Commercial Kitchen Flooring - 01785 819800
Commercial Kitchen Flooring
Commercial kitchen floors require to be safe, hygienic and durable.
Pumadur polyurethane resin screeds are available in smooth or textured finishes. In a commercial kitchen environment we recommend the use of Pumadur HF textured anti-slip finish to provide maximum underfoot safety.
Being seamless and impervious throughout its thickness Pumadur HF is hygienic and can be cleaned down with steam or boiling water.
Aggressive cleaning chemicals are not a problem as a feature of polyurethane resin floor screeds is their chemical resistance which is why they are also used in chemical plants.
The durability of polyurethane resin screeds far surpasses the durability of vinyl or tiled surfaces with a life expectancy in excess of 15 years in a typical commercial kitchen environment.
Tiled floors have joints around every tile where the grout can break down – not so with Pumadur HF as it is laid as a seamless floor.
If not maintained welded joints in vinyl floors are susceptible to water ingress leading to hygiene and integrity issues – again not so with Pumadur HF as it is laid seamlessly.
In a commercial kitchen Pumadur HF is laid at a thickness of 9mm (same thickness as 3 x £1 coins) which is not dissimilar from the thickness of floor tiles and is 3-4 times thicker than vinyl flooring.
Commercial Kitchen Flooring
Existing Well Bonded Tiled Floor Seamlessly Overlaid with 9mm Thick Heavy Duty Steam Cleanable Anti-Slip Floor Screed
We are increasingly renewing commercial kitchen flooring as a result of problematical tile or vinyl flooring issues.
Many kitchens have broken or cracked tiles. This is often exacerbated by breakdown of the grout between the tiles.
Subject to the tiles being solidly bonded they can be mechanically prepared by shotblasting or diamond grinding and overlaid with a heavy duty polyurethane resin screed.
If the tiles are not solid they have to be removed along with the tile bedding and adhesive and the exposed concrete scarified before over-laying with a heavy duty polyurethane resin screed.
Similar issues arise with vinyl flooring. This often involves welded joints that have failed and are allowing water and food particles to penetrate under the kitchen flooring resulting in blistering and hygiene issues.
The solution is to remove the vinyl, scarify the exposed concrete and overlay with a heavy duty polyurethane resin screed.
Polyurethane resin flooring technology was developed and patented by ICI in the 1960’s to cope with the harsh demands experienced in chemical and petro-chemical industry.
Challenges included abrasion, impact, acids, alkalis and solvents often combined with heat and constantly wet environments.
It was quickly recognised that the properties exhibited to cope with these harsh conditions made the technology ideally suited to food manufacturing, preparation and cooking environments.
Polyurethane resin screeds will easily cope with temperatures of up to 75oC at 6mm in thickness and up to 120oC at 9mm in thickness.
They will withstand a steam cleaning or boiling water cleaning regime and have excellent resistance to cleaning chemicals.
These screeds are often referred to as food grade or food safe floor finishes with most of the resin flooring manufacturers having had their systems tested and verified by independent bodies such as the Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association.
BS 8204-6 classifies them as Type 8 (very heavy duty floor finishes) and recommends them for floors that are to be subjected to severe heavily loaded traffic and impact – an anticipated lifespan in excess of 15 years plus should be anticipated in a commercial kitchen.
Most of the commercial kitchen flooring projects we undertake come around 40-80m2 in size.This is generally a 2-3 day process subject to unlimited working hours on day one. A recent project was programmed as follows:
Sunday Midnight – client strips out kitchen including all plumbing and electrics
Monday 8:00am – vinyl removed, floor prepared, screed laid – completion 9:00pm
Tuesday 2:00pm – resin skirting fitted – completion 6:00pm
Wednesday 6:00am – client re-establishes kitchen in readiness for lunchtime opening
Polyurethane commercial kitchen flooring provides the following benefits:
Seamless floor finishes
Hygienic, impervious non-porous surfaces
Easily cleanable floor
Steam and hot water cleanable at temperatures up to 120oC (at 9mm in thickness)
Anti-slip finish in wet and dry environments
Hardwearing, impact and abrasion resistant
Skirting/coving grade to provide a seamless ‘box’ finish
Available in a choice of colours