Why Install a Resin Floor in Commercial Kitchen Areas?

Commercial kitchen flooring is typically subjected to harsh daily requirements. Anything from extremes in temperatures to hot oil exposure to frequently moist conditions, metal pots being dropped, and ongoing footfall.

Further, the commercial kitchen is among the most regulated in any industrial environment. Needless to say, food processing flooring is harshly scrutinised whenever a health inspector comes calling.

To provide you with some insight as to deciding on your commercial kitchen flooring, we’ve highlighted four requirements below that you should bear in mind when choosing new flooring for your commercial kitchen.

Hygiene

Maintaining a hygienic, legislation-compliant environment really ought to be the top priority for every food facility. It’s of primary focus for all visiting inspectors. But that’s not all. Any breach concerning food safety protocol can have severe consequences for customers and employees alike.

Grouted and tiled flooring systems tend to have seams, creases, and countless areas where liquids and food particles can easily adhere. This is a blatant invitation to the proliferation of microbial activity.

Contrast this to a virtually seamless floor surface that comes with an integral floor-to-wall cove base. This helps to eliminate those crevices whereby pathogens breed.

This virtually seamless surface has a monolithic surface, and it’s much simpler to keep clean.

Slip resistance vs cleanliness

In the typical commercial kitchen, spillage of cooking oils, water, and various other liquids is a frequent occurrence. When it does occur, it creates an immediate slip-and-fall hazard.

There are only a few types of floors available that cater to slip-inhibiting properties that are fully customised. Epoxy resin flooring is one of them.

Maintenance routines for floors can vary significantly from one amenity to the next. Flooring that comes with customised slip resistance allows the commercial kitchen manager to find the appropriate balance between keeping the floor clean and good traction.

Strength and chemical resistance

All commercial kitchen floors should be fully capable of withstanding exposure to an expansive array of substances that vary in temperature.

Fryers, grills, ovens – all of them can spew extremely hot oil onto the floor. Boiling liquids likely get spilt daily. Granular ingredients like sugar, flour, spices, and salt can be abrasive to the floor surface. Lots of other kitchen equipment will also cause damage when dropped. Harsh solvents, detergents, degreasers – these can be ‘scrubbed’ in when the floor is cleaned.

It’s the sort of environment that can easily cause the majority of commercial flooring materials to blister and indent, to crack and then peel back. This can result in costly repairs and much downtime.

As such, you need to select a durable, strong, high-performance finish which is resistant to abrasion, hot grease, and chemicals.

Tolerance to moisture and mitigation

There are, in fact, two general origins of moisture in the commercial kitchen. One of those is from room activity – humidity, cleanup and dishwashing routines, liquid spillages and that sort of thing. This will likely lead to wetness and/or condensation on the surface of the floor.

The second source is referred to as ‘moisture vapor transmission’ or MVT. This stems from the soil below the slab or from the concrete.

In both scenarios, moisture can be the cause of premature deterioration of the floor covering as well as the concrete substrate. That is unless it is appropriately dealt with.

The correct commercial kitchen flooring – epoxy resin is one of them – is fully tolerant of daily surface moisture and will be able to mitigate, if necessary, any MVT-related issues.

If you would like to learn more about the perfect flooring solution for your business, then please get in touch with our friendly team, where we will be happy to help!