Gloss or Matte? Just not Slippery !
I recently saw an outdoor restaurant patio with a shiny sealer that I'm guessing was a protective, maintenace floor finish such as those manufactured by Spartan, Johnsons, SurTec, etc.
The floor had tremendous "bite". I'll be epoxy/urethane coating an interior floor for an elderly customer and I want to apply a floor finish that will give good shine and also provide similar bite. Any suggestions !
Thank You !
Mekons
Add a skid-resistant micro-media into the sealer that will become an integral part ofit. I add 3-4 ounces per 1 gallon of PAP (polyaspartic aliphatic urethane/PAP) ...doing so provides a slip/fall resistant surface that will meet OSHA and ADA cofficient of friction guidelines. This additive will not sink or float (suspends itself within the sealer) for ease in uniform application and it will not show/distract from the beauty of the surface.
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Seldom does "anyone" (commerical or residential) property maintain and reapply any type of sacrificial finish coat (ie: waxes/etc); therefore, they eventually have an accident just waiting to happen at some point in time due to negligence on their part (since they didn't keep it up the sacrificial finish coats as they were instructed to do) ... I have found that many people (residiential and commercial property owners) have "memories of convenience;" therefore, if/when a slip fall injury occurs they will come looking for you (granted they may not have a legal leg to stand on) but that doesn't make any difference if they are not happy, blame you, and tell their friends/relatives/co-workers/etc. For these reasons, and more, I strongly recommend that you add a fine skid-resistant micro-media (either very fine micro-media acrylic or glass particles) ... your customer will still be able to use a sponge mop or one of those swiffer things to clean or dust their floor, but will have one that has been safety engineered.
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Note: it is important that you are using a high solids resinous sealer that has a sufficeint degree of dry mil build (minimum of 5-6 mils) to lock it in place, being 100% solids epoxy, aliphatic urethane 75% + solids, or PAP), incorporating it in the final coat ... using these types of micro-media skid/slip-fall resistant particles in low solids acrylic sealers (being the typical 25% to 35% solids if pointless since there is not a high enough dry mil build to keep them from wearing off in primary foot traffic pathway quite rapidly; might as well just use some type of gripping/slid resistant floor finish was if you are going to use an low solids acrylic sealer).
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Personally I do not like using any type of fine micro-media that has to be broadcasted into sealers/coatings since it is practically impossible to do so uniformly ... degree of light refraction off the surface (which will vary due to high gloss versus satin/etc) it will make seeded in skid-resistant medias even more apparent since the light will reflect off areas where there is less of it than where there is more of it. I do know of some that have overcome this non-uniformly to some degree by putting the fine/dust like micro-medias in an old pair of pantyhose then shaking it out as they go over a floor; but doing so is still VERY difficult to do so evenly over the entire floor ... versus adding the micro-media (that doesn't sink or float) into a high solids (as I referred to above) sealer last coat to be applied to the floor that will be uniform and less likely to effect the overall image/sheen/etc of the floor.
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What you saw on the exterior surface you were making reference to (restaurant) may have been, but should not have been used, if it was a sacrificial wax, since typically wax/finish coats are not applied on exterior surfaces. I'm not saying it wasn't a sacrifical wax; but, this not the norm or something that I would ever recommend doing.
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If you have any questions or concerns give me a call or drop me an email message Lindy.Ausburne@gmail.com for further details/etc.