Hygiene and cleanliness is paramount in animal welfare facilities and veterinary practices. Mud, dirt, urine, blood, vomit and faeces can easily be deposited on and tracked across floor finishes, so it is important that the floor surface is quick and easy to clean. It is essential that floor coverings do not harbour bacteria and other pathogens, furthermore they must not support the growth of microbes. Joints in floor finishes are often the points that fail first and collect dirt, so selecting a finish that has as few joints as possible, or is completely seamless, is the best option.
Points to consider when choosing a floor finish for a veterinary practice or animal welfare facility include:
If the floor surface is for an operating theatre or anaesthesia room in a veterinary practice or animal welfare facility another consideration might be:
If the floor surface is likely to be hosed-off with water and sanitising agents it is worth considering a system that has integrated coved skirting upstands. Bunded areas can be created with where floor finishes can carry up vertical wall surfaces to the height required. Water resistant wall finishes can also be integrated, to ensure walls can be as easily cleaned as the floor finish, i.e. easy to wipe down and/or hose-off. In these situations, integral floor drains are also extremely practical design features.
If the flooring surface is for an outdoor area another consideration is:
Arcon supply a wide variety of hygienic seamless resin flooring finishes suitable for animal welfare and veterinary surgeries.
Heavy duty polyurethane resin floor screeds are applied at 6-9mm thickness, the latter being tolerant to steam cleaning and boiling/hot water. They provide a seamless hygienic floor finish that is very robust. They are highly chemically resistant, and have no trouble tolerating cleaning chemicals, urine and other chemicals frequently come in to contact with floors in veterniary practices. They are especially suited to kennels and animal pens because, even if the surface is stratched by claws or hooves, it will not expose the underlying concrete or screed floor, maintaining protection. They are extremely durable even if subjected to heavy trafficking by trolleys and forklift trucks. The resin screed forms an impervious layer with a naturally slip-resistant matt finish that is easy to clean and can be hosed down. Products include Resuthane TG69 standard colours are TG69 Colour Chart; Pumadur RT and Pumadur HF standard colours are Pumadur Colour Chart.
If resin screeded floors are to be hosed down, specifying an integrated seamless resin floor coving is a good way of ensuring there is no water penetration at the wall/floor junction - similarly if liquids such as urine are likely to be spilt on the floor it is important to prevent it from getting into joints and tracking under materials, making it difficult to clean and creating pungent smells. Resuthane JT44 (JT44 has now replaced Resuthane JT40) standard colours are Resuthane JT44 Colour Chart usual height 150mm width 100mm; Pumadur CG can be taken up to a height of 250mm whereas Pumadur WR can be used as coving then continue up vertical surfaces when applied at thinkness from 2-4mm, excellent for bunded areas, standard colours Pumadur Colour Chart.
An excellent alternative to hygienic resin PVC wall panels is seamless resin wall coatings. It has the advantage of being seamless i.e. not having any joints or junctions that eventually collect dirt and fail, allowing liquids to penetrate through the joints and behind the panels. Resuseal Wall, Resutile Wall and Resupen WB and Ecuclad can all be used on vertical surfaces. Ecuclad is a very heavy duty fibre-reinforced wall coating system with excellent chemical, thermal and impact resistance while still providing a seamless hygienic decorative finish. Resupen WB is a UV stable polyurethane coating that can be applied to common wall substrates such as plaster, block etc. that provides a hygienic decorative wall finish with impact/abrasion, hot water and chemical resistance (water-based so low VOCs). Resutile wall is a two-part polyurethane solvent based hygienic resin coating resistant to temperatures up to 150°C with maximum chemical resistance, good impact/abrasion resistance, flexible and UV stable. Resuseal Wall is a two-part epoxy resin wall coating with good resistance to light chemical attack and freeze-thaw cycles, and superior colour stability. Standard colours for the aforementioned products are Wall Coatings Colour Chart. Pumacoat V Coloured and Pumatect V Coloured are coloured resin coatings suitable for vertical surfaces standard colours are Vertical Coatings Colour Chart. Pumacoat MP is suitable for coating external masonry and comes in Clear, Red, Black, Mid Grey and Sandstone.
Pumadur SC a three-part medium duty polyurethane floor screed laid at 4-6mm which requires a seal coat of Pumadur TF or Pumadur Grout to ensure it is impermeable. It can also accommodate thick-section infills of up to 15mm.
Self levelling floor screeds are more accurately described as self smoothing; they will to some degree level out, but if the floor is significantly out of level or undulating the screed will flow over and follow the profile of the substrate. To avoid this, it is important to correct any significant peaks or troughs in the existing floor substrate prior to laying a self-smoothing resin floor screed. Pumadur MD a medium to heavy duty flow-applied polyurethane floor topping laid at 4-6mm with smooth matt finish; it is self-sealing and provides a smooth easy-to-clean hygienic wearing floor finish with reasonable slip-resistance. Pumadur SL is a 2-3mm polyurethane self-smoothing hygienic resin topping; self-sealing, easy-to-clean, with reasonable slip resistance. Resuthane SL is a water-based self smoothing self-sealing polyurethane resin floor screed laid at 3-5mm that has good slip-resistance properties.
High build coatings offer enhanced performance and more protection than a standard resin floor coating or basic floor paint. These two-part epoxy resin coatings, such as Resucoat HB, Pumatect and Pumashield are more viscous than the basic resin floor coatings described below and are laid with a greater thickness, 0.2-0.3mm. They are durable, long lasting and are easier, as well as more economical, to apply than a resin screed. However, they are also thinner so areas that are subjected to clawing, scratching or hooves will need recoating more regularly and they will not protect the concrete floor from impact damage. Aggregates can be added during application to give greater slip-resistance where required.
A high quality two-part resin floor paint such as Resuseal WB, Pumacoat WD and Pumaguard SFS are economical epoxy resin floor coatings will provide a durable, easy-to-clean, hygienic, chemically resistant floor finish for animal welfare facilities and veterinary practices. For Resuseal standard colours can be send on Resuseal Colour Chart and for Pumacoat and Pumaguard standard colours see Pumacoat Colour Chart. Aggregates can be added to or broadcast over these finishes during the application stages to provide additional slip-resistance if required. Basic floor paint, ready-to-use straight from the tin, is an even more economical choice Floor Paint and is available in grey or red.
If there are movement joints in the underlying concrete floor slab they should not be covered over with a resin screed or coating. The coating or screed will not be able to tolerate movement to the same extent as the joint and will crack along the joint if movement (expansion or contraction) occurs. To avoid this, place a piece of board or other protection along the joint line and take the coating/screed up to the board on both sides. A resin jointing compound can then be applied to the joint. The jointing compound can be colour matched to the adjacent resin coating/screed and will still create a seamless surface while accommdating movement (expansion and contraction) along the joint. Arcon supply both horizontal and vertical resin jointing compounds, such as Epoflex VJ (formerly called Resujoint P) and Pumexpand P for floor and other horizontal resin joints; Epoflex VJ (formerly called Resujoint V) and Pumexpand V for wall and other vertical resin joints.
Call us on 01925 85 2225 to discuss your requirements for anti-slip UV resistant coatings for outdoor surfaces and we'll try to help you to find the right product for your needs.
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