Specialist coatings
Polyurethane flooring in Johannesburg
Cold rooms, hot-wash floors, sunlit showrooms and patios ask more of a floor than a plain epoxy can give. We specify polyurethane screeds, UV-stable topcoats, stone carpet and anti-slip finishes for them, and price them against epoxy at the same site visit.
What the data sheets say about heat, cold and sun
"Polyurethane" covers two quite different products, and mixing them up is how floors get specified wrong. The first is a polyurethane-cement screed, trowelled several millimetres thick. The second is a thin aliphatic polyurethane topcoat, rolled on in two coats. They solve different problems.
Temperature is where the screed earns its place. A South African data sheet for a standard epoxy floor coating sets its permanent dry-heat limit at +50 °C and allows wet heat up to +80 °C only occasionally, such as a steam clean. A polyurethane-cement data sheet rates its product from −40 °C to +120 °C, steam cleanable at 6 to 9 mm, and says it moves with the concrete through normal heating and cooling. That is why it is the usual choice for blast freezers, cold stores, dairies, breweries and kitchens that are hosed down with hot water every night.
Sun is the topcoat's job. Johannesburg's average UV index reaches 14 from December to February and drops to 5 in midwinter. The same screed data sheet warns that polyurethane-cement discolours under UV over time, while a South African aliphatic polyurethane coating is sold as UV resistant and non-yellowing. So a floor behind a north-facing shopfront or on a covered patio gets that topcoat, whatever is underneath.
Where none of that applies, say a dry, shaded store that mainly takes forklifts, an industrial epoxy system is normally the cheaper and perfectly adequate answer.
Three resins side by side
Limits as published in each product's data sheet. "Not stated" means the sheet gives no figure, not that the product has no limit.
| Floor | Cold | Heat | Direct sun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard epoxy coating | Not stated | +50 °C permanent dry heat; up to +80 °C wet heat only occasionally | May discolour in direct sun |
| Polyurethane-cement screed | −40 °C | +120 °C; steam cleanable at 6–9 mm | Discolours over time under UV |
| Aliphatic polyurethane topcoat | Not stated | Not stated | UV resistant, non-yellowing |
One installation detail matters on the Highveld in winter. A July day at O.R. Tambo averages 3.5 °C at night and 15.8 °C in the afternoon, and the screed data sheet says not to lay it while the slab and air are still warming, because rising temperatures can leave pinholes. In the cold months a screed is therefore timed for the part of the day when temperatures have levelled off, and the topcoat sheet adds that the slab must be at least 10 °C and 3 °C above the dew point.
Sources: Epoxy floor coating product data sheet, South Africa (Sept 2026): thermal resistance · Polyurethane-cement screed product data sheet (Sika Canada, June 2024) · Polyurethane floor coating product data sheet, South Africa: UV resistant, non-yellowing · Johannesburg O.R. Tambo climate normals 1991–2020, incl. average UV index.
Four systems, one site visit
We pick from these by what happens on the floor, not from a price list.
Polyurethane-cement screed
A thick, cement-filled polyurethane for floors that swing between hot and cold, take hot water or steam, or get hit with cleaning chemicals. Food production, cold rooms, dairies and commercial kitchens.
Aliphatic polyurethane topcoat
A thin, colour-fast finish rolled over an epoxy or PU floor wherever sunlight reaches it. Showrooms behind glass, covered patios and atriums.
Stone carpet
Natural stone chips in clear resin, trowelled out with no grout lines. For patios, pool edges, entrances and walkways.
Anti-slip finishes
Graded aggregate set into the topcoat, from a fine texture that still mops clean to a coarse one for wash bays and ramps.
Floors that usually need one of them
The price swings with the build. Two coats of topcoat over a sound floor, which the South African data sheet puts at 8 to 10 m² per litre per coat, is a light job; a screed several millimetres thick on a slab that needs repairs is a heavy one. Our epoxy price guide shows the per-square-metre bands for the epoxy systems, and the site visit gives you a written figure for whichever floor fits.
Polyurethane, stone carpet and anti-slip: your questions
Not sure which system your floor needs?
Tell us the temperatures in the room, how it is cleaned and how much sun reaches it, and the free assessment takes it from there. Or go back to Epoxy Flooring Johannesburg.