Spike Shoes for Epoxy Flooring
Spike shoes
What lets a man stand in a live pour
Spike shoes are overshoes with steel spikes that let an installer walk on wet epoxy without leaving footprints. The spikes hold the foot above the resin on small points, and the self-levelling material flows back into the holes, so a floor can be worked from the middle as one continuous pour.
Once resin is on the floor, the floor cannot be walked on and it cannot be left alone. Both things are true at once, and spike shoes are how the contradiction is resolved.
Steel spikes on a plastic sole, strapped over a boot. They hold the foot above the film on points small enough that the resin closes behind them while it is still moving.
Why it changes the floor, not just the crew
Without them a floor has to be laid from its edges, backing out toward a door, in strips the width of a man's reach. Every strip is a join, and joins between batches at different stages of cure are visible.
With them the floor is laid as one body of material, worked from inside itself, and finishes without a join anywhere in it. That is what "seamless" actually means in practice.
One pair a man
They cost very little and there is no reason to share them. Each person on a pour has their own pair, on before the first pail is opened.
Without itThe floor is laid from the edges by someone who cannot walk on it, and the joins show where he stopped.
What to ask
Ask how the crew intends to reach the middle of your floor. It is a simple question and the answer tells you whether the floor will have joins in it.
Where it is used
Day 02 of the job, the pour, on every system we lay: decorative epoxy, flake floors, urethane cement, quartz broadcast, heavy industrial and repairs & recoats.
Questions people ask
Can you walk on wet epoxy?
Only in spike shoes, and only while the resin is still fluid enough to flow back over the spike marks. In ordinary footwear, or once the material has started to set, every step leaves a permanent print. After that, foot traffic waits for the cure times on the data sheet.
Why do installers wear spike shoes on epoxy floors?
To spread, roll and broadcast into the resin from inside the pour, rather than working backwards from the edges. That keeps the whole area wet at once, so it cures as one seamless piece without joins between sections.
How long do the spikes on spike shoes need to be?
Longer than the wet coating is thick, so the sole never touches the resin. Short spikes suit thin coats; thicker self-levelling and mortar systems need longer ones. The shoes strap over normal work boots.