Types of concrete: If new concrete, it needs time for excess moisture to dissipate, (depth of slab- 1mm per day). We use a Tramex moisture meter to gauge if your new slab is ready for painting. Water permeable resin coatings can be used within a few weeks for new concrete or a dpm resin basecoat can be applied to overcome the high moisture issue.
Roughcast concrete typically found in domestic garages can be diamond grinded and scabbled to improve the level. Self leveling latex repaired areas are not compatible with most resin coatings, the resin has nothing substantial to adhere to and after traffic will debond. There are industrial toppers available that are suited to resin coatings.

Most industrial floors are power floated, shiny hard concrete. If power floated floors are painted without preparation it reduces the lifespan of the coating. The solution is either diamond grinding or vacu blasting to floor to remove the top layer. This leaves a rougher profile that the resin coating can adhere to.
If your floor has flaking defective paint it would be best to remove this as the new coating can only adhere as well as the base coat has bonded to the concrete base. Defective coatings are removed by PCD or diamond grinding. If your floor has large defects we are able to repair with epoxy repair mortar, which sets harder than the surrounding concrete. Small defects can be filled to improve the end finish. Expansion joints are best left open or filled with a flexible joint filler such as Sikaflex EBT. If expansion joints are filled with a self leveler over time the floor will move slightly and force the filler out and cause cracks in the resin coating.

We use a solvent free high build resin coating where possible as this gives a dry film thickness of 400 microns and is very heavy duty. If the floor is new concrete we opt for a water permeable or DPM resin coating. 

Typically 5 years for a high build resin coating with average usage. At that point the floor usually starts looking tired and could do with a refresh. It is hard to predict lifespan for floor coatings because of the difference in usage. Some areas of floors are in constant use and will break down quicker. For example, in car parks, corner junctions where cars break will break down much quicker than normal. These areas will need to have a regular maintenance program.
For homes and commercial, areas at doors where people use the same route will have the shortest lifespan. Extra coats can be given to these high traffic areas.

For industrial floors light greys are most popular as they don’t show up the dirt, Ral7001 or BS00A05. Mid greys are also popular, but worth avoiding black as it sucks the light from the room and shows up dust quickly. White floors look great but require more frequent cleaning. Resin coatings come in most ral code or BS number.
White floors can discolour over time with exposure to UV light, a polyurethane top coat can avoid this issue.

Some areas, especially when suffering with frequent wetting can become slippery and dangerous for foot traffic and fork lifts. This is easy to overcome by adding an anti slip aggregate to coatings. Anti slip floors can be harder to clean as dirt tends to stick to the aggregate, best to use a scrubber dryer.