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What’s happening in this video… A new restaurant kitchen floor coating application over plywood. This floor is over 100 years old. Wire lath was applied to plywood substrate to enable a bond for the epoxy coating as well as to allow natural movement of the suspended floor. Two coat application completed in 48 hours.
“The Garon flooring installed on our restaurant commercial kitchen floor at Dos Toros Taqueria provides us with a floor compliant with the New York City Department of Health. We were looking for a floor coating that would last a long time, one that would be ADA compliant and keep our service people and customers on their feet and away from slipping and falling hazards and be in compliance with New York City and New York State food safety regulations.” ~ Oliver Kremer, Owner
Can floor coatings be applied over very old floors?
Dos Toros Taqueria, a new restaurant, was behind schedule in building out a new restaurant space in a 100 year old building located in New York’s West Village. Every day the restaurant is not open for business represents a loss of revenue.
The selected space had an existing plywood floor that was structurally sound and stable, in good enough condition to be used as the base for a new floor. In the interest in meeting customer budget restrictions, the floor was not removed and replaced with a concrete floor cover. The scope of the job was focused upon developing a specification for work to be performed using the existing structure.
Water tight floor coatings possible?
The plywood floor, though stable, exhibited movement when walking over the floor surface. Not only would there be pedestrian traffic of customers, chefs and workers but also heavy kitchen equipment installation.
Since the restaurant was located above another tenant in the building, a major concern of Dos Toros was having a water tight system, thus a water proof membrane protection was essential.
That meant all in and out water pipes, drains and gas lines required special consideration in addition to bathtubbing the entire floor by applying a 4-inch cove perimeter to protect the tenant below from water seepage. All pipes protruding from the floor required its own crown molding surrounding it.
Environmentally Friendly Floor Covering Requirement
Since the building housed other tenants, a 100% VOC-free floor coating was mandatory. There were kitchen floor areas where worker activity would be constant and these areas needed an extra protection of anti slip floor coating surface treatment to ensure worker safety.
Dos Toros wanted a bright medium grey color to help keep the area illuminated for improved vision for the workers. Compliance to USDA standards was a part of the owner specification.
Complexity With The Floor Installation
Epoxy mortars are brittle by nature and not known to be the most forgiving mortars when paired with sub surface movement. By installing wire lath throughout the floor with the lath right side up the contractor was able to install a non-permeable, ¼ inch epoxy floor coating, trowel applied system.
A 100% solids heavy bodied primer was applied directly to the lathe with a three eighth inch hair nap roller to wet the plywood and the lath simultaneously.
This effectively addressed the floor movement and provided a watertight seal required by the owners. A grout coat [Tigerbond™ 221 Ultra] combined with a small amount of Cabosil was used to smooth the epoxy surface. All materials selected were VOC free and met USDA regulations.
A 36 sized mesh aluminum oxide aggregate was back rolled into the areas that were designated in the dishwashing and cook station areas. This application provided heavy duty traction for the workers.
Final Floor Coating Outcome
A six man crew normally expected to perform the work was supplemented with five extra men to get the work order accomplished within the time frame.
The staging for this floor coating job would normally take seven days. The owners required 48 hour turn around and the time frame was met.
This work is considered extraordinary considering the fast track nature of the job, the complexities concerning the substrate, the material specification and accomplishing five material builds and crown and cove detail applications.
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