Case Study: Heavy-Traffic Warehouse Flooring System
Size: 2,000 Sq Ft
System Installed: Sparta-Guard Solid Color System
Project Challenges:
- Heavy Contamination
- Remove Existing Coating
- Budget Constraints
- Fast Return to Service
Installation Specifics:
Prior to the coating project, the space served as a high traffic space complete with leaking forklifts and other contaminants. The owner chose HP Spartacote’s Industrial 3- coat polyaspartic system as it would provide an outstanding finish at a very reasonable cost and it could be installed and put back into service for the next tenant in short order.
One the first day the applicator washed down the floor with an oil and wax emulsifier so as not to spread any of the oil from the lift around the floor and then proceeded with grinding off the various coating systems that had been put down over the years which proved to be a chore.
PCD attachments were used to remove the existing coating systems which was followed by a quick pass with the 30 grit diamonds on the same machine. Next we used HP’s repair material to take care of any and all repairs that had not been previously treated and to repair any gouges the PCD’s may have put in the floor. Following the short cure time of the repair material the applicator made another quick pass using the 80 grit diamonds on the DG-16 to remove all the grinding an swirl marks. Once the grinding was complete, the floor was vacuumed to ensure the substrate was dust free prior to coating.
On the second day, the crew applied three coats of HP’s light grey polyaspartic. The initial coat was applied with a brush and back-roll technique. All 4 guys started by cutting in along the back wall and about half way up the side walls. Next 3 guys divided the floor evenly form left to right and began coating moving at a rate of about 10 feet at a time from back to front working there way across the floor. Once the 3 rollers were about 20 feet out from the back wall the 4th guy, wearing floor spikes, started back rolling the full width of the floor moving toward the rollers at an even pace so as not to encroach on the rollers and allow him to complete the back roll of the entire floor without stopping.
The rollers also kept an even pace and cut in the remaining area as they went and mixing more material as needed. Once the first coat was dry the second coat was mixed and applied as the first one had been.
After about an hour, it was time for the final top-cat. The team added a shark grip traction additive to the mix at a rate of 2 ounces per gallon. This coat was applied using a foam squeegee (a zero or 1/16th inch notched squeegee can also be used depending on desired mil thickness). When using a squeegee a ribbon of material is poured directly onto the floor and again we start by cutting in along the back wall and up the sides using 3” chip brushes. One guy begins pulling the material across the floor with the squeegee while 2 others on spikes start a double back roll using the same method as used on the first coat. The 4th guy finishes the cut in and mixes and pours the material as needed.
The second coat of material and clean up completes the job by 2:00 p.m. on the second day and the floor is open to foot traffic by 4:00 p.m. the same day and put back into full service the following day.