Metallic Systems

What goes into a metallic floor

• A clear base. EF-Masterflow is the purpose built one, a 4-gallon kit tuned so pigment moves instead of sitting flat, at 94.7 GU gloss and 7,200 psi compressive. LTX-100 is the high flow alternative at 18,400 psi. PPC Epoxy 100 Clear and EF-155 also take pigment.
• Pigment. One 160 gram pod tints a full 3-gallon kit. On EF-Masterflow, which is a 4-gallon kit, use one pod per kit, from 160 grams up to 210 grams for a denser metallic. The LTX-800 50 gram jars are for accents and custom blends, at three jars per 3-gallon kit, roughly one jar per gallon.
• A UV stable polyaspartic topcoat. Not decoration. Metallic pigment is the thing sunlight attacks first, and the topcoat is what protects the color and takes the abrasion instead of the metallic layer.

Coverage, and why it is lower than you expect

EF-Masterflow covers 110 to 200 square feet per 4-gallon kit depending on how thick you pour. LTX-100 runs 241 square feet at a 20 mil metallic pour and 150 square feet at 32 mils. A solid color base coat on the same slab would stretch two or three times further. Size a metallic floor from target mils, never from a single square foot figure, and check your own numbers in the epoxy coverage guide.

Cure and recoat

EF-Masterflow at 68 degrees F: recoat at 18 to 24 hours, foot traffic at about a day, vehicles at about two days, full cure at about seven. Working time is 30 to 40 minutes at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity, and it applies between 50 and 86 degrees F. If the schedule will not take an overnight wait, EF-155 recoats in 2 to 4 hours, though its working time is only about 10 minutes, so mix in small batches.

Prep

Diamond grind the slab to ICRI CSP-2 and vacuum it. A metallic floor is transparent by design, so anything left in the concrete reads through the finish. Settle the moisture question before you pour: see concrete moisture testing before epoxy.

When to choose metallic

Choose metallic when the floor is the feature: a showroom, a retail space, a home garage the owner shows off. Choose flake instead when the floor needs grip and needs to hide wear, and choose a solid color from the epoxy kits when the priority is square feet per dollar. Metallic is the most material intensive and the least forgiving of the three, and it is also the only one that looks like this.

Related guides: the step by step metallic epoxy install guide, the showroom and retail metallic floor guide, and how much epoxy you need for sizing. Doing a garage in metallic? Start from 1-car, 2-car or 3-car. Latux is an authorized dealer for every brand on this page.