DIY Epoxy vs. Professional Installation: Which Should You Choose?

Epoxy flooring has earned its reputation as a durable, attractive, and long-lasting solution for commercial and industrial spaces. If you own or manage a brewery, small-scale manufacturing business, auto repair shop, or retail shop, you know your floors take a daily beating from foot traffic, equipment, and spills. At some point, you may wonder: Could I save money by installing epoxy flooring myself?

While epoxy kits make DIY possible, there’s a big difference between a weekend garage project and flooring designed to handle the demands of a business. For most commercial environments, professional installation isn’t just the better choice — it’s the only choice. 

Preparation Makes or Breaks the Floor 

Epoxy doesn’t stick to a poorly prepared surface. Professionals use industrial equipment like diamond grinders and shot blasters to ensure proper adhesion. Without this step, DIY floors can peel, bubble, or crack. 

Customized Flooring Systems for Your Environment 

A brewery floor needs to stand up to acids from beer production. A warehouse requires resistance to forklift traffic. An auto repair shop needs chemical and impact resistance. 

Expertise You Can’t Buy in a Kit 

Mixing, applying, and curing epoxy is a precise science. A trained crew knows how to handle humidity, temperature, and substrate conditions to ensure the floor performs exactly as designed. 

Less Downtime, More Business 

DIY can drag on for days and eat into your operations. Professional teams work quickly and efficiently, minimizing disruption so you can get back to serving customers and running production. Time is money. 

Long-Term Value 

While DIY may look cheaper upfront, failures mean costly repairs, safety risks, and downtime. Professional installation gives you peace of mind — and a floor designed to last for decades. 

An article in Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering states “...as in most construction products and systems, the human factor greatly influences the success and performance of the materials. The use of inexperienced workmanship, frequently lacking formation and information on the products and conditioned by strict deadlines, greatly influences the application and the consequent performance of epoxy coatings. Therefore, associated with new technologies and demands, a careful planning and supervision of the work must coexist, in order to minimize anomalies in these coatings^[1].” Professional installation ensures proper testing and application, preventing premature failures. 

Takeaways for Business Owners 

If you’re a homeowner refreshing your garage, a DIY kit might be fine. But if you’re a business owner, the stakes are high. Your floor has to perform every single day, and cutting corners could cost you far more than you save. 

At Stonhard, we don’t just install floors — we follow a step-by-step process to ensure the right system is selected and installed for your environment: 

Inspection & Testing 

Every project begins with a thorough inspection of the space. Depending on slab condition, building age, or intended use, testing such as Calcium Chloride or Relative Humidity may be performed to measure moisture levels or identify contamination. 

Substrate Preparation 

Based on those findings, we determine the proper preparation method. This can include mechanical preparation with media blasting or diamond grinding, removal by jackhammers or chipping guns, or even de-greasing contaminated slabs. Preparation is the most critical step to achieving proper adhesion. 

Your Flooring System Application 

Finally, we install the flooring system suited to your space, whether broadcast, mortar, or self-leveling. Our professional crews manage all details, from waterproofing and cove base to drains and penetrations, ensuring a seamless, long-lasting installation.

This process is why Stonhard floors perform. It’s not just about applying epoxy, it’s about building a complete system that will stand up to your business demands for years to come.