POLYZEN Reference
Industrial Flooring Glossary — 40 Terms Defined
The vocabulary that appears in flooring specifications, tender documents and datasheets, defined plainly and tied to the standards that govern each term. Where a property is measurable, the test method is named; where a word carries no defined threshold, that is stated too.
Specification disputes usually start as vocabulary disputes. A contractor and a consultant can both use “anti-slip” or “thermal shock” and mean different things, and the gap only becomes visible when the floor is already down. These are the working definitions.
Adhesion (pull-off)
The force needed to pull a cured coating off its substrate, measured per ASTM D7234 or ASTM D4541. A failure inside the concrete rather than at the bond line indicates good adhesion.
Anti-static
A loose commercial term with no defined threshold. Standards recognise only dissipative and conductive categories, so a specification should name one of those instead.
Blistering
Dome-shaped lifts in a cured floor, usually caused by moisture vapour or trapped air pushing up beneath an impermeable film.
Broadcast
Scattering aggregate — quartz, flakes or coloured sand — into a wet coat, then locking it in with a topcoat. The method used to build texture and slip resistance.
Cementitious polyurethane (PU concrete)
A hybrid of polyurethane resin, cement and graded aggregate. Its thermal movement is close to concrete, which is why it survives hot washdown and freezing where rigid epoxy fails.
Coefficient of thermal expansion
How much a material moves per degree of temperature change, measured for resin surfacings per ASTM D696. A mismatch between coating and slab is what debonds floors in cold storage.
Conductive flooring
The lower-resistance ESD category, specified where charge must drain quickly. Defined under IEC 61340-5-1 and ANSI/ESD S20.20; installed resistance is confirmed by site testing.
Coving
Turning the floor up the wall as one continuous material, typically around 100 mm, removing the 90-degree junction that traps soil. Core to hygiene-critical detailing.
Crack bridging
A membrane\u2019s ability to span a crack that opens and closes in the substrate beneath it. Assessed under specifications such as ASTM C836 and ASTM C957 \u2014 the property that separates a deck coating from a floor coating.
CSP (Concrete Surface Profile)
A 1\u201310 scale defined by ICRI 310.2R describing how rough a prepared slab is. The thicker the system, the coarser the profile it needs to key into.
DCOF
Dynamic coefficient of friction, measured on a wet surface per ANSI A326.3. The working benchmark for slip resistance in specification work.
Delamination
Separation of a coating from its substrate over an area, as opposed to localised blistering. Almost always a preparation or moisture failure rather than a resin defect.
Densifier
A chemical applied during concrete polishing that reacts with free lime to harden and reduce the porosity of the slab surface.
Dew point
The temperature at which moisture in the air condenses onto a surface. Coating practice requires the substrate to sit at least 3 \u00b0C above it during application and early cure.
DFT (dry film thickness)
The thickness of a coating after cure, as opposed to the wet thickness applied. The value that actually governs performance.
Dissipative flooring
The higher-resistance ESD category, draining charge in a controlled manner. Defined under IEC 61340-5-1 and ANSI/ESD S20.20.
Epoxy mortar
A trowel-applied resin-and-aggregate screed, typically 4\u20139 mm, where aggregate carries compressive load and absorbs impact. Specified for heavy industrial duty.
Expansion joint
A designed gap that accommodates structural movement. It is carried through the finished floor with a joint system, never coated across \u2014 coating over a moving joint guarantees a tear.
Fisheye
A small circular void in a wet coat caused by surface contamination \u2014 usually oil or silicone \u2014 repelling the resin.
Flatness (F-number)
A measure of how level and flat a floor is, specified and verified per ASTM E1155. Critical for narrow-aisle racking and automated vehicle routes.
Holiday testing
Electrical detection of pinholes or discontinuities in a lining or membrane, used where continuity is a hold point in the inspection plan.
ICRI 310.2R
The guideline defining Concrete Surface Profile grades, referenced when specifying how a slab must be mechanically prepared.
In-situ relative humidity
Moisture measured with probes set into the slab per ASTM F2170. The most reliable indication of moisture deep in concrete, and the test that comes before every resin decision.
Induction time
A waiting period after mixing, before application, required by some resin systems so the components react correctly.
Laitance
The weak, dusty cement-rich skin on the surface of new concrete. It must be removed mechanically or the coating bonds to a layer that is already failing.
Osmotic blistering
Blisters formed when moisture and soluble salts beneath a coating draw water through the film by osmosis. A moisture failure, not a resin defect.
Pendulum test
Slip resistance measured per ASTM E303, giving a British Pendulum Number. Used where that method is written into the project specification.
Pot life
The working time after mixing before a resin becomes unusable. Exceeding it produces a soft, undercured floor even when everything else is correct.
Primer
The first coat, bonding the system to the prepared slab and sealing residual porosity. Skipping or thinning it is a common cause of early debonding.
Screed
A trowel-applied material laid at higher build to rebuild level or add strength, rather than a flowable coating that copies the substrate.
Self-leveling epoxy
A low-viscosity system, typically 2\u20133 mm, that flows out under its own weight to a smooth, seamless, easily cleaned surface.
Shot blasting
Mechanical preparation that fires steel shot at the slab to remove laitance and cut a profile, typically CSP 3\u20135, with dust contained and no water used.
Substrate
The surface a system is applied to \u2014 usually the concrete slab. Its moisture, soundness and profile decide the floor\u2019s life more than the resin does.
Thermal shock
A rapid temperature change across a floor, such as hot washdown on a cold slab. Compatibility over concrete is assessed per ASTM C884.
Topcoat
The final wearing and protective layer, carrying colour, gloss and UV stability. Renewed on condition, long before wear reaches the body of the floor.
UV stability
Resistance to yellowing and embrittlement under sunlight. Standard epoxies yellow, so exposed decks use an aliphatic polyurethane topcoat.
Vapour barrier
A layer preventing moisture migration through a build-up. In cold storage its failure causes ice lensing that lifts the floor above it.
Washdown
Cleaning with water, often hot and at pressure. It combines thermal shock, chemical exposure and constant wetting, and is the classic case for cementitious polyurethane.
Water vapour transmission
Moisture moving upward through a slab as vapour, measured per ASTM F1869. The pressure it exerts under an impermeable coating causes blistering.
Wearing coat
On a traffic deck, the layer above the elastomeric membrane that takes tyre abrasion, turning and braking loads.
Writing a flooring specification?
Send us the scope and we will help define it in terms that survive an audit — with the right test methods named against each requirement.
Common Questions
To settle the vocabulary before a specification is written. A large part of flooring disputes come from two people using the same word to mean different things, particularly around thickness, resistance, slip and cure.
Because a property without a test method is an opinion. A term such as abrasion resistance or slip resistance only means something once you know how it was measured and under what condition.
No. The glossary defines the terms; it does not publish system values. Values for any specific system are per the product TDS and the project specification.
Consultants, PMCs, project engineers and facility teams who have to read or write a flooring scope, and anyone comparing two quotations that use the same words to describe different things.
If you are checking a scope before choosing a system, the specifier toolkit has the Floor Audit Checklist. If you want an indicative budget, CostMyFloor does that in about two minutes.