Fast Drying Factory Floor Painting - 01785 819800
Overnight Builders Merchant 9pm – 6am Fast Drying Factory Floor Painting Trafficable After 2 Hours
Fast Drying Factory Floor Painting
On occasion we are requested to paint floors within a tight schedule where timing is critical and the available window for standard floor painting simply does not exist.
Traditional epoxy resin floor coatings work on a cycle of preparation, first coat, overnight curing and second coat that puts the floor area out of commission for a minimum of 2-3 days plus curing time.
Recently we were approached by a builders merchant that had a floor in need of repair and re-painting.
The store was open to trade and public every day of the year with the exception of Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
With opening hours of 8:00 am to 8:00 pm the effective window for floor preparation and painting including curing was eleven hours before opening up to staff in readiness to receive foot traffic, pallet trucks and forklifts at 7:00 am.
The system proposed by us was to repair damaged areas of floor with rapid curing resin floor screed followed by painting with two coats of fast drying high build resin floor paint.
This proposal was subject to a pull off test to ensure that the fast setting resin floor paint was compatible with, and would adhere to, the existing floor paint.
The test was undertaken by the manufacturer of the rapid curing resin floor paint – see below:
“A small area of the existing substrate (possibly a polyurethane self-leveller) was thoroughly abraded and solvent washed prior to the application of our polyaspartic coating.
BS 8204-6 section 11.4.2 states that flooring systems should have a minimum bond strength of 1.5 N/mm2 to the substrate.
Our tests were carried out using an Elcometer F106 adhesion tester serial No TD2004 with the pull-offs determined according to EN 13892-8:2002.
4 dollies were stuck down for 24 hours.
The pull-offs gave a reading of 3.5 N/mm2 At no point in the tests did the fast setting coating de-bond from the existing resin system. The failure was within the dollie adhesive.
To conclude the tests I tried to physically debond the coating with a small hammer and pallet knife but to no avail”.
Our proposed specification was to prepare the existing floor with STR multi grinders fitted with diamond discs to abrade the surface of the existing floor followed by the application of two coats of fast setting high build resin floor paint.
The rapid setting resin is ready to receive traffic two hours after application.
The works were undertaken over seventeen night-shifts commencing with the floor repairs followed by the new floor coating.
During the new coating works each section of floor was abraded and TWO coats of fast cure resin floor paint was applied all between 8:00 pm and 4:00 am to ensure availability for use at 7:00 am.
Industrial Floor Treatments (Stone) Ltd are a dedicated factory floor painting contractor. We specialise in the installation of epoxy resin factory floor paint and epoxy resin and polyurethane resin screeds on new build and refurbishment projects throughout England.
We do not undertake domestic works but concentrate solely on industrial premises where floor painting is required.
We prepare and paint concrete floors in manufacturing & engineering plants.
We also install floors in the printing, paper & packaging industries, food production facilities, warehouses, garages and workshops.
For our commercial clients such as hotels and restaurants this generally involves the application of a food grade floor finish. These are installed in the back of house areas such as kitchens, food preparation areas, potwash and other areas of high footfall.
So why paint your factory floor?
Safety. By ensuring that pedestrian walkways, forklift trucking aisles, crossover points and work stations are all clearly delineated to ensure the safety of personnel and visitors.
Box outlines with single directional hatching should be marked out at all fire exit doors to ensure that they are not blocked with plant, materials or equipment.
Where safety underfoot is compromised because of liquid spillages such as oil or water or where fine powder settles on a smooth floor finish an anti-slip finish should be considered. This is generally deemed a requirement where a slip potential will arise on a regular basis and can be anticipated.
Where an unforeseen accidental spillage occurs such as a machine leak an anti-slip finish is generally not required subject to prompt cleaning up.
Operational Benefits – a colour coded floor helps to co-ordinate all activities from Goods In to Despatch. An organised workflow where pallets, raw materials and finished goods can be placed and stored correctly is essential. Quarantine areas can be clearly marked out and marshaling lanes or storage bays clearly defined.
Light reflection – a painted factory floor with a gloss finish will reflect more light than bare concrete. This provides greater visibility in your facility promoting safety and reducing the need for auxiliary lighting. We can restore the most eroded of floors, repair cracks and spalled joints as well as damage from years mechanical or chemical abuse.
Aesthetics – one of the primary reasons to paint your factory floor is the vibrancy and colour that it produces.
Employee morale – clean, glossy epoxy resin flooring impacts on employee morale, customer confidence, and creates a more enjoyable workplace environment than one that has dull, dirty or bare concrete floors.
Ease of cleaning – polyurethane & epoxy resin floors tend to be easier to clean. Bare concrete floors attract and hold dirt whereas a resin floor paint will provide a barrier that makes clean-up faster and easier. Painting your floor also help keep them dry and safe and reduces the cost of sweeping and scrubbing.
Protection from wear – concrete floors coated with polyurethane or epoxy resin floor paints will last longer than uncoated concrete. Vehicle traffic, particularly when combined with other factors, can wear away the cement matrix of concrete slabs and expose the aggregate. An epoxy resin floor paint will protect the concrete.