Coatings Knowledge Articles

The importance of colour when specifying flooring for education

Behind every quality floor lays an equally sound base – it would be impossible to achieve one without the other.

Everyday parking floors are exposed to mechanical stress. Deck coatings in multi-storey car parks and basement garages are among the most heavily stressed of such systems. Therefore, car park surfaces demand robust and highly resistant coatings. In this article you will learn about our Parking Abrasion Test which we have developed to measure wear resistance of floor coatings in parking garages.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says patients should not be exposed to noise levels above 35 decibels (dB)… or a loud whisper. But in recent years, UK researchers frequently recorded levels of 60dB to 90dB. Studies at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, found noise levels on an average medical ward exceeded 60dB most of the time, whilst at the Newcastle Teaching hospital, nurses logged levels averaging in the mid-40s and peaking at nearly 100dB – as loud as a lawnmower.

Installing the correct flooring system is paramount to a safe and productive workplace, particularly in the food and pharmaceutical industries where the slightest shortfall in hygiene or health and safety standards can have catastrophic consequences for the company and staff concerned.

From schools to hospitals, shops to manufacturing facilities, the importance of specifying a flooring system which is seamless and has a non-slip surface cannot be overstated.

In business, time is money, a truism which is particularly relevant to areas of heavy industry where plants and factories need to operate without interruption to guarantee consistent output.

While every floor has a unique set of requirements, from traffic and mechanical wear to chemical resistance and temperature or fire resistance and rapid curing to name but a few, finding a solution that can meet each element of the specification can be a daunting task.

From warehouses to industrial areas to hospitals a perfectly flat floor is essential so when a floor joint is needed it has to be absolutely flat.

Did you know that sick days cost the British economy a staggering £14 billion every year, and that 68% of employees accept that catching the office bug is just par for the course?

A prerequisite for a sustainable and beautiful wood floor is a strong and dry screed. Therefore this screed has to be carefully accessed. The first source of information is the architect, engineer, or main contractor who will have all of the information about the build-up and nature of the floor. The second source is the screed contractor who can provide the screed details and if appropriate, any subfloor heating protocols. If, as so often in renovation projects most of this information is not available, there are a few simple methods that can be used to evaluate the screed.

Passive fire protection is a vital component of any fire safety strategy for buildings. Built into the structure, it safeguards people’s lives and limit the financial impact of damage to buildings and their contents. Sika provides comprehensive solutions for fire resistant constructions such as tunnels, commercial and residential buildings and steel structures especially. Fire resistant coatings for load bearing structures enable to build secure buildings.

If the screed is even, strong and dry enough, then only mechanical surface preparation such as grinding and cleaning is required, before wood floor bonding is possible. However there are many situations where the existing or even new screeds are not suitable, and additional treatment is necessary before wood flooring can be installed. Sika has developed complete balanced system solutions for all of the different possibilities that may be found in these situations.

Many passive fire protection products are claimed to be intumescent – what does this mean and when can a product be classed as intumescent?

A functional and purpose-built floor is key to a safe and hygienic production environment in food and beverage facilities. Floors that are hygienic, non-slip, easy to clean, and durable provide a safe and attractive place to work. Choosing and installing the right floor are critical to every work environment. This article looks at getting it right the first time — achieving satisfactory and long-term flooring in a food processing environment.

Employee safety is one of the most important requirements for any workplace. Slips and falls are among the most common injuries at work. They account for about 86% of total injuries, and 90% of these happen because the floor is wet. These injuries are particularly prevalent in the food industry, where they occur four times more often than the average in other industries. Injuries can create significant impacts to all involved. The most significant is the suffering and possible disabling of the person injured. The next is impact on the company — financial, loss of key staff, loss of productivity, and liability.

Sika’s passive fire protection solutions are designed to be able to seal all different types of building joints and penetrations, in order to help keep fire in defined compartments for a certain period of time, thereby allowing people to evacuate safely. Sika passive fire protection solutions comply with the most relevant national and international standards (including EN, UL, EAD (ETAG), ASTM, AS, Certifire), in order to confirm that they meet the highest fire resistance requirements and consequently can help save people’s lives!

In warehouses and logistics buildings the concrete slab and flooring are critical to the effective functioning of the operations. However, it is often the perception that the concrete floor is one of the most straight forward elements of the project, and many times the overall attention paid to design and construction detail is less than proportional to its ultimate importance in the efficient operation of the facility. The expectation is that these large area floors must be constructed with lowest possible cost and provide problem free service year after year.