Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


-----

Sealing /coating floors in plating shop

We have an old factory and it's a bit rundown cement floor I was wondering what type of covering we could use, paint,resin,or other types of coverings most of the area has access to a fork lift and pallet truck.

C.C.Anderson
plating shop, Australia
1999

We had a similar problem where we needed to coat an old concrete floor with cracks in it. We looked at epoxies, vinyl esters and some paints but we found out that with most of these products you will need to prime or sandblast the concrete before application which was a cost concern.In addition many of these products were two component. After some research we ran into a product that is a water based emulsion which is elastomeric and has an ionic charge to insure adhesion to concrete. With this product we were able to do the job cheaply without having to do any special preparation other than sweeping and water washing the concrete. The product is also resistant to several chemicals.In addition the product can be used as a crack filler before water dilution. The product is ACIDGARDE manufactured by Lovoc Group Inc. . We found the product in the 1998 Thomas register where they have a full page Ad under Coatings , Acid and Alkali resistant. We have been happy with the results and with the savings on preparation and labor costs. I hope this helps. Regards

Cathy E. Smith
- New york, New York
1999

---

We have rebuilt our factory flooring several times and spent a lot of money each time. The reason why we spent so much money earlier is because we had it. In recent days we have arrived at a policy, "Think like a poor man". Of all the plating shops I have seen in my career of Marketing Electroplating Chemicals (8 Years) & doing Electroplating (18 years) the most ingenious and cost effective solutions I have seen are with the people who are least supposed to have them!

The thing which has worked for us and may work for you is Bitumen. We use the same bitumen used for tarring roads and heat the stuff whilst adding already preheated sand to the molten Bitumen. The resultant slurry is poured into the dried floor and rolled on with a steel roller with kerosene as the lubricant, lightly brushed on the roller to prevent the bitumen mixture sticking on the roller. This same stuff is also available in ingot form and is commonly called Mastic, but our own sand/tar mixture works better for years.

If you are coming to India , you are welcome to see our flooring anytime.

Khozem Vahaanwala
Saify Ind

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

1999