When you think of mills in Reno, you probably think of the Peppermill Resort. Or you may know about the historical lumber mills in the area. But you probably don’t think of epoxy coatings. But if you spell the word as mil, with one less letter l, you get a unit of measurement, one that is frequently used with epoxy coatings. Epoxy coatings are very durable and can absorb vibration and impact, but they are also very thin. In fact, they are measured in fractions of inches. And that’s where the mil comes in.
Marking a Mil
A mil is a standard unit of measurement for epoxy coatings. It’s not part of the metric system, like a millimeter. A millimeter is one thousandth of a meter long. A mil is similar, but it is much smaller. It takes 1000 mils to make up an inch! Cut an inch into 1000 units, take one, and you have a mil. It takes 2 mils to measure the thickness of an average garbage bag. It takes 30 mils to stack up to the side of a credit card. Since a credit card is typically 1 millimeter thick, 30 mils are equal to 1 millimeter. That’s a very tiny unit of measurement!
Using Mils with Epoxy
Epoxy coatings are so strong and resilient that they don’t need to be thick to protect your concrete floor. Even so, some concrete floors are meant to take more of a pounding than others. That’s why Nevada Custom Coatings in Reno offers epoxy coatings at different thicknesses, based on sizes measured in mils.
- Thin coats measure 10 to 20 mils. This thickness works for floors with light or low traffic, such as showroom floors or display areas.
- Medium coats range between 40 to 80 mils, and work well for areas that frequently see regular traffic. Medium coats work well for light duty warehouses, restaurant floors, shops, and garages.
- Heavy coats are meant for ultimate protection. Heavy coats have a common thickness of 125 to 250 mils. That means they can be three times the thickness of the thickest medium coat! If your floor is going to be dealing with likely spills from corrosive chemicals, or heavy duty industrial traffic, you’ll need a heavy coat to protect your concrete floor properly.
Even with the above breakdown, you might be uncertain as to the best option for protecting your concrete floor. Thankfully, that’s part of the expertise of Nevada Custom Coatings in Reno. We ask you a series of questions designed to identify how you regularly use your concrete floor, and what level of protection would suit your floor the best. Please give us a call or schedule a free onsite consultation using our online form. We want to make sure that your concrete floor is protected for its lifetime, no matter how many mils it takes!