Case Studies Replacing a failed epoxy floor in a live cannabis facility

Grow Room Epoxy Floor Replacement

Location: Denver, Colorado
Project: Grow Room Floor Coating
Client: Lightshade

A Denver cannabis production plant run by Lightshade was making improvements. An epoxy floor installed a few years earlier was failing and needed to be replaced fast. As a 24/7 operation growing live plants, the facility needed something completely different from what had let them down: a coating with low VOCs so the plants wouldn't be exposed to toxic chemicals, a fast cure so rooms could return to use quickly, and an installer flexible enough to work around a live grow. They needed both a better floor coating and a partner who could adapt to demanding scheduling.

1 day Install per area
50 mil Total system thickness
30,000 sf Facility coated

The Challenge

The Problem

Epoxy has well-known failure modes over time, and Lightshade was living them: flaking, brittleness, and a floor that couldn't hold up to a demanding grow-room environment. Many cannabis facilities that install epoxy face the same future of cracking and delamination. On top of the material problem, the replacement had to happen inside a working 24/7 facility with live plants, so it needed low VOCs, a fast cure, slip resistance for routinely wet floors, and resistance to daily cleaning-agent exposure, all installed without shutting the operation down.

The Approach

The Solution

Lightshade turned to Lifetime Green Coatings for a non-toxic coating with low VOCs and a one-day install per area. Our coating is flexible, durable under heavy traffic, and built to handle regularly wet surfaces and daily cleaning chemicals, exactly what a grow room demands. Just as important, we could adapt to the facility's complex scheduling, working around the plant's grow and harvest cycles rather than forcing a shutdown.

Why It Works

We removed the old epoxy with a triple-head diamond grinder fitted with a HEPA-vac extension, capturing dust so the live plants were never exposed to debris. We then installed our patented multi-layer system: a 35 mil base coat in Jensen Steel, followed by a 15 mil grey-tinted topcoat with a 40:60 grit broadcast for slip resistance, essential where floors are routinely wet. The work was handled as a multi-phase installation across the roughly 30,000 square foot facility, coating a few rooms at a time as Lightshade freed them up, scheduled around grow and harvesting cycles so the operation never stopped.

Tensile Strength	ASTM D412 — 6,000 psi
Compressive Strength	ASTM D695 — 9,400 psi (13,800 psi with quartz)
Elongation	ASTM D412 — 120%
Tear Strength	ASTM D2240 — 330 PLI
Hardness	ASTM D2240 — Shore D 78
Flexibility (1/8" Mandrel)	ASTM D1737 — Pass
Abrasion Resistance (Taber)	ASTM D4060 — 28 mg loss
Gloss	ASTM D523 — 90+
Adhesion (Concrete)	ASTM D4541 — >400 psi (concrete failure), >550 psi primed
Adhesion (Steel)	ASTM D4541 — >2,000 psi
UV Stability	100% UV stable, interior and exterior
Application Temperature	-20°F to 120°F (-29°C to 49°C)
VOC Content	<10 g/l
Food Contact	USDA / FDA certified safe for incidental food contact

Lifetime Green Coatings is engineered for long-lasting performance, with independently tested results across the specifications above.

The Results

Lightshade was thrilled that we came in on time and on budget, and pleased with the level of communication throughout, including multiple virtual and in-person strategy meetings. They now have a beautiful, safe, slip-resistant floor that's warm and inviting, and we even embedded their company logo into the finish. This Denver cannabis producer can look forward to years of growth on a durable floor built to outlast epoxy.

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Grow Room Epoxy Floor Replacement

The Problem

The Solution

Why It Works

Performance Data

The Results