The fab floor

Resurfacing rationales go far beyond good looks

I recently visited a showcase facility just two years after a complete renovation. The grounds are impeccable, the offices lean but lovely, the manufacturing and warehouse areas brightly lit and spotless. But the materials the facility handles are heavy, and even at its young age, the floor is hurting, especially in high-traffic forklift areas around scales and storage. The coating shows wear and spalling, and the almost-new exposed concrete not only looks bad, but is being damaged by exposure to hard wheels and pallet nails.

There are many reasons to coat and maintain an industrial floor. It can increase sales, improve product quality, improve worker comfort and safety, and reduce maintenance costs in both the short and long run. Though some consider floor protection frivolous, you can calculate the payback it's likely to be shorter than you'd expect.

And of course, it looks fabulous.

When all you need is love

Depending on your competitive situation, just making floors look good can pay off by impressing existing and prospective customers. Your company may win new orders or at least not lose as many to the sharp facility down the road.

"Five or 10 years ago, suppliers and manufacturers were cutting their deals in the boardroom," says John Beck, president, Progressive Building Services, an independent flooring installer in Grand Rapids, Mich. "Now they're out on the production floor. Buyers want to see production areas and how they're maintained, and suppliers are getting new business by impressing them with clean, well-lit production areas."

The impact of a good-looking floor is significant. "About 90% of the perception of a building is based on the floor," Beck adds. "If people see a nice floor with traffic markings and striping, they feel the whole building is well-maintained."



Let it be?

But in our industrial world, most of the time good looks aren't enough. In fact, they can backfire: any attention to aesthetics might be seen as wasting time and money. "I call it the Wal-Mart syndrome," Beck says. "If the place looks too good, customers think you must be charging them too much. So companies fire their secretaries, let the weeds grow and ignore aesthetics." But Beck says that doesn't mean they can neglect their floors. "They used to coat the floor to make it look good," he says. "Now they resurface for functionality and product quality."

There are functional considerations for every industrial environment. Obviously, food, pharmaceutical and electronics facilities need smooth surfaces and easy cleanup for sanitary conditions and product quality. But other operations, from chemical plants to machining to assembly, can benefit from smooth, sealed floors.

"Dust is an issue, and not just in clean rooms, in electrical assembly and all high-tech industries," says Mike Jewell, vice president, marketing and technical services, Stonhard (www.stonhard.com). "Concrete is dusty it's the nature of the material. It affects operational efficiencies and costs."

These days, chemical processors and machining operations have to be concerned about liquids permeating an unsealed concrete floor and entering the ground. "Companies are responsible for environmental cleanup of their sites, and coatings can keep chemicals from seeping into the floor," says Mark Paggioli, director of marketing, Dur-A-Flex (www.dur-a-flex.com). "Some people are becoming more aware of that."

Floor coating can reduce utility costs. A light-colored, reflective floor helps get the most from existing illumination, allowing plants to install lower-wattage bulbs or avoid an otherwise needed upgrade to higher-output fixtures. Good lighting can increase operator effectiveness, comfort and safety.

The insulating effect of a thick floor coating can lower heating bills, and the higher surface temperature increases operator comfort at a lower ambient temperature, Beck says. 'If you're trying to heat an eight- or 12-inch-thick slab of concrete, a 1/4-inch overlay makes the building more comfortable.

Not only can a sealed floor be kept cleaner than bare concrete, it is also easier and less expensive to clean. Beck says many companies have found they can justify floor renovation on cleaning costs alone, calculating reasonable paybacks based on a 50% reduction in cleaning man-hours. There's at least a similar reduction in the use of cleaning supplies compared to the amount you need to use on rough and porous concrete.

"It's very easy to clean and saves time and money for our sanitation crew," says Chuck Bouchrouche, president of Bagel Boy, a bagel manufacturer in Lawrence, Mass. Antimicrobial coatings can prevent bacterial and fungal growth, odors and staining in food processing areas.

In plants where the floors are seldom swept, much less sanitized, the damage inflicted on bare concrete by material-hauling equipment may be returned in kind. "A rough floor beats up equipment like forklifts and towmotors," says Mark Cline, vice president, flooring, Preferred Inc., Cleveland. The damage can extend to personnel. "Plants are trying to get more into small spaces, so they're using more Raymond lifts. On a rough floor, operators can be hurt by shocks and bouncing."