Over 90% of Utah’s population lives in active earthquake zones. As such, it’s important to ensure that buildings meet federally mandated seismic building codes. While floor coatings aren’t seismic-rated, they do help to make your home stronger and safer. 

Here’s what you need to know about why it’s so crucial for buildings in Utah to be seismic-rated and how floor coatings can make your home safer.

Utah’s Earthquake Risk

2.3 million people of Utah’s 2.9 million residents live in the Provo-Salt Lake City-Ogden area. This is adjacent to the Wasatch Fault, which is one of the longest, most active fault lines in the world. The earthquake threat is worsened by the fact that homes are built on the lakebed of the old Lake Bonneville, which can lead to liquefaction and surface failure.

Approximately 1500 earthquakes occur in Utah every year, with about 500 in the Wasatch Front region. Most earthquakes aren’t felt. Most people in Utah don’t even realize that there’s an earthquake every day in this state. Only about 13 earthquakes have a magnitude of 3.0 or larger along the Wasatch Fault Zone (WFZ). 

Due to the relative absence of moderate to large earthquakes, most Utahns dismiss the earthquake threat. But have you heard of “The Big One”?    

What Is “The Big One”?

The WFZ has had big earthquakes every 1300 – 1500 years for the past 6000 years. It has been about 1400 years since the last “big one”, which means that Utah is due for another big earthquake of a 7.0 or higher magnitude within the next 50 or so years. To put this in perspective, the Richter scale, which measures the severity of earthquakes, ranges from 0 to 9. People typically only feel earthquakes rated 3.0 or higher.

The Wasatch Fault presents a significant hazard to Utah residents, due to the fact that most of the state’s residents live along it. Experts predict that when “The Big One” hits, it will be one of the deadliest natural disasters in the nation’s history. 

What A 7.0 Or Higher Earthquake Means For Utah Residents

In order to understand what “The Big One” means, it helps to understand the effects you notice based on the Ritcher scale.

• 1-3 Magnitude. Likely not felt. 
• 3-4 Magnitude. Felt by people indoors and a few outdoors. It is similar to a passing truck. There are possible rock falls near the epicenter.
• 4-5 Magnitude. Felt both indoors and outdoors. Small objects are moved and unstable objects are overturned. Liquefaction and landslides are possible near the epicenter. Rock falls are likely. 
• 5 Magnitude. Felt by everyone. It is difficult to walk. Heavy furniture moves.
• 5-6 Magnitude. It is difficult to stand. Some structures and pipes break in liquified areas. There are waves in bodies of water. It’s likely for there to be liquefaction and landslides.
• 6-7 Magnitude. It’s difficult to drive. Buildings start to collapse. Depending on their construction, damage can be moderate to major. Water can change flow rate. It’s possible for the ground surface to rupture. 
• 7 Magnitude. Total collapse of buildings. There is major damage and extensive deaths.
• 7-8 Magnitude. Well-built buildings are destroyed. There are widespread landslides and rock falls. It’s likely that the surface ruptures.
• 8-9 Magnitude. Near complete damage. Few, if any, structures remain. Objects get thrown into the air.

You see why the earthquake that Utah is due for is called “The Big One”. In order to ensure optimal safety, buildings must be built to seismic codes, to minimize the impact of shaking or the potential for collapse.

How Can A Floor Coating Make Your Home Safer?

The typical safety advice for an earthquake is to drop to the ground, take cover, and hold on until the shaking stops. Once the shaking stops, then you can move.

A floor coating can help to reduce the risk of injury in smaller earthquakes when they have a grit-additive. This is because the grit-additive makes them less slippery, providing more traction. This helps to prevent slip and fall injuries. When you are trying to leave your home to get to a designated meeting place, it’s important to ensure that you can do this as safely as possible.

Depending on the type of floor coating that you have, it could reduce the risk of cracking (this also depends on the magnitude of the earthquake). More flexible floor coatings, like polyaspartic, can move with your concrete as it expands and contracts and are engineered to withstand traffic from impact and heavy loads. Floor coatings reinforce your concrete and minimize the risk of damage.

It is important to ensure that your home is as safe as possible. A floor coating improves the safety of your home by making your floors safer to walk on and by reducing the risk of concrete damage. 

So, in short: floor coatings aren’t earthquake-proof. Nothing is! However, they can improve the safety of your home, which is a win regardless of where you live.

Do You Want To Make Your Home Safer?

Solid Custom Floor Coatings Utah provides professional floor coating services throughout the Ogden area. We can customize your floor coatings to your needs, such as by adding a grit-additive for traction and additional safety. To learn more about our floor coating services or for your free quote, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Of all the places you want to feel safe in, your home is #1 on the list, especially if you have children running around. Your floors play a huge role in the overall safety of your home, both in their overall condition and in how easily they get slick or dirty. You may wonder whether or not having floor coatings installed could be the right move for you and your family to make in order to make your house safer. Floor coatings can greatly improve the safety of your garage, after all, so shouldn’t they make your house safer too?

Here’s what you need to know about how floor coatings can make your house safer and how a coated concrete floor compares to other types of flooring in your home, so that you can determine what type of flooring works best in different areas of your house.

Can Floor Coatings Make Your House Safer?

If you don’t like the look or maintenance carpet requires, hardwood, tile, or concrete floors are here for you. Concrete floors are stunning, sleek, urban, with a cool industrial edge to them. However, they can make your house feel cold – and they’re very hard to fall on. Plus, concrete can crack.

If you’re considering getting a floor coating for your home’s interior floors, you likely already know all about the aesthetic appeal they can provide. They can transform a space, making your floors look so much more expensive and so much more cohesive with the rest of your interior design. If you want beautiful floors, a custom floor coating can certainly give you that.

But what about safety?

There are a few ways a floor coating can make your house safer.

Traction

As previously mentioned, floor coatings are very customizable. This doesn’t just apply to their colors or their styles, but also to their textures and properties. Some people love a glossy, smooth floor, while others who are more concerned about safety might opt for one with traction. This helps to minimize the risk of slips and falls.

Increased Visibility

Floor coatings are also reflective, which improves visibility. This makes it safer to walk around your house, especially when it’s dark out, either due to an early morning or the sun setting obscenely early in the dead of winter.

Damage Protection

Plus, floor coatings protect your floors from damage. They reduce the risk of water damage, cracking, and more. This also makes them safer to walk on, as you don’t have to worry about tripping over a crack in the floor in the hallway. 

What About VOCs?

When you have a floor coating installed in your garage, VOCs are still a concern, of course, but they’re a bit less so than if they were in your home. Your garage is easy to close off from the rest of the house, and you can open the garage door in order to air it out.

However, when it comes to getting a coating inside your home, that’s another story. Especially if you have children and/or pets, you don’t want to have to worry about harmful VOCs lingering in the air. 

This depends on the type of floor coating that you have installed. Some have stronger VOCs than others. Epoxy coatings, for instance, tend to have very strong VOCs that can linger for days on end. Polyaspartic coatings, on the other hand, have less VOCs.

Bear in mind that the manufacturer of the coating itself plays a role here. Depending on the manufacturer, some coatings may have stronger VOCs than others.

Solid Custom Floor Coatings Utah uses RESINWERKs polyaspartic floor coatings, which are made to have little to no VOCs. This means that when you have an indoor floor coating installed, you won’t have to worry about strong chemical smells you need safety masks to breathe around.

If you would like to learn more about the VOCs and indoor applications, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more detailed information!

Are You Considering Having Indoor Floor Coatings Installed?

The best way to ensure that a floor coating improves the safety of your home is by having it professionally installed. The experienced team here at Solid Custom Floor Coatings Utah cares about ensuring that your needs are met and that your floor coating brings your vision to life. Our detail-oriented professionals pay great attention to safety and quality. When you work with us, you can rest assured that you’ll receive a job well done.

Contact us today to schedule your free consultation! 

Floor coatings are an excellent way to improve upon the appearance and functionality of your floors – when properly installed. However, floor coatings involve quite a bit of prep work and expertise in order to ensure proper installation. DIYers and professionals alike can cut corners or simply lack the necessary skills, equipment, and time in order to ensure a job well done.

While some minor mistakes could potentially be fixed, in many cases, if your floor coating was poorly installed, you likely will need to have it removed and replaced. To avoid such expenses and stressors, it’s best to work with experienced professionals who know the common – and not so common! – mistakes that people can make and how to avoid them so that your floor coating comes out beautifully.

Here are some of the telltale signs that your floor coating was poorly installed. 

#1. Bubbling

A properly installed floor coating should be nice and smooth, or with a texture that you asked for. There should be no bubbling. If your coating is bubbling, there are several ways in which the installer could have gone wrong in order for this to occur.

• Incorrect mixing. If the coating products were not mixed together correctly, at the correct ratio, speed, and for the right amount of time, this can cause air bubbles to appear. 
• Concrete outgassing. This is talking about when concrete has more pockets of air that can be released after the floor prepper. If the installer does not account for this, this can lead to bubbles in your coating.
• Rushed application. In an effort to get the job done, some installers may try to rush through the application process. This can lead to bubbling due to the lack of care and time needed for coats to cure.

#2. Not Bonding With Your Concrete

This usually happens more with polyaspartic coatings, due to their quick-curing nature. Moisture can prevent coatings from bonding with your concrete. If there’s too much moisture in your concrete, this can prevent the coating from adhering as it should. This can cause your coating to be less durable and to not last as long as it would otherwise. It can also prevent the coating from curing correctly. Excessive humidity can also cause this problem to occur. 

Professional coating installers should check the condition of your concrete prior to the job. This includes checking for damages, as well as checking the moisture content of the concrete. 

#3. Tacky Or Gooey Coatings

If the allotted cure time has passed and your coating is still tacky or gooey to the touch, this can be a sign that your floor coating was poorly installed. By the time the floor coating is cured, it should be hard and solid. If it’s gummy or sticky, this can be because of a few different problems in the installation process that prevented it from curing.

• Incorrect mixing. If the coating is not mixed together properly or the installer forgot to add part of the product to the mix, this can cause the coating to not cure.
• Temperatures that are too cold. If the installer tries to install a coating when it’s too cold, this can impact the curing process, and lead to a gummy floor coating. 

#4. Hard Lumps

If your floor coating has hard lumps in it, this is usually from dirt and grime, either from a failure to clean the floor properly prior to application or from using dirty equipment. Professional coating installers are careful to keep their equipment clean and in good condition and to ensure that your floor is nice and clean and properly prepped prior to application in order to avoid this mistake.

#5. Peeling

Now, this depends on the type of coating that you had installed. For instance, if you used a garage floor paint, these will end up peeling over time due to wear and tear, even if you did everything right.

However, when it comes to professional floor coatings, peeling is a sign of poor installation. Peeling can result from a failure to properly prepare the floor. Floors should be ground or shot blasted and have all contaminants removed. If the installer is not careful to ensure that the floor is clean, your coating could end up peeling.

Get Your Floor Coating Done Right – The First Time!

Solid Custom Floor Coatings Utah takes pride in our detail-oriented work and close communication with our customers. All of our installers are properly trained in order to ensure that they know how to avoid mistakes such as those listed above. Contact us today to receive an estimate for your top-quality floor coating installed by experts who care.