Pouring metallic: load the pigment and let it move

Metallics are where a lot of installers either fall in love with this trade or get humbled by it. The pigment moves through the resin as it cures, and a small change in how you place it changes the entire result. That is the appeal, and that is the trap.

Load it, place it, leave it

The most common rookie move is overworking the floor. You place the metallic, you see it doing something beautiful, and you cannot resist reaching back in. Every pass you make after the pigment starts to set flattens the depth you were chasing.

Load the pigment and let it move. Do not chase it.

Place your base, broadcast or pour your metallic, do your manipulation while the window is open, and then step back. The resin is going to keep working after you stop. Trust it.

Depth comes from the base, not the topcoat

A flat metallic almost always traces back to a base coat that was too thin or the wrong tint. The base carries the pigment and sets how much light gets back out of the floor. Get the body coat right and the effect has somewhere to live.

• Mix your pigment to a starting ratio, then adjust, because more is not always better
• Tint the base to support the effect, do not fight it
• Seal under a UV-stable clear or sunlight will amber the whole thing
• Practice on a sample board before you do it on a customer’s slab

This is where the academy pays for itself

Metallics reward reps. Reading the cure, timing the manipulation, knowing when to walk away; none of that comes off a data sheet. If you want to learn it without burning a real floor, that is exactly what the two-day metallic course is for. The material is here, and so is the guidance.

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