Industrial Flooring Maintenance

Grit is the main enemy

Not chemicals, not forklifts — grit. Sand and dust tracked in on wheels and boots act as an abrasive under every pass of traffic, grinding the surface film away in the traffic lanes first. It is why floors wear in stripes rather than evenly.

The cheapest maintenance measure available is entrance matting long enough for three or four footfalls, plus regular sweeping or vacuuming of the traffic lanes. That alone can add years.

Cleaning: what to use and what to avoid

• Use a pH-neutral or mildly alkaline cleaner. Most resin floor damage from cleaning is caused by strongly acidic products used to attack scale.
• Avoid solvents. Thinners, acetone and some degreasers soften a resin surface. What looks like a cleaning success is often surface damage.
• Rinse, do not leave detergent standing. Residue makes the floor slippery and holds soiling.
• Do not use excessive water on a floor without falls. Standing water finds joints and edges.
• Scrubber-driers are excellent, but check the brush or pad grade — an aggressive pad polishes matt floors and dulls gloss ones.

Joints need inspecting, not ignoring

Movement and construction joints are the weakest line in any floor and the first thing to fail. Once a joint sealant tears or a joint arris spalls, forklift wheels start hammering the edge and the damage spreads quickly. Walk the joints twice a year. Re-sealing a joint is a small job; rebuilding a spalled joint arris across a warehouse is not.

Deal with spillage as an event, not a routine

Almost every resin floor tolerates a chemical for a short contact time and fails against the same chemical over a long one. A splash of acid cleaned within the hour is usually irrelevant. The same splash left over a weekend etches the surface and starts a defect that spreads. Spill kits within reach of the risk area cost very little.

Recoat before you have to replace

This is the single most valuable thing on this page. A resin floor that has worn its topcoat but has an intact body coat can usually be lightly abraded and recoated at a fraction of the cost of a new floor. Once wear reaches the substrate, the whole build-up has to come off and go back.

The window for that decision is visible: traffic lanes losing gloss, colour fading in the wheel paths, a slightly rougher feel underfoot. That is the point to call, not after the concrete shows through.

A simple schedule

• Daily. Sweep or vacuum traffic lanes. Deal with spillage as it happens.
• Weekly. Scrub with a neutral cleaner. Check matting.
• Quarterly. Inspect the joints and the areas around drains and plinths.
• Annually. Walk the whole floor and photograph wear in the traffic lanes so the rate of change is visible year on year.
• Year five onward. Get a recoat assessment before wear reaches the body coat.