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Building with Concrete: What is Concrete Made of; Concrete Mix Designs; Decorative Mix Design; Hot Weather Concreting; Cold Weather Concreting; Concrete Admixtures; Ordering Concrete; Subgrades & Subbases; Building Concrete Slabs; Preventing Concrete Cracks; Concrete Joints; Green Building With Concrete; Polyaspartic Coatings; Surface Preparation; Curing Concrete; Concrete Demolition; Vapor Barriers
Concrete Applications: Concrete Overlays; Concrete Footings; Poured Retaining Walls; Snow Melt Systems; Concrete Floors: Owner's Manual; Making Concrete Slip Resistant; Rock Salt Finish
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Polyaspartic Case Study

The meat department in this grocery store had a two-year-old epoxy coating of which about 90% had peeled up, leaving the concrete unprotected and able to support bacterial growth. The floor needed to be fixed immediately, but the store owners didn't want to close their meat department for several days to install a new epoxy system. This would have been an extreme inconvenience for employees and customers and a significant loss of profits. There also was concern over the loss of business due to the odors emitted during installation of an epoxy system. A final condition was the need to keep the freezers on, meaning the new coating would have to be installed at temperatures as low as 15°F, much too cold for epoxy.

This failed epoxy coating allowed bacterial growth in the concrete.

Advantage Chemical Coatings

One evening, the flooring contractor moved in immediately after closing time and began by diamond grinding the floor. Degraded areas were removed and patched with polyaspartic mixed with silica sand. All the patch work was cured and diamond ground 45 minutes later.

The first treatment applied was a penetrating silicate moisture barrier, supplied by Advantage Concrete Coatings, that was intended to eliminate moisture vapor emissions. Advantage recommends this material any time a floor has a moisture vapor emission rate greater than 7 pounds/1000 square feet/24 hours or if the floor will be washed down on a regular basis. When this coating was dry—in about 3 hours--workers applied a pigmented coat of 75% solids polyaspartic (AdvaCoat) and waited 45 minutes for it to cure. The top coat was again 75% solids pigmented polyaspartic polyurea into which a non-slip grit was broadcast and the entire floor was back-rolled.