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Of Operations
Sherwin-Williams Envirolastic Polyurea floor provides a solution at veterinary school
Perhaps it should be no surprise that warping
was evident and cracks were visible in the
epoxy-finished concrete floor that provided a footing
for activity in the large animal surgery room at
North Carolina State University’s College of
Veterinary Medicine.
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The floor of the large animal surgery room at the North Carolina State University Veterinary Hospital bears a new Envirolastic Polyurea finish. |
After all, the Raleigh, N.C., building’s foundation
appeared to be in constant movement over the years,
to such a degree that the floor of the 500 square-foot
room had developed a slope that ran away from
drains originally built into the floor.
That made cleanup, a critically important task and
a tremendous challenge in such an environment, an
even more daunting project.
“When they start lavaging during the course of
equine surgery, there can be quite a bit of fluid in
here,” says Donna Hardin, the manager of the
Central Procedures Laboratory. “This room just gets
saturated. As a result, the whole room must be
sprayed down and decontaminated afterwards.”
PROJECT SUMMARY
- Refinishing the floor of the large animal surgery room at the North Carolina State University Veterinary Hospital
- Project included the buildup of a 4-inch cove edge around the room to facilitate easier cleanup and some high coating buildup to restore liquid flow to existing drains
- Decorative medium brought aestheticappeal and texture to the finish
PRODUCTS IN USE
- Sherwin-Williams Envirolastic Polyurea Floor System
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Spraydown occurs with a quaternary ammonium
compound, and the resulting chemical solution
cleans and disinfects to such a degree that bacteria
colonies measured on the floor must achieve certain
standards before another operation can be performed
in the room. The process is not only hard
on a coating, but on the concrete surface below it
as well.
The continuing shifts in the building’s foundation
meant that concrete repair or replacement followed
by another epoxy finish would be a short-term solution
at best, and Hardin had seen dozens of ordinary
epoxy finishes produce largely unsatisfactory results
in other rooms in the facility.
So Hardin’s wish list for a new floor was growing:
it must be properly sloped to allow for better
drainage, flexible enough to withstand movement in
the building’s foundation, and durable enough to
withstand repeated cleanup with harsh chemicals.
And since she was asking, could she also have a textured
finish that would be less slippery than the old
finish even when wet, as well as a more attractive
appearance than the old floor?
“I wanted aesthetics,” Hardin admits. “Battleship
gray doesn’t do anything for me.”
And then the kicker. Whoever measured up to the
task of finishing the floor had a three-day window to
get it done. A 1,500-pound horse in need of surgery
waits for no maintenance project.
“I thought it might be possible to get everything
we wanted, but it had to be the right company,” says
Hardin.
PIC AND POLYUREA
When Professional Industrial Coatings, Inc., of
Kernersville, N.C., went to discuss the possibility
of recoating the floor at the
veterinary school’s surgery
room, company president
Brad Joyce had an ace up
his sleeve, one that none of
his competition for the project
had. Joyce had completed
a Sherwin-Williams
certification program that
qualified his company to
apply a Sherwin-Williams
Envirolastic Polyurea floor
system.
Joyce has only been at the
helm of his firm for three
years, but his approach to
business is polished and professional,
and he had little
trouble selling Hardin on
the abilities of his company
and the system he would use.
For starters, the
Envirolastic Polyurea system
has elongation properties up
to 520 percent, which means
that the floor could withstand the movement that would fracture an
ordinary epoxy-on-concrete floor system. It has extremely high-build
properties, to 250 mils or more, which meant that applicators could
return the slope of the floor back toward the drains. And importantly,
given that Envirolastic Polyurea cures to the point that it can be walked
on within minutes of application, the project could be completed in the
school’s three-day window of opportunity.
Brad Joyce saw a tremendous
opportunity in the industrial painting
business, and it had almost
nothing to do with painting.
Joyce, who started Professional
Industrial Coatings, Inc., in
Kernersville, N.C. three years ago
with a $2,000 credit limit and little
else, recognized that a higher degree
of professionalism could set his
fledgling business apart from the
competition. Judging from the fact
that he expects to turn $7.2 million
in business in 2003, he was right.
“We try to do everything first
class,” says Joyce, who recently partnered
with vice-president John
Elliott to help handle the company’s
rapid growth. “The highest compliment
I can receive is when a customer
tells me how professional our
crew and our operation appeared.”
To that end, Joyce invests in
high-quality equipment, training
such as the Sherwin-Williams
General Polymers contractor certification
program and the use of
high-quality coatings, such as
Sherwin-Williams Industrial and
Marine coatings and floor systems.
“We’re at a point where the work
we do is our most effective advertising,”
says Joyce. “Word travels fast.”
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Joyce also promised that he could provide a decorative finish, as well
as a textured profile that would offer better traction in the operating
room no matter what spilled to the floor.
“I was practically sold before we started talking about the product,
but this Polyurea system truly was going to give us everything we wanted,”
says Hardin.
BUILDING A BUBBLE
The first step was to seal off the room, and PIC’s crew of four did so
with sheets of plastic.
“Basically we made the room a bubble,” says Joyce. “The product
has low odor and no VOCs, but in this type of environment, we
wanted to completely contain the project.”
Shot blasting and diamond grinding removed the existing epoxy finish.
The crew did some patching work wherever damage to the concrete
merited it, then applied a moisture-tolerant primer. Polyurea application
followed, and the ultra-high-build product achieved up to one-half
inch thickness in some areas to restore proper slope toward the drains.
Then followed a broadcast of the color quartz decorative medium that
would bring the “ceramic carpet” appearance to the finish.
“We had one person on the hose and three guys following right
behind him doing nothing but broadcast,” says Joyce. “This product
gels in 45 seconds, so they had to move quickly. There really is a considerable
amount of expertise that goes into this application.”
Two coats of epoxy resin were then separated by a light broadcast of
the decorative medium. The broadcast granules that were not absorbed
into the epoxy resin were swept up. Then, a chemical-resistant urethane
finish coat was applied to complete the system.
The new floor has met all the criteria on Hardin’s wish list: the floor
now drains properly and it was completed over the course of a holiday
weekend when it wouldn’t interfere with lab operations. It’s also attractive
and is guaranteed to stand up to harsh chemical cleanup. Only the
test of time will tell if the floor system will endure the shifts in the building,
but based on the remarkable elongation properties of the
Envirolastic system, Joyce is confident that it will.
“We’re very pleased with the floor,” says Hardin. “We couldn’t afford
to start from scratch with this room, and it looked like that might be
our only option.”
Adds Joyce, “The Envirolastic Polyurea system provided the perfect
solution.”
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