Freight elevators take punishment that most floors never see. Heavy pallet jacks, steel-wheeled carts, constant loading and unloading, and years of repeated impact all concentrate on a floor that often measures just a few square feet. When that floor is plywood over a steel deck, the challenge gets more complicated. Plywood expands and contracts with temperature and humidity changes. Over time conventional coatings crack or delaminate right at the joints.
The Perdure PU85 is a two-component polyurea-polyaspartic coating engineered for exactly this environment. As a freight elevator floor coating over plywood subfloors, it delivers tensile strength over 2,000 psi and an elongation at break of 50 to 100 percent. This means it flexes with the wood as it moves rather than cracking against it. The full system installs in 1 to 2 days and produces very low VOC with no odor. Low VOC is a critical advantage when working in occupied commercial buildings where operations cannot simply stop.
Why Freight Elevator Floors Are a Special Challenge
Most freight elevator cabs are built on a plywood subfloor fastened to a steel deck. Unlike concrete, wood moves. Seasonal shifts in temperature and humidity cause the plywood to expand and contract, and those seams between panels can telegraph cracks right through a standard coating system. Add the point loads from heavy freight equipment and years of rolling impact, and the floor needs more than a basic paint-on product to hold up.
At the same time, elevator downtime is a measurable cost in any commercial or industrial building. A system that requires 3 to 4 days to cure, or that produces strong odors requiring special ventilation, creates scheduling problems for buildings that are open for business. PU85’s polyurea-polyaspartic chemistry was developed to solve both problems at once. It is self-priming, bonds aggressively to the substrate, is touch-dry in about 1.5 hours, and its flexibility is built into the chemistry, not added as a patch.
The PU85 Polyurea-Polyaspartic Freight Elevator Floor Coating System: Layer by Layer
This is a reinforced, multi-layer coating system. Each layer has a specific job. Here is how it goes down.
Seal the Plywood Joints First
Before any coating is applied, all plywood seams and fastener holes are treated with Perdure EJF, a flexible joint sealer. This is a critical prep step. It prevents the polyurea-polyaspartic coating system from cracking at those weak points as the wood moves beneath it over time. Do not skip this step.
Fiberglass Reinforcement with Spiderlath and Perdure MVT+
Spiderlath fiberglass reinforcement is embedded into a wet coat of Perdure MVT+. This layer does two things: it adds tensile strength across the entire floor surface to bridge substrate movement, and the MVT+ acts as a moisture vapor barrier to protect the polyurea-polyaspartic system from moisture migrating up through the plywood from below.
PU85 Polyurea-Polyaspartic Base Coat with Sand Broadcast
The first coat of Perdure PU85 goes down as a base layer. Because PU85 is self-priming, no separate primer coat is required on this surface, the polyurea-polyaspartic formula bonds directly and aggressively to the prepared substrate. While still wet, 30/40 mesh sand is broadcast into the surface to create a mechanical bond profile for the next coat and to provide initial slip resistance.
PU85 Pigmented Topcoat with Optional Decorative Aggregate
The second PU85 polyurea-polyaspartic coat is pigmented with Unicolor integral colors for a clean, uniform finish. This is also the layer where decorative aggregate can be added. Endura resin chips broadcast into the wet coat create a layered, multi-color appearance. Kwortz decorative quartz delivers a more refined, speckled look with excellent surface hardness. Both options add visual texture and surface durability. If a solid color finish is preferred, this coat is simply left without aggregate.
Final Sealer: Perdure P90
Perdure P90 is the finishing coat. When resin chips or quartz have been broadcast into the previous layer, P90 locks them in place and levels the surface. P90 can also be applied with an anti-skid additive, which is worth considering on any elevator floor where slip resistance compliance is a concern. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.22 sets walking-working surface standards for general industry, and many building owners and contractors specify a measurable slip resistance rating for elevator floors as a matter of course.
Polyurea-Polyaspartic vs. Epoxy: Why the Chemistry Matters in an Elevator
Most older elevator floor coating systems used epoxy, which typically requires 3 to 4 days from application to return-to-service. Epoxy is also rigid — it has little to no elongation — which is a real problem on a plywood substrate that moves with the seasons. That rigidity is why epoxy elevator floors tend to crack at the seams. Epoxy also has a stronger odor during installation and is sensitive to temperature, making scheduling and ventilation more complicated in an enclosed elevator cab.
PU85’s polyurea-polyaspartic chemistry is different in every one of those categories. The coating is touch-dry in about 1.5 hours and the full system is typically back in service within 1 to 2 days. It produces very low VOC with no odor, so installation can proceed in an occupied building without disrupting tenants on adjacent floors or requiring forced ventilation in the shaft. Its elongation at break — 50 to 100 percent — means the cured film moves with the plywood rather than fighting it. And unlike epoxy, PU85 is UV stable, so the finish will not yellow over time if the elevator cab has any light exposure.
For a broader comparison of elevator flooring system options, this overview covers epoxy, MMA, and polyurea-polyaspartic systems side by side.
Finish Options
Even in a freight elevator, the floor finish reflects on the building. The PU85 polyurea-polyaspartic system supports three main finish directions:
Solid color via Unicolor integral pigments — clean, professional, and the simplest option.
Resin chip finish using Endura — broad color palette, layered appearance, good for buildings where the finish needs to hide wear between cleanings.
Decorative quartz finish using Kwortz — harder surface, speckled look, well suited to high-traffic industrial environments.
All three options are sealed with Perdure P90, with anti-skid additive available as needed.
Ready to Spec or Install?
If you are a contractor or building maintenance professional working on a commercial property in the New York or New Jersey area, Duraamen’s regional teams can help you spec this polyurea-polyaspartic freight elevator floor coating system for your project.
Commercial floor coatings in NYC and commercial floor coatings in New Jersey are supported by our local offices. Contact Duraamen at 1.866.835.6595 or email us to discuss your elevator floor project.
