3 Signs Your Food Factory Floor Needs Replacing
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3 Signs Your Food Factory Floor Needs Replacing
Food manufacturing facilities are intensely demanding environments and as such, need robust resin flooring to meet these challenges. This means that all areas of your food factory should be checked frequently to ensure they are:
Hygienic
Safe to use
Working to their required standard
It stands to reason that, over time, your food factory floor should be reviewed to ensure it maintains its original specification and meets all of the requirements you purchased it for.
But what should you look out for to know if it needs replacing?
In this blog, we will explore what to look out for in determining when your food factory resin floor needs replacing, how traditional resin floors compare to Acrylicon and how an initial investment will save you thousands in the long run.
Read on to find out more…
What Are The 3 Signs Your Food & Beverage Factory Floor Needs Replacing?
1. You Struggle To Clean Your Resin Factory Flooring
Polyurethane has been the go-to solution for food factory flooring since it was introduced, so it is likely your food factory already has a PU floor.
PU coatings can cope well in high-temperature situations as the flooring can expand and contract, making them less susceptible to cracks. They are also resistant to scratches, which is why you’ll often find them in high-traffic areas.
However, during the curing process, pinholes can occur as the gas passes through the curing resin floor. These pinholes can even be large enough for a toothpick to be pushed into them, so you can only imagine how much dirt and bacteria are able to get below the surface of your resin floor.
This makes it practically impossible to clean your floor and results in a food factory resin floor that always looks dirty, even though you’ve scrubbed it to within an inch of its life.
Of course, this massively impacts the hygiene of your food factory floor, as it will become a breeding ground for bacteria and dirt.
2. Repeated Factory Floor Repairs
Sadly, it’s an expectation that PU floors will fail after a few years, so when the time comes to part way with cash in order to repair it, food factories often do so without asking any questions. But the question is why has this become accepted and a given?
If you find yourself constantly having to repair your food factory floor, it may be time to consider the type of resin flooring you opt for.
Before we discuss the benefits of Acrylicon resin flooring, we’ll explain what happens to your PU flooring when it gets repaired:
PU comes from the Thermo-Set family of plastics and as such only ever achieves a mechanical bond between layers of the floor. As such, stresses can cause delamination, resulting in places for the liquid to penetrate and damage the floor.
An Acrylicon Floor does not have this issue, as being from the Thermo-Plast family of plastics, its layers solve into each other, creating a monolithic floor. It also has no plasticiser loss, so does not become brittle with age like the PU.
That’s why we regularly remind our clients of the 10-year performance warranty, but in reality, a well-looked after Acrylicon resin floor can last many times longer.
3. Slip Resistance Has Been Worn Down
In a food manufacturing facility, slip resistance is a must. With spillage being a common occurrence, whether it’s water, flour, or any type of ingredient in your product. Doing the most to ensure and maximise employee safety is a must in these environments and something that should be considered by those involved in the design or specification of your food and beverage factory floor.
Depending on the use of the floor, your slip-resistant finish can wear away. This may be down to:
Heavy application of weight
Frequent use
Even in your routine cleaning process*
*Abrasive cleaning apparatus can actually wear down the floor, as it quite literally rubs the slip resistance away.
Although slip resistance can and will wear away on some floors over time, Acrylicon will advise you on the best cleaning solution for your Acrylicon resin floors, to ensure longevity. We take your needs into consideration and can tailor a solution to you, recommending the best way to maintain your floor. Also, should an Acrylicon floor need maintenance on the slip resistance, due to its chemical bond the refreshed layer will become part of the existing floor and have no risk of delamination.
How Often Should You Replace Your Food Factory Floor?
Simply, how long does your floor take to fail? It can’t be answered as each case is different from the next.
The easy way to decide if your floor needs replacing is to ask yourself, does my floor meet all the requirements I purchased it for?
If the answer is no, it has failed.
To give you a general idea of how long this could last, Acrylicon offer a 10-year warranty as standard with all their floors, however, we have had some cases where our floors have lasted up to 40 years.
Conclusion
When replacing your food factory floor, the only way to establish if it needs to be replaced is to see if it is showing the 3 signs in this blog, that way, you will know your floor is at the end of its life, and you have got your money’s worth. But that doesn’t always mean it was the best solution for you.
When it comes to replacing it, you need to make sure your floor has high compressive strength, can be repaired without leaving cold joints, is hygienic, and has a warranty. This will ensure you are getting the highest quality food factory floor available to you
To arrange a free no-obligation floor survey from one of our local Acrylicon experts, get in touch today.
About Acrylicon
Acrylicon, the go-to industrial flooring company, has been implemented by Unilever, Walkers, McCain, Network Rail and many more companies that understand the cost implications of shutting down.
Their fast cure combined with the immense compressive strength saves you time, money and hassle when it comes to your industrial flooring. They can work at weekends or in business downtime to ensure minimal disruption to your daily processes.
With a life expectancy of up to 4-8 times longer than traditional resins, Acrylicon’s unique chemical composition ensures you get better value for money than from any other resin floor available.
Acrylicon’s long-lasting resin flooring is used across a variety of sectors including in food factories, commercial kitchens, warehouses, hospitals, supermarkets and car parks.
All new flooring comes with a 10-year performance warranty for complete peace of mind. Every installation is carried out by trained and certified regional installers so there are no split warranties.