The Importance of Starting at the Bottom
Flooring selection during construction and retrofitting of an industrial food and/or beverage facility is crucial for productivity, safety and – ultimately – your bottom dollar. Food processing and manufacturing facilities must comply with myriad, strict sanitary and safety standards under the FDA, the NSF, the EPA and the USDA. Facilities are subject to constant scrutiny and compliance checks by federal and state regulators. Floors must be seamless – clear of cracks, divots, and imperfections, hygienic, sterile, and sanitized easily. Durability against corrosive elements and heavy machinery is mandatory as is slip resistance and safety stripping. Nothing provides greater return on investment than the ability to avoid shutdown by health and safety regulators. Other profitability considerations include odors, which can affect the purity and quality of the product, and aesthetic appeal, which is recommended for on-site visits. Additionally, downtime impacts gross profits making quick-drying options appealing. As the nation’s leader in epoxy flooring, we have seen the proliferation in these flooring systems because of epoxy’s ability to meet these demands making them ideal for the food and beverage industry.
Plant, compliance, and project managers need to be educated on both the breadth of the facility’s needs and the elements of various flooring systems to ensure accurate cost benefit analysis and – ultimately – keep the plant operational. REDRHINO experts, recognized as the best in the nation, will assist you in customizing an epoxy flooring system that uses our superior, USDA approved, quality resins and additives and expert installation to meet your needs. Food & beverage industry projects that REDRHINO has worked on include: plants, dairies, food processing plants, meat packing & poultry facilities, bakeries, commercial kitchens – in addition to respective building components like cold storage, freezers, fryer lines, chemical and secondary containment.
That’s where REDRHINO and our expertise in epoxy coatings and urethane cement – among other flooring systems – offer value through both the consulting and decision-making stage to project execution and guarantee. Every contracted REDRHINO project undergoes thorough consulting to determine your needs and match them with our superior, USDA approved, quality products and experienced application. Here is an overview of REDRHINO’s flooring options.
Epoxy Flooring Systems | Epoxy coatings can contribute to a building’s aesthetics and value, mitigate operational hazards, comply with regulatory standards, and even lower total costs for managers and tenant. There are several USDA and FDA approved epoxy flooring systems. Epoxy floor coatings – whether waterborne, novolac, or high-solid – are a great choice for food and beverage facilities that deal with chemical products, alkalis and repeated intense heating and cleaning processes. Cove base, seamless floors and non-porous surfaces eliminate areas that could harbor bacteria. Additional benefits of epoxy coatings include:
- ease of maintenance
- resistance to thermal and mechanical shock
- low VOCs
- heat resistant
- chemical resistant
- increased safety with slip resistance and safety striping
- strong bonding characteristics
- quick-drying properties which accelerate completion and limit downtime
- aesthetic appeal.
Urethane Cement Flooring Systems | REDRHINO is driving the positive trend of the application of urethane cement in facilities across the food and beverage industry. It offers superior longevity, durability and is efficiently cleaned. These concrete systems – applied with a thickness of at least one-fourth of an inch – mitigate blistering and disbondment that can occur in resinous flooring. They also:
- mitigate moisture/liquid seepage and pollution
- resist thermal shock
- tolerate heavy impact, traffic and conditions
- are nearly odorless
- are scratch resistant
- quick-drying, ready for use within six hours.
Urethane cement flooring systems with a coefficient of linear thermal expansion closer to that of concrete have life expectancies greater than the average 25-year lifespan of epoxies. Urethane cement systems installation is time efficient, completely cured and ready for use within six hours. Decorative options, like colored quartz, add aesthetic value. It’s ideal for meat and poultry plants.
Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) Floor Coatings | MMA coatings are ideal for flooring systems in cold storage facilities and freezers. These coatings are highly tolerable and durable under cold temperatures. MMA is also odorless, a combination that makes them ideal for beverage plants.
Polyurea Floor Coatings | Polyurea coatings are impact resistant, odorless, offer anti-bacterial properties and meet USDA and ANSI-NSF 61 standards of food production. They are physically flexible and very tough with an elasticity that allows tolerance of temperatures between -20° F to 250° F. Polyurea is ideal for substrates and potable water tanks and can be a great options for certain food and beverage facilities.
