Justifying The Need of a Sloped Floor To Owners

[woodenwalls]

In the process of completing the build out for a new distillery/brewery. A sloped floor was in the original budget, but now with budget constraints the owners are trying to scrap the idea.

The production space is in the basement of a fairly old building that was built in the 70's. The floor is pretty uneven with no general slope anywhere. Low points in many areas and some areas sloping towards the walls. It will also be a huge focal point of the tasting room as the whole space is visible through 3 large window panes.

Looking for some experiences working in a production space without sloped floors; sanitation issues, standing water, labour squeegeeing, slip hazards etc.

Any insights would be much appreciated!

Cheers

[Cascade_Floors]

I highly recommend At least coating the floors. This will make it easier to clean up as well as the floor will not absorb chemicals/water/beer. Just make sure a proper coating is installed. Also make sure there is at least a 5yr warranty. I have seen WAY to many owners get burned by a less than perfect installation. Cascade Floors installs the Best coating at a very good price with a 5yr warranty from us on labor and our manufacturers for materials. Feel free to reach out to me. I have consulted on hundreds of Brewery build outs.

Chris Klein Cell 541-510-1080
chris@cascadefloors.com

https://www.cascadefloors.com

[dick murton]

Being in the UK, of course I have absolutely no idea what cascade floors are like as installers, but totally agree with the benefits of a proper non slip coating of suitable tiles (see Kemtiles as an example) or relatively flexible resin, i.e. not garage floor type painted coating.

But my preference would always be to have a good slope, absolute minimum of 1.5 degrees, and preferably more from the walls to the drains, particularly critical under tanks and less easily accessible areas, with the drains easily accessible for cleaning and any other maintenance, but ideally not where fork trucks or similar run over them. If you have flat floors or worse still, slopes away from the drains, you will be forever cleaning up minor amounts of solids - yeast, trub etc., else you will end up with slime puddles - slip and hygiene hazards. I know of places using wet and dry vacuum cleaners, but this all takes time and effort - and needs a foolproof backup of squeegees etc. for when it breaks down! Fresh sloped floors are worth their weight in gold if you are going to be there more than a VERY short time.