Is Your Old Concrete Floor Actually a Safety Hazard?

Recon­di­tion­ing an old­er facil­i­ty is a won­der­ful way to repur­pose a space, giv­ing it a new lease on life. The key is to make sure that all the nec­es­sary updates are made, both for aes­thet­ic rea­sons as well as to ensure that the envi­ron­ment is safe and ready for use.

We were recent­ly called to Salem, NH, to address mul­ti­ple floor­ing issues found in an old­er facil­i­ty that is being giv­en a sec­ond life as a stor­age warehouse.

As you can see in the first two pho­tos above, this floor was scarred by mul­ti­col­ored, deeply-sat­u­rat­ed stains (they were actu­al­ly over a decade old!). On top of that, sec­tions of the con­crete were raised, cre­at­ing a trip­ping haz­ard. Our goal was to restore a smooth, lev­el, and safe sur­face.

Shot­blast­ing — What Is the Process, and What Can It Do for Your Facility’s Concrete?

The advan­tage of shot blast­ing is found in its abil­i­ty to restore a lev­el pro­file. In addi­tion, it simul­ta­ne­ous­ly cleans and cre­ates a slight­ly rough­ened fin­ish that is per­fect for coating.

How does it work?

Shot­blasters are essen­tial­ly enclosed blast cham­bers, inside of which steel balls are shot out of pad­dles onto the con­crete. The steel shot is recy­cled as the machine runs, while the stirred up dust, dirt, and par­ti­cles of old coat­ing are sucked into an addi­tion­al cham­ber. A floor­ing pro­fes­sion­al will guide the shot blast­ing unit along the floor, con­trol­ling the impact (and effect) that the process has. Depend­ing on the speed at which the unit moves and the size/​velocity of the shot, the result can range from light etch­ing to a com­plete removal of the sur­face and its coatings.

We also used a deep-fill epoxy mor­tar to help lev­el the deep­er cracks and dam­aged sec­tions of the floor.

Restor­ing a Ware­house Floor with an Epoxy Top Coat

After mak­ing repairs and shot blast­ing to lev­el the sur­face, we installed a coat­ing of high-qual­i­ty, water-reducible epoxy from Pro­tec­tive Indus­tri­al Poly­mers. This is a prod­uct that we believe in, and know will serve the facil­i­ty well.

Here are just a few ben­e­fits of this par­tic­u­lar epoxy system:

• Allows mois­ture trans­mis­sion with­out risk of coat­ing failure
• Seals the sur­face, pro­tect­ing against liq­uid dam­age and spills
• Low-VOC — This is a low-odor prod­uct, com­ply­ing with VOC reg­u­la­tions for indus­tri­al main­te­nance coatings
• Long-last­ing
• Dust-proof

Two Pieces of Good News

First, we were able to mobi­lize with­in a week, accom­mo­dat­ing our client’s busy con­struc­tion sched­ule. We want­ed to do all we could to get this repur­posed facil­i­ty up and run­ning quickly.

Also, remem­ber those ten-year-old stains? The shot blast­ing process removed the blem­ish­es, cre­at­ing a clean, like-new sur­face. What could be better?

It was a plea­sure to offer our indus­tri­al floor­ing ser­vices to this Salem client, and we wish them all the best with their recon­di­tioned space.

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.