Quality and durability – the details that make the difference
Resin coating: technical details
The treatment of the technical details of a resin coating – joints, connectors, skirting strips – represents 10% of the total cost, but if they are not designed and installed properly they can account for up to 70% of failures and can compromise the outcome of the entire flooring project.
Creating skirting strips
Skirting strips are recommended in spaces where hygiene and ease of cleaning are important factors. Rounded strips between floors and walls facilitate cleaning and prevent the proliferation of dirt and microbes. To make skirting strips, it is important focus on the movements of the wall with respect to the floor. In the case shown below, since the wall in question is external, the floor is subject to expansion due to the variation in temperature with respect to the interior. For this reason, before installing the strip on the floor, it is important to create a “free-flowing bridge” – i.e. a cut (a joint) is made at around 10 cm from the wall. In this way, the floor and the wall can move, whereas the strip remains anchored in place by the wall, sliding along the floor when necessary without cracking.
Sealing the joints
On a resin coating, it is standard practice to include all of the joints found in the underlying concrete flooring. When the resin coating is polymerized, the joints are cut and then immediately cleaned, removing any dust generated. A polyurethane-foam seal is then inserted at -5 mm before the joint is sealed with a bicomponent polyurethane formulation.
Connecting two floors of different types
At the point where two floors of different types meet, the concrete floor – which serves as the foundation for the resin coating – is milled. The resin coating then applied. In this way, thanks to the milling, which strengthens the joint, the resin coating at the joint does not become detached from the foundations even when subject to the continual transit of pallet trucks and fork-lift trucks.
Connector with prefabricated drain
In production plants and within food-processing and pharmaceutical companies, the floors are usually equipped with water-drainage channels. It is essential manage the connection between the floor and the channel, since they are made from different materials. The concrete floor, which constitutes the foundation, is milled near the connection point. The resin coating is applied and, at the point where the floor and the channel meet, a joint is made into which a polyurethane-foam seal is inserted and then sealed with a bicomponent polyurethane formulation. With this reinforcing treatment, the resin coating does not become detached from the at the point which it joins with the channel, and there is no water infiltration.
