Writen by Harvey Chichester
In today's competitive environment, factories and other production facilities need to operate around the clock in order to maximize the use of the company's resources. But heavy usage means increased damage to the plant floor since even the hardest cement deteriorates under constant friction. With floor damage comes difficulty in cleaning, maintaining rolling equipment, and presenting a positive corporate image. Shutting down the plant would be too costly to the business operations, so the damage must be repaired on the fly--and it must last. This is where a new breed of wear-resistant and easy-to-use epoxy patches and laminating products can save the day.
Even more difficult than maintaining clean, smooth floors with out chipping, lifting, or pealing, is fixing holes, cracks, and erosion. Some facilities suffer from shaking concrete floors. The shaking is most often caused by rolling equipment crossing expansion joints cut in the concrete when poured. All these problems can be remedied with 100% epoxy fillers mixed with quartz that can be feathered to blend with the surrounding undamaged surfaces. With some careful preparation, and the use of grinders, the damaged floor can be brought back to level quickly and without interruption to operations. The patching materials have compression strengths exceeding 22,000 lb. per sq. in., can be feathered to a fine edge, and will not wash or knock out of the holes and cracks that they fill.
Mixing 100% epoxy with color quartz to 28 lb. per gallon gives a trowel mix with a peanut butter consistency. This mix can be placed in holes using a trowel or putty knife. Small vertical surfaces are best filled by using a heavy rubber glove and applying the mixture by hand with a rubbing motion. Small holes can be quickly filled simply by pouring syrup-consistency liquid epoxy to the surface and grinding flush once hardened. Uneven surfaces can be matched by bridging from the higher surface to the lower surface with a trawled-on mini-ramp that transitions from one level to the other.
Photo examples of the joint sealing process are available at www.concrete-floor-coatings.com/photos/jointsealer. They are provided by Durall Industrial Flooring of Minneapolis, MN, the only industrial flooring manufacturer that also makes over 500 specialty cleaners, allowing them to produce special preparations and application systems designed to assure optimum flooring adhesion and wear results.
For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com
Phone: 1-800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)
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Harvey Chichester is a principal of Durall Industrial Flooring, a company with more than 40 years experience in developing special flow-coatings for industrial and residential floors. He has experience with Automotive and shopping centers, breweries, food processing plants, manufacturing plants, airplane hangars, car washes, kennels, warehouses, printing plants, residential basements, pool decks, and condominiums are among some of the facilities that benefit from these non-porous, moisture- and wear-resistant cement floor coverings.
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