Industrial Applications was contacted by the Plant Manager at one location of P&G, a multi-national consumer goods corporation for whom we had worked at other plants they owned. They were preparing to install an assembly line to produce a new product line, and the floor was a hodgepodge of multiple older coatings installed over the years, all of which were breaking up, which made it very difficult to clean and maintain that area and presented very poorly aesthetically.
Most of the area was covered in ¼” epoxy mortar, a tough coating to remove, even with our more aggressive tooling. To complicate matters, as we removed the coating, the concrete slab was breaking up, there were multiple cracks in the substrate, and the joints were in bad shape.
Given the nature of the manufacturing work that they did, it was imperative that we were aware of noise restrictions, dust limitations, heavy foot traffic in the area and their desire for a neat work environment.
They decided to move to a polished concrete solution due to the durable nature of polished concrete, the easy and inexpensive ongoing maintenance required, and the increased brightness that a polished concrete surface would bring.
We estimated the project would take approximately four weeks, given the size of the area – 25,850 square feet.
We called on a veteran crew of highly skilled repair and polish crew members who got right to work. Removal of the epoxy was a very slow process, even using the PCD T-Rex tooling which is some of the most aggressive in the industry. Concrete Grinders were hooked up to vacuums, and emptied regularly, to minimize dust in the area. As the crew removed the epoxy coating, the slab broke and cracked due to its age and integrity. These areas needed to be carefully patched. As the joints were uncovered, they needed to be rebuilt.
After repairs were made and the surface preparation was complete, a grout coat was applied to fill pinholes and porosity of the concrete slab’s surface. Then a concrete densifier was applied to increase density of the concrete and eliminate dusting. Then, a stain guard product was applied to act as a sealer, creating a water repellant floor, resistant to liquids and chemicals.
The Plant Manager was extremely pleased with the noise and dust minimization, and the ongoing cleaning of the work area. Ongoing communication with him about what we uncovered as the epoxy was removed, what needed to be done and our on-time progress was also much appreciated.
The result was a bright area, with a very sharp looking, very strong floor with great integrity and durability ready for the assembly line to be installed and production processes to begin.
