Category: Brewery Floors
Engineering and design, maintenance and installation of floors in the brewhouse
Expert Topic ‘Do It Yourself’ Brewery Floor Coating – Part 6 – Safety
Epoxy has strong adhesive properties, chemical and heat resistance, and toughness. Do it yourself applicators should understand some of the risks of using epoxy products and know how to safely handle and apply these systems. (Refer to individual product instructions.)
(more...)
Expert Topic ‘Do It Yourself’ Brewery Floor Coating – Part 5 – Product application
Insure the floor is as dry as possible without any puddles of water present. If there is excess water on the substrate, take up excess with a suitable vacuum and wait until dry (as possible) condition exists. Then, after the material is thoroughly mixed, pour the material onto the substrate.
(more...)
Expert Topic ‘Do It Yourself’ Brewery Floor Coating – Part 4 – Repair tips and products
Epoxy floor coatings are measured in ‘mils’ (thousandths of an inch). A medium build epoxy coating system will cure at 7-15 mils. A high build epoxy coating system will dry at 20-35 mils. If you need to ‘level’ just ¼”, that would be 250 mils, so you can see why using an epoxy to make floor repairs or ‘level’ a floor would be impractical and expensive. Broom finish floors and rough surface floors can have surface variations of up to 1/8” (125 mils) and normally cannot be leveled by epoxy only. The term ‘self-leveling’ means that the epoxy will smooth itself out in most cases, at the thickness it is applied at.
(more...)
Expert Topic ‘Do It Yourself’ Brewery Floor Coating – Part 3 – Common floor types
New or unpainted/unsealed concrete: The floor must be properly prepared to accept the coating by one of the previous methods. Note: Newly poured concrete must ‘cure’ first. Moisture in the floor may cause coating failure. New concrete normally has to cure generally at least 30 days. Test any concrete to be coated by (as previously mentioned) taping a 4’ x 4’ sheet of clear plastic on the floor with duct tape. If moisture under the plastic sheet or floor dampness/darkening appears the next day, then do not coat yet. Older concrete with moisture issues can also create problems. If you have a continuing moisture problem then we recommend doing an inexpensive moisture test and using either a standard primer or a moisture barrier primer.
(more...)
Expert Topic ‘Do It Yourself’ Brewery Floor Coating – Part 2 – Surface prep options
Surface prep is the most important step of any coating project. An improperly prepped floor will result in either a failure, or shortened performance life of the floor covering. New or old concrete MUST be prepped before coating. There are two recommended methods for preparing your concrete floor for coating, the acid etching method, the mechanical method, or with a Flash Bonding Primer.
(more...)
Expert Topic Brewery Floors – Flooring materials
Tile: A new aged tile floor is a great option. These are not your typical bathroom tiles. Most tiles in the industry these days are hexagon German tiles (many options) Although expensive to install, tile offers great service life and floor protection. A tile floor, properly installed using epoxy grouting should essentially never wear out, but will require periodic regrouting, especially around floor drain areas. The tile’s grout lines are where you will have issues and there are a lot of grout lines to keep track of. Some tile designs offer an engineered texture or slip resistant pattern cast into the ceramic. Homeowner-grade tiles are a nonstarter because they are light duty, slippery when wet, and can’t hold up to the severe loading, chemicals, and heat of the brewery environment.
(more...)
Expert Topic Brewery Floors – Drainage
Drainage Slope – Sloped Floors should be poured with a minimum slope of at least 1/4 inch per foot drop to the drains. This will assure thorough drainage of the floor. During the design phase, laying out the tanks and equipment placements is recommended to determine the optimum positioning of floor drains and drainage slope, always plan ahead for future expansion and growth.
(more...)
Expert Topic Brewery Floors Introduction
Brewery floors often rank pretty low on the expenditure list when setting up a brewery. To the uninformed, a floor is a floor, but to those who have lived and struggled with the additional expense and workload brought on by a bad floor, creating a good brewery floor system is, to put it simply, setting up your business on a good foundation.
Concrete is very porous and will eventually break down if left unprotected from the elements, chemicals, and pressures of a busy growing brewery. Good coatings and companies can be very hard to find, but it’s worth the extra effort to do a little homework and seek out an experienced concrete and coating provider that knows the ins and outs and dos and don’ts for a brewery environment.
Contents
Introduction
New Brew Floor
Drainage
Flooring Materials
Maintenance & Repair
Brewery Floor Q&A
(more...)