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  • Brewery Floor Coating?

    Looking to coat our brewery floors with a two part epoxy made by "Top Secret". My first step is to complete a vapor test on the concrete. Anyone familiar with this product? Any suggestions/successes/failures with that or other products? I also have concerns about adding walnut chips or sand as a non-slip but feel in some areas it may be necessary. Any help appreciated.

    Casey
    Old Schoolhouse Brewery

  • #2
    Originally posted by Renegade Brewer
    Looking to coat our brewery floors with a two part epoxy made by "Top Secret". My first step is to complete a vapor test on the concrete. Anyone familiar with this product? Any suggestions/successes/failures with that or other products? I also have concerns about adding walnut chips or sand as a non-slip but feel in some areas it may be necessary. Any help appreciated.

    Casey
    Old Schoolhouse Brewery
    We had issues with epoxy based products because of the high temperature of our cleaning water. When the floor got a chip, the water, caustic, oxine would get into the chip and degrade the bonding suface causing it to peal. If you can keep it from getting chipped. (Dropped kegs, pallets with nails or bolts through the bottom), you may have a chance. You can put rubber mats down to help the chipping but care must still be taken.

    We tore out the epoxy and went with a cement type covering that seems to be much more durable. We are still using the rubber mats to protect the new investment. One note: A glossy finish doesn't stain like a matt finish.

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    • #3
      Flooring

      A urethane treatment like U-Crete is a far better option than epoxy coating, I have it by my keg area and you can't break or chip the stuff.

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      • #4
        I just finished sealing my floors with a product from a company called "VFI". The product number is "1007". It is a polyurethane coating that you simply roll onto the floor. It basically makes a thin coat of plastic on the floor and actually soaks into the concrete so you dont have to worry about it peeling up. Also you have the option of broadcasting (spreading) sand over the first coat and then following with a second coat to create a very sweet non-slick surface. I did it both ways in our place (non-slip in the tasting room) and adding the sand really makes it look cool, I wish we had done it in the brewery space. It is still not very slick without the sand though.

        If anybody is interested in the product you can e-mail me at: fossilcovebrewing@gmail.com

        Ben Mills
        Fossil Cove Brewing Co.
        Fayetteville, AR

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        • #5
          Before I was a brewer, I was an epoxy floor installer. As mentioned above, UCrete is tuff stuff, however, it's pretty damn expensive. But, if you prep the concrete the right way, and there's no residual oil soaked into it, you can have a nice 2 part epoxy floor last forever. The key, is in the prepping. Even new concrete needs "opened" up to allow for a durable bond. Without it, you can expect chips to occur. Once you get a chip, water alone will work under the coating and eventually destroy your floor.

          A lot of people, in trying to save money, will just roll on the epoxy and hope for the best. Remember, water is the universal solvent - it can erode the hardest rocks on the planet in time. The key is to prevent the water from penetrating the surface, and that involves proper preperation of the concrete surface.

          The other option, if you have naked concrete, is just to stain/waterproof the concrete itself. I like this concept because there's no chipping to worry about.
          Joe Kearns
          Brewmaster
          The White Hag Brewing Co.
          Sligo, Ireland

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          • #6
            Originally posted by theBrewMeister
            Before I was a brewer, I was an epoxy floor installer. As mentioned above, UCrete is tuff stuff, however, it's pretty damn expensive. But, if you prep the concrete the right way, and there's no residual oil soaked into it, you can have a nice 2 part epoxy floor last forever. The key, is in the prepping. Even new concrete needs "opened" up to allow for a durable bond. Without it, you can expect chips to occur. Once you get a chip, water alone will work under the coating and eventually destroy your floor.

            A lot of people, in trying to save money, will just roll on the epoxy and hope for the best. Remember, water is the universal solvent - it can erode the hardest rocks on the planet in time. The key is to prevent the water from penetrating the surface, and that involves proper preperation of the concrete surface.

            The other option, if you have naked concrete, is just to stain/waterproof the concrete itself. I like this concept because there's no chipping to worry about.

            A note to add. Each state has different laws for food/ beverage floor coverings. I would check that first. Too bad polished concrete won't suffice.

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            • #7
              The fundamental problem with thin coat epoxies, even when applied professionally, is that they do not have the same coefficient of expansion as concrete. In the brewery, where you often have near boiling liquid hitting the floor, the epoxy will eventually crack from the stress of expanding and contracting. This will obviously happen much faster with cold floors. Then everything mentioned above will begin. Also, as mentioned previously, they just cannot withstand dropping SS parts onto them. They chip and the whole system begins to fail.

              IMHO spend the extra money and get a urethane enriched concrete topcoat.
              ______________________
              Jamie Fulton
              Community Beer Co.
              Dallas, Texas

              "Beer for the Greater Good"

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              • #8
                Epoxy Floor Covering

                I agree with the previous posts about the shortfalls of epoxy especially when it comes to impact resistance. We used an Industrial Rustoleum epoxy from brewfloors.com. We spent about $800 on product and floor prep equipment to lay it down. We are 1 year in it did peel where we pull full kegs around and little knicks are noticeable where stainless steel hits the ground...especially near our floor resting kettle and heat exchanger. However, I just resealed these areas with more and it seems to be back to new. Still under a $1000 and looking good. I had quotes for $10-15K for the 1500 sqft for urethane concrete and such. We used that money for two more 15bbl fermenters and I still feel it was the right choice. Ive placed mats in the keg and kettle area to try to stop the impact damage going forward.

                Hope this helps.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by theBrewMeister View Post
                  Before I was a brewer, I was an epoxy floor installer. As mentioned above, UCrete is tuff stuff, however, it's pretty damn expensive. But, if you prep the concrete the right way, and there's no residual oil soaked into it, you can have a nice 2 part epoxy floor last forever. The key, is in the prepping. Even new concrete needs "opened" up to allow for a durable bond. Without it, you can expect chips to occur. Once you get a chip, water alone will work under the coating and eventually destroy your floor.

                  A lot of people, in trying to save money, will just roll on the epoxy and hope for the best. Remember, water is the universal solvent - it can erode the hardest rocks on the planet in time. The key is to prevent the water from penetrating the surface, and that involves proper preperation of the concrete surface.

                  The other option, if you have naked concrete, is just to stain/waterproof the concrete itself. I like this concept because there's no chipping to worry about.
                  i'm looking at getting a concrete floor from scratch. is "doing it right" something that most contractors or concrete companies will know? or do i have to make sure they're prepping the floor properly when poured?

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