Do You Have a Problem With Concrete Dusting in Your Warehouse?

What Exact­ly Is Con­crete Dusting?

While the con­crete floors in your ware­house may seem inde­struc­tible, in real­i­ty they will become dam­aged and worn with time and use, just like any oth­er aspect of your facil­i­ty. Tak­ing it a step fur­ther, if your floor­ing is uncoat­ed (plain and unpro­tect­ed), it can start to be ground down by foot traf­fic and machin­ery. This cre­ates a fine (and prob­lem­at­ic!) dust­ing of con­crete that finds a home on numer­ous surfaces.

Is this real­ly a big deal? Good question!

Can Con­crete Dust­ing Be Harmful?

Dust may seem pret­ty benign, but it can cause a vari­ety of issues. Let’s take a clos­er look at a few of these:

• Safe­ty — Your ware­house floor­ing needs to be sol­id, lev­el, and in good con­di­tion for both safe oper­a­tions and the sake of your main­te­nance bud­get. Small points of weak­ness can quick­ly grow into larg­er ones! That’s why this per­sis­tent grind­ing down of sur­faces can be an indi­ca­tor that you con­crete needs attention.
• Air Qual­i­ty - Breath­ing dusty air is cer­tain­ly a health haz­ard for your team. To avoid any lia­bil­i­ty (and to pro­tect those work­ing in your ware­house), con­crete dust should be eliminated.
• Machin­ery Dam­age — Thick coat­ings of dust and machin­ery are nev­er a good combination.
• Aes­thet­ics — This might fall a bit low­er on some facil­i­ty man­agers’ list of pri­or­i­ties, but a dusty, unkempt envi­ron­ment just looks slop­py and unpro­fes­sion­al. It can also con­t­a­m­i­nate the com­modi­ties that are stored in/​distributed from the warehouse.

How Do You Con­trol Dust in a Warehouse?

• Dust, sweep, and mop regularly

• Devel­op an indus­tri­al clean­ing main­te­nance plan

• FOD con­tain­ment ser­vices, such as floor-to-ceil­ing bar­ri­ers when doing repairs and work with high debris output

• Install, update, and main­tain air purifiers

• Reduce the use of equip­ment that caus­es dust, such as forklifts

What Can You Do to Elim­i­nate Con­crete Dusting?

There are a vari­ety of options, and they all involve pick­ing the right treat­ment or sys­tem for your floor. To name a few exam­ples, your solu­tion might be found in seal­ing, pol­ish­ing, or apply­ing an epoxy floor coat­ing (be sure to fol­low those links for more infor­ma­tion!). An indus­tri­al floor­ing pro­fes­sion­al can help you nav­i­gate your options, select­ing the per­fect answer to your spe­cif­ic needs.

If you have any ques­tions, we hope you will reach out to us at Kaloutas’s indus­tri­al floor­ing divi­sion. It would be our plea­sure to serve you!

Kaloutas is New Eng­land’s pre­mier con­trac­tor for com­mer­cial & indus­tri­al paint­ing, floor­ing, and relat­ed ser­vices. Estab­lished in 1987, Kaloutas has become a trust­ed resource for gen­er­al con­trac­tors, facil­i­ties man­agers, and build­ing own­ers from Con­necti­cut to Maine. Our team prides itself on high qual­i­ty work­man­ship, jobs done on time & bud­get, and tack­ling com­plex projects that oth­er con­trac­tors don’t have the expe­ri­ence or resources to han­dle. Con­tact us today for a paint­ing or floor­ing esti­mate, or give us a call at 978−532−1414 to learn more.