Industrial flooring is a key element in construction, especially important in industrial and public utility buildings. They must withstand intense operational impacts and the risk of damage. In this guide, we will discuss the key aspects of professional execution of industrial flooring.
Floor Construction
A typical structural layout of a floor on the ground includes several layers that must work together in harmony:
- Sub-base, placed on the ground substrate,
- Slip layer (and optionally a separating layer),
- Concrete slab (or reinforced concrete, or fiber-reinforced with steel fibers),
- Top layer, i.e., the flooring.
Additionally, depending on local conditions, there may be additional layers such as frost-resistant or thermal insulation. It is worth emphasizing that even minor flaws in any of these elements can negatively affect the floor’s durability, leading to defects and faults.
Floor Requirements
Industrial floors must withstand significant static and dynamic loads, resist mechanical, climatic, and chemical influences, and meet usage criteria such as slip resistance, abrasion resistance, moisture resistance, and ease of maintenance.
Substrate Preparation
A key stage in building a durable floor is proper substrate preparation, which must be load-bearing and uncontaminated. Before starting work, a detailed assessment of the subfloor is necessary, along with any repairs and reinforcements. The assessment includes checking, among other things, compressive and tensile strength, moisture content, unevenness, and contamination levels. Quality and parameter requirements of the substrate depend on the technology used, but general criteria such as load-bearing capacity, moisture, and temperature are crucial for most systems.
An important aspect of flooring is ensuring proper adhesion between the substrate and the top layer through priming and using a bonding layer. This not only provides better bonding but also increases the durability and strength of the entire structure.
Types of Industrial Flooring
There is a great variety of possible flooring systems. General guidelines and recommendations can be found in various sources, such as in [10]. The choice of appropriate material depends on many factors, such as the type of substrate on which the coating is to be applied, the thickness of the subfloor, and the usage conditions of the facilities and individual rooms.
Flooring Technologies
There are many different technologies used for industrial flooring, such as applying dry shake hardeners, surface hardening with mortar mixtures, surface impregnation with silicate or polymer preparations, and creating a top layer with polymer-cement mortar.
The most common types of floors are those made of concrete and cement, accounting for about 70% of all surfaces. Resin floors make up about 25%, and the remaining (ceramic, bituminous, anhydrite, etc.) constitute almost 5% of all industrial floors.
Due to the thickness and application method, floors can be divided into:
- impregnations and lacquer coatings,
- thin-layer coatings, used in facilities with light wheeled traffic and limited chemical aggression,
- mineral and resin screeds, used for high mechanical and chemical loads, as well as when a flexible or UV-resistant coating is needed.
For special requirements, appropriate systems are used, such as anti-slip, chemical-resistant, antistatic, flexible, etc.
Mineral Floors
There are several different technologies used for creating floors:
- Applying dry shake hardener on a freshly made concrete slab,
- Surface hardening with mortar mixtures,
- Surface impregnation with silicate or polymer preparations,
- Creating a top layer with polymer-cement mortar, bonded to the substrate with a bonding layer or laid on a slip layer as unbonded to the subfloor.
- The most common are surfaces whose top layer is surface-hardened with powder preparations – DST (Dry Shake Topping) system. The execution process involves sprinkling the surface with dry hardening preparation, then smoothing with mechanical trowels. The prepared surface zone, 2-3 mm thick, is responsible for transferring operational loads related to floor use.
- If there are concerns that the sprinkle will not meet the requirements, technologies ensuring a thicker layer are used. In new facilities, such floors can also be made in the “fresh on fresh” technology (similar to the DST system). For regeneration and repair of existing floors, and also for new ones, screeds (e.g., in the form of dry mortar or self-leveling) bonded to the subfloor with a bonding layer are used. Proper substrate preparation for the floor is crucial. It is also important that the applied coatings have a composition similar to the subfloor concrete layer, enabling a similar coefficient of thermal expansion and eliminating potential delaminations. Minimizing shrinkage is very important as it can lead to surface cracks, uneven displacements in the expansion joint area, and corner lifting of the slab.
- In the case of ceilings that undergo significant deformations under dynamic loads, systems on slip layers, unbonded to the subfloor, are used. These layers are made of cement composite concretes, usually surface-finished with hardening sprinkle. They are self-supporting and reinforced, e.g., with steel or polypropylene fibers. PE foil layers serve as a slip function.
Cement-Polymer Floors
Cement-polymer floors are commonly used due to their benefits. They consist of dry mixtures of special cements, fillers, admixtures, and additives, sometimes also with reinforcing fibers.
They are characterized by high mechanical strength and resistance to intense wheeled traffic, impacts, and good adhesion to the concrete substrate.
The DSP (Densified Systems containing homogenously arranged ultrafine Particles) technology is a fascinating example of new solutions in the field of creating mineral floors or renovating existing ones. This method enables the production of materials with 5-10 times greater resistance than standard mortars or concrete. Patented in 1973, the technology allows for compressive strengths of approximately 250-300 MPa.
The high density of cement particles, low water-to-cement ratio, and strong adhesion of the cement paste to the aggregate mean that mechanical strength and abrasion resistance depend equally on the properties of the binder and the type of aggregate used in the concrete.
Floors made using this method are characterized by:
- High compressive strength (110-180 MPa),
- High flexural strength (12-18 MPa),
- Good abrasion resistance (5.8-6.0 cm3/50 cm2),
- High impact resistance,
- Low water absorption (2.0-3.5%),
- Strong adhesion to the concrete substrate (9 MPa),
- Significantly higher chemical resistance than concrete,
- Complete resistance to frost and thawing,
- Resistance to high temperatures up to 250°C,
- Good anti-slip properties,
- Applicability on both new and existing concrete substrates.
Summary
Professional installation of industrial floors requires careful planning, proper substrate preparation, and the use of appropriate technologies. By paying attention to every detail, we can ensure the durability and functionality of the floor, which translates into the safety and convenience of the building’s users.