Gloves for Epoxy Flooring Work
Knitted cotton gloves
Changed between coats, not washed
Epoxy hardeners are skin sensitisers: repeated contact can cause an allergic reaction that lasts for life. On a resin job gloves are changed often, because a glove with resin on it spreads it to tools, door frames and the finished surface. Chemical-resistant nitrile is the barrier against liquid resin; knitted cotton is a liner and a handling glove.
Epoxy hardener is a sensitiser. First exposure usually does nothing; repeated exposure is how people develop a reaction they then carry for life, and it ends flooring careers.
Knitted cotton, carried by the box, changed between coats rather than cleaned and reused.
It is also a finish issue
A glove with hardener on it transfers hardener to the next thing it touches: a door frame, a light switch, a handrail, the clean side of a wall. On a finished floor it shows as a print in the surface that cannot be polished out.
The cheapest thing on this page
They cost less than anything else here by a wide margin, which is exactly why running out of them is a decision rather than an accident.
Without itContact dermatitis for the crew, and fingerprints in the finish for you.
What to ask
Ask how often gloves get changed on your job. The answer tells you more about how a crew works than most of the questions above 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
What gloves should you wear for epoxy?
Chemical-resistant gloves, usually nitrile, as the barrier against liquid resin and hardener. Latex and plain cotton let it through. Cotton gloves are worn under nitrile to take up sweat on a long pour, or on their own for handling dry materials, tools and cured surfaces.
Why is epoxy bad for your skin?
The hardeners, and some resins, are sensitisers. The first few contacts often cause nothing, but repeated exposure can trigger allergic dermatitis, after which even a trace causes a reaction. Keeping it off the skin from the start is the only reliable prevention.
How often should gloves be changed on an epoxy job?
Whenever they are contaminated, and at least between coats. A glove carrying resin transfers it to handles, frames and walls, and leaves fingerprints in any surface that has not fully cured.