The 8 types of resin flooring, explained

The short answerSynthetic resin flooring is classified into eight types, from a thin floor seal (Type 1, up to 150 µm) to heavy duty resin flooring that is trowel-finished and aggregate filled (Type 8, around 6 mm). The type sets the thickness, the duty it can take and how long it can be expected to last.

Epoxy, polyurethane, vinyl ester and methacrylate resins can all be formulated into different flooring systems. To make specifying easier, the industry groups these systems into eight types. The classification follows the FeRFA guide to the selection of synthetic resin flooring, which ASP uses in its own product selector and cleaning manual.

Duty classes

Each type is matched to a duty class, which describes the traffic the floor has to carry:

• Light duty (LD): light foot traffic and occasional rubber-tyred vehicles.
• Medium duty (MD): regular foot traffic, frequent forklift traffic and occasional hard plastic-wheeled trolleys.
• Heavy duty (HD): constant forklift traffic, hard plastic-wheeled trolleys and some impact.
• Very heavy duty (VHD): severe, heavily loaded traffic and impact.

The eight types

What each type means in practice

Types 1 to 3: seals and coatings

Floor seals and floor coatings are applied in two or more coats. Seals are generally solvent or water borne; coatings are generally solvent free. High build coatings add thickness, from 300 µm up to 1 mm. ASP-coatWBE is a Type 1 seal, while ASP-coat500, ASP-coat1000 and ASP-coatPU sit in the high build group.

Types 4 and 5: multi-layer and flow applied

Multi-layer floors are aggregate-dressed systems built from several layers of coating, often called sandwich systems. Flow applied floors are the self-smoothing or self-levelling floors with a smooth surface, typically 2 to 3 mm. ASP-coatSL, a 2 mm self-smoothing epoxy, falls here.

Types 6 to 8: screeds and heavy duty floors

Resin screeds are trowel-finished, heavily filled systems, usually sealed to reduce porosity and give a wearing surface; ASP-screedPTS is a 4 mm example. Type 7 floors are heavy duty and flowable with a smooth finish, such as ASP-creteMD. Type 8 floors are trowel-finished and aggregate filled, effectively impervious through their full thickness. ASP-creteRT at 9 mm is a Type 8 polyurethane floor designed to withstand steam cleaning.

Choosing a type

Thicker is not always better. A Type 1 seal can be the right answer for a storeroom, while a wet processing hall with hot wash-downs needs a Type 8 system. Start with the traffic, temperatures, chemicals and cleaning regime the floor will face, then pick the lightest type that will handle all of them. Our product finder narrows this down by market and area, and the flooring types guide shows which ASP systems belong to each type.