Brewery floor recommendations (drainage).

[Liberty Brewer]

I am looking at a possibility of building a production facility, and wonder how the drainage is best added into a building that already has a great smooth floor.
I know that the recommendation is to pitch the floors 1/4" per foot toward the drains - I would do a little more if I can... but how? You don't rip up the entire floor, do you? Do you lay a skim coat with a pitch toward the drains? I think that would chip immediately. I know how trench drains are installed, so I don't need to hear opinion on cutting those and installing with appropriate plumbing.
In the interest of not costing a ton of cash, I figured you just lay the trench drains and just use squeegees to get the floors clear.

[GlacierBrewing]

Do it right the first time. Pour a sloped floor with a sloped trench drain in the middle. Your "self-draining" floor will become the hardest working piece of equipment in your brewery. Unless you love to squeegee ALL THE TIME!
.....my two cents
Prost!
Dave

[Liberty Brewer]

Do it right the first time. Pour a sloped floor with a sloped trench drain in the middle.

So, tear up the perfectly good concrete and replace it with the sloped floor?

[YSBrewer]

We had a 50 ft. trench drain installed and opted for squeegees. Maybe in the future we'll have a purpose built building constructed, but for now we'll get by.

[NHBrewer23]

Flooring is a tough expenditure because you are quite literally putting money in and on the ground. For the most part though, you only have one opportunity to do it right.

Our building had a perfectly level concrete slab that was on average 6" thick. Having done the squeegee game before, we knew we wanted a sloped floor. We used a Poly-Crete MDB system to build upon the existing concrete floor. The pitch of the floor only needs to be 1/8" per foot in order to get flow. Even at 1/8" per foot the thickness adds up quickly, depending upon the expanse of the floor your trying to slope. Something to keep in mind for doorways and ceiling heights. Make sure the installers allow you the ability to use a pallet jack going on and off the sloped floor.

The urethane-mortar system is not cheap but will last forever and will allow you to keep your existing slab. Ours ran $12/sq.ft installed.

James

[GlacierBrewing]

So, tear up the perfectly good concrete and replace it with the sloped floor?

We had the exact same situation; perfect but flat concrete. We poured a sloped floor right over it with a trench drain installed in the middle. Worked out great!
Prost!
Dave

[Liberty Brewer]

We had the exact same situation; perfect but flat concrete. We poured a sloped floor right over it with a trench drain installed in the middle. Worked out great!

But then you lose height, and a few other issues that don't seem acceptable. How thick did you pour your new floor?

[GarretS]

I will put in some of my expertise:

Concrete:
1) you can go over green concrete the day after poring! Yes, but do some good research.
2) you can go over fresh concrete after 5-6 days after poring! Yes, but do some good research.
3) Normally a waiting time of 28 days is sufficient.

Floor covering:
Epoxy / PU coatings work, but only the expensive coverings, and in conditions were mechanical loads such as dropping kegs, hoses, tooling, etc. does not appear. When the floor is cracked / damage moisture will go under the covering and can never be properly repaired.

Consider tiles, do good research there is a lot available, and some tiles are more expensive, but you will save on the grout material and on the adhesives a lot if you choose a tile which is dry pressed.

Consider concrete and nothing else if you do not want / can spend over $10.00 sq ft! These inexpensive floors, the Home Depot style, will last only a couple of years, and then expensive additional floor preparation is required to make a proper solution.

If you do not have the budget, stick to the concrete, do not use a trench drain, but dedicated drains. What does this mean, well simple, hang you discharge directly into a drain. This prevents your floor from becoming wet and save you time on the cleaning.

I have been in the business for more then 15 years, have seen hundreds of F&B plants and worked with large and small budgets. I have seen the good, the bad and everything in between.

Your floor and roof is the most important part of the building, the rest can easily be replaced.

[GlacierBrewing]

But then you lose height, and a few other issues that don't seem acceptable. How thick did you pour your new floor?

Our sloped floor thickness is around ten inches thick where the trench drain drains. Our brewhouse is in an old raquetball court so loosing ceiling height has never been an issue. If you cannot afford to lose the height with a properly poured floor, perhaps ripping out the center of your floor (to install the trench) and pouring up to the walls new concrete (at a slope) is the answer.
Prost!
Dave

[GarretS]

Forgot to mention about the slope.

You can built in a non bonding floor, which means that you do not need to do anything with the current floor other then removing loose items with a broom. The non bonded floor has a thickness at the drain of 3", and slope will be built up as per you wish. Normally 1% is enough.

For putting any kind of floor covering (Epoxy, PU, Tiles, Leveling material) down the same kind of floor preparation is required. You need to shot blast, grind, prime, consider what to do with the expansion joints, etc etc.

Post some pictures, always nice to see.

[jjustice]

The building we have chosen for our brewery is brand new, and has a flat sealed concrete floor installed already. We're loathed to cut up too much of this, especially as when the lease expires we may have to put right.

So, what part of the brewery should be on a sloping floor? We figure the brewhouse (Mash, Lauter, Kettle etc), the bottling machine and the kegging machine needs to be on a sloping floor. But what about BB and Fermentation tanks? Should they be on a sloping floor? We figure we'd use a hose to drain post cleaning, and we'd have a drain point near them.

Appreciate any advise.