Food production

In a food processing plant the floor takes four loads at once. Cleaning with hot water or steam shifts the floor temperature by tens of degrees within minutes. Lactic acid from dairy, fruit acids from fruit and vegetables and acetic acid from sauces attack ordinary cement-bound and epoxy systems. Fat makes a smooth finish unsafe. And pallets, roll cages and forklifts load the edges, corners and thresholds hardest of all. A floor that falls short on one of these points fails within a few years, rarely in the middle of the hall and almost always at the gully, the door threshold and the skirting.

Polyurethane cement and epoxy or polyurethane resin floors are both seamless and easy to clean; the difference lies in the load they tolerate. Polyurethane cement expands and contracts at almost the same rate as the concrete beneath it and absorbs the thermal shock of hot cleaning, so it suits wet production, rinsing areas and organic acids. Epoxy and polyurethane resin floors suit dry production, packing, warehouse and dispatch areas and are available in antistatic versions. We decide per room, based on the cleaning method, product temperature and the acids and fats released.

What makes a floor hygienic comes down to details: a seamless surface, a coved skirting of typically 100 mm with a 20 mm radius, falls to the gully with stainless steel gullies and drains integrated without joints, and slip resistance chosen per room. Installation is planned around production, at weekends, during holiday shutdowns or room by room; with fast-curing systems a room is often back in use within 24 hours. Before the start we record the system in a section drawing, including skirtings, gullies, movement joints and thresholds.