrasion resistance and better chemical resistance.
• Line striping and safety marking: aisles, pedestrian lanes and work zones marked in coating, not tape.

Joints, cracks and slab edges

Control joints in warehouse slabs take a pounding from forklift wheels, and spalled joint edges can ruin a new coating. We clean out damaged joints and refill them with a semi-rigid filler where traffic is heavy, and we repair spalls and cracks before coating. Any crack that keeps moving or a slab that is settling needs to be looked at by an engineer first. The Lehigh Valley sits on limestone, and Pennsylvania American Water notes that sinkholes are common in the state's carbonate bedrock areas.

Working around your schedule

We can phase a large floor in sections so part of the building stays open, or work evenings and weekends. Fast-cure polyaspartic topcoats can shorten the time a section is closed. The quote spells out the phases, the square footage in each, cure times and when equipment can return.

Preparation at commercial scale

Commercial slabs often have curing compounds, sealers, old paint lines and years of oil. We use larger diamond grinders and, where needed, shot blasting to open the surface, with industrial vacuums to control dust. Oil-soaked areas get degreased and tested before coating. Prep is usually the largest part of a commercial job, and it is the part that decides whether the floor lasts.