In the fall and winter season, inevitably, cooler and sometimes freezing temperatures become a reality on the jobsite. These environmental conditions can wreak havoc during installation if proper precaution and planning is not addressed early on. In addition to cold temperatures, humidity and heat that is common during summer months can also have a negative impact on your projects. It’s important to take these variables into consideration. when planning your jobs.

Temperature and humidity can affect how the physical properties of your materials install and how they cure. In some cases, the material may not cure at all. Depending on which weather extremes you’re dealing with, you may need to rethink a few things. The materials that you are using, equipment for the jobsite and how to setup your staging will all have an impact on your job. Proper planning with these factors in mind can help mitigate flooring failures and ensure smooth installation.

First, let’s explore the various environmental conditions. How do they affect the physical properties and curing of the materials that you’re using?

HEAT
• Can cause materials to cures too fast
• Decreases your work time
• Shortens the pot life of the material
• Makes getting installation done very difficult

LOW TEMPERATURE
With low temperatures, viscosity goes up substantially.
o Example: A material that installs well at 70°, may be much more difficult to install and will have a harder time leveling out
Standard epoxies below 55°
o It may not harden or will it take a very long time
o If it does cure, the physical properties will not be the same
o Temperature drops below 55° in the evenings can create problems and may results in the system not curing properly

HUMIDITY
Polyaspartics
o Too much humidity may cause the curing process to speed up, similar to the effects of heat
o Potential hazards of humidity can occur even when it’s not particularly hot out
o Humidity measurements above 80% or within 5° of the dew point are too high for installation
o Utilize handheld meters, a dewpoint chart or online calculators such as this one: Dew Point Calculator | Good Calculators to check humidity levels prior to installation
o If you’re coating within 5 degrees of the dew point, you will have condensation on the surface which can cause flooring failures
There are fast cure epoxy hardeners that are designed to go down 45°.
A good rule of thumb is to avoid being within 5°. Use the dew point chart below to determine if you’re within an acceptable range for installation.

MITIGATION STRATEGIES FOR WEATHER-RELATED INSTALLATION PROBLEMS

Now that we’ve looked at some of the problems that come along with extreme heat, cold and humidity, let’s explore some strategies that you can implement on the jobsite to mitigate potential installation and curing issues. Again, we’ll break it down by environmental concern.

CHECKLIST FOR INSTALLING IN HIGH HEAT:
o Ensure proper climatization of product and jobsite
o Make sure your materials are not being stored in direct sunlight at the bare minimum
o Acclimate the material (precooled) in a climatized room
o Each material type has different needs:

Urethane concrete
• The product and the jobsite need to be cooled to 65° in high temperature environments

MMA
• You must climatize the environment and bring it down to 90°. This can be done by bringing in an HVAC cooler

Some Formulations of Novolac
• Novolacs products are high-cross link density which means they are more reactive and cures faster
• The product and the jobsite need to be cooled to 65° in high temperature environments

Job Staging & Application Techniques
o Prior to installation; bring out and setup extra tools, brushes, rollers, etc. so if the ones you’re using harden up, you and quickly switch them out
o Make sure you’re mixing smaller batches so you don’t risk having all of your material cure too quickly. Creating smaller batches give you more control.
o Increase the amount of labor that you have on the project. The more man-power you have on site, the quicker the installation
o If you do not have the benefit of a larger crew, work in smaller sections
o Ensure your mixing station is organized and well-supplied
o Mix materials well

CHECKLIST FOR INSTALLING IN LOW TEMPERATURE:
• Do not use gas fire heating – this interferes with cure and releases carbon dioxide which causes blushing, surface defects and inter-coat adhesions problems between primers and basecoats.
• The best heating sources would be electric or propane
• Be careful to consider and plan out even placement and the amount of cubic feet covered by each heating unit for evenly dispersed heat.
• Ensure that the temperature of the environment is within the curing temperature specification of the material
• If the temperature of the space is not within spec, you need to find a way to raise the temperature. This will typically need to be done 48 hours prior to installation to ensure that the concrete has enough time to reach temperature specification.
• The heat source needs to stay running and active, continuously through the installation and 7 days afterwards during the curing period.

CHECKLIST FOR INSTALLING IN HIGH HUMIDITY:
• Wait for conditions to change. Conditions may change depending on the time of day
• Run dehumidifiers to reduce humidity on the jobsite
• In high temperature/high humidity – cooling of the space will decrease the humidity
• In low temperature/high humidity – heating of the space will decrease the humidity