A sloping floor is a floor surface that is not level. Over the years, houses were built with this practice in mind, and it also extended to commercial areas. You can now transform your existing floor into one with a sloping surface and get greater use of your floor drains.
Besides houses and residential areas, sloping surfaces are also popular in the commercial kitchen flooring. However, not every room in the house requires a slope – this option is only recommended for rooms that often have water flowing, such as bathrooms, garages, and gardens.
How Can You Benefit From A Sloped Floor Surface?
The main purpose of a sloped floor is to make it easier for the water to drain. A slight slope will ensure that puddles of water won’t form everywhere and that the water has a constant flow, preventing accidents or places where insects can breed.
However, in the commercial segment, sloped floors can also prevent accidents. Believe it or not, one of the most common causes of accidents in food industry buildings is slipping caused by the spilling of liquid substances on the floor. The answer to full prevention of this lies in sloped or slip-resistant flooring.
Slip-Resistant Flooring & Its Contribution To Employee Safety
As we said above, slip resistance is one of the most important requirements for all workplaces, especially ones in the food industry. Knowing that slips and fails produce some of the most common injuries at work and contribute to the most total injuries, the only way to prevent that from happening is with a slip-resistant concrete floor or a sloped flooring system that ensures proper flow of liquids.
In times when injuries are common and can create significant impacts on everyone, from the possible disabling of the worker to the impact on the company, commercial business managers are looking for flooring systems that will minimize trips and falls.
Slip-resistant floors are actually sloped floor surfaces that have smooth or rough edges, depending on the needs of the client.
How Do You Create a Floor Slope?
Sloped floor surfaces are not easy to create and definitely not an easy DIY task. You need to have a professional on call to handle the dirty work. Below, we are listing all of the stages in the process, from initial conceptualization to full installation of sloped floors.
Step 1: Assessing Your Slope Flooring And Seeing Where A Drain Is Best To Put
The first step is to assess where a drain would be best placed in your kitchen, garage, bathroom, or any other area. Most of the drains are indeed in a corner, but which corner would that be?
We’ll take into account all of the factors to create a slip-resistant surface with a concrete slab, as well as the type of flooring you currently have.
Step 2: Measuring The Needed Slope
When we assess the area and know where to put the drain, we can measure how steep your concrete slope flooring should be. The measurement is in square feet and will vary depending on how far a specific point is from the drain, allowing for the proper flow of water and a reasonably smooth surface.
Step 3: Removing Your Existing Floor
During this stage, we will remove your existing floor and add a waterproof layer to make sure that no water will seep through it. This will also stop moisture from building up and result in proper slip resistance as we move on to installing the drainage system.
The process of removing your existing floors and tiles may be complex, but you should not worry about anything. Our teams are here to find the best solution for your needs and ensure that you will get the right function from your newly installed floor.
Step 4: Installing The Drain With Our Flooring Materials
The final step is installing the drain. If you already have a drain in the area, this process becomes a lot easier and faster. But if you want to make a new drain, we can also offer drainage services and will create a proper drainage system in the constructed room. When everything is done, we will proceed to replace the flooring and add a proper slope.
Step 5: Saw-cutting and filling expansion joints in new overlayment with polyurea sealant
Whether we are sloping your existing concrete floors or redoing your entire commercial kitchen flooring project, we’ll make sure to saw-cut and fill all the expansion joint areas in new overlayment with a top-class polyurea sealant.
Your newly installed floor will be ready for you to use and enjoy. Once we are done, we will give you a warranty on the materials we have used and our installation process.
Our flooring solutions are ideal for processing areas, warehouses, coolers, areas where food or beverage products are processed or stored, etc.
The Top 5 Uses Of Commercial Slope Floors
Plenty of commercial areas are experiencing problems with puddles, low spots, wet concrete, and birdbaths. If your commercial property has flat floors, you need to consider adding a slope at a tolerance of 1% to 2% grade. A high-strength polymer concrete floor underlayment can be one of the best decisions you have made.
Now, let’s look at some of the most common uses of commercial slope flooring, from mass transit to factories to food and beverage areas.
1: Commercial Kitchen Floors
Commercial kitchen flooring is one of the best use points for commercial slope flooring. Slip-resistant floors are considered a better option than the standard rubber mats or aggregate surface points used in restaurant kitchens or similar areas.
For starters, a sloped floor will ensure the utmost sanitary conditions are kept – it is important to focus on hygiene and minimize the growth and exposure of food-borne bacteria and other pathogens. It is also thermal shock resistant, as it expands and contracts at a rate similar to the concrete slab underneath it.
Commercial kitchens are also the areas where food particles and liquids can get stuck, and sloped floors prevent this from happening. A proper floor slope toward the drain will help move the standing water and other liquids directly to the drain, assisting floors in drying faster and enduring the right anti-slip properties.
In addition to this, a non-slip kitchen floor also introduces low maintenance, which is great for food processing areas. In cases like these, there will be proper abrasion resistance when exposed to heavy foot traffic and cart traffic, as well as solid impact resistance and compressive strength, especially If there are heavy loads of products brought into the area directly.
Thermal shock resistance is another important part that should not be overlooked – a good example would be hot ovens and refrigerated areas, which are common in commercial kitchens. Now, many know that the rate of expansion and contraction varies greatly between the coating and the substrate, which is why we see cracking, bubbling, delamination, and other forms of deterioration. To solve this, there are different types of coatings created, allowing the concrete to expand and contract along with the coating.
Alternatively, food processing companies may prefer the installation of sloped floors, but also the use of removable mats over fixed flooring options. These are generally easier to be taken away and cleaned, and it’s easy to make sure that there is no spilled food and liquids all over them.
2: Athletic Running Tracks
Another big consideration where a sloped roof surface can bring tons of benefits is athletic running tracts found in some high schools, colleges, and universities. Here, the goal is to provide traction on the athlete and prevent any premature deterioration on both the floor surface as well as the knees and joints of the runner.
According to research and claims by contractors, floors should be able to endure the environmental factors found in a barn, with horse stalls and riding arenas serving as good examples.
Obviously, the curves of these indoor tracks are constructed by means of lateral slopes to reduce the centripetal forces that are acting on the contact foot of the sprinter. With this effect of the foot, better traction is ensured across the entire track.
3: Dairy housing
Dairy housing has been a segment with plenty of developments over the past decades. Cows have had major foot and leg problems mainly caused by the traction, which is why people have come up with parallel grooves or groove patterns in the concrete surface of the barn. In some cases, even anti-slip aggregates were applied to the concrete surface, along with epoxy floor coatings.
According to examinations, the effect on leg soundness in cows has improved when certain sloping was added to the base material of the barn floor surface.
The flooring materials chosen here have been subjected to repetitive compressive loads from cows’ hooves and manure removal, as well as bedding delivery equipment. In cases like these, temperature changes can also cause thermal expansion and contraction, which is why using concrete substrate is recommended.
4: Flooring Areas For Wheelchairs
Next on the list of common uses of sloped floors are hard floors for wheelchairs. Wheelchair-accessible flooring is part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a piece of legislation that includes standards for people with disabilities. However, it is also something that many facilities consider for their disabled patients.
With sloped hard surfaces, the main benefit is slip resistance and the introduction of adequate traction so that the wheels can get a firm grip on the floor without any slipping or skidding. Aside from that, the floor should not be dented by the body weight of the patient – it should be stable and bonded to the subfloor without any risk of sliding, detaching, or folding over on itself as a wheelchair moves over it.
Now, some of the best flooring options for wheelchairs include tile, vinyl, laminate, hardwood, and rubber floor surface options. The sloped feature is sometimes created by quartz or silica sand or aluminum oxide.
5: Industrial processing facilities
There are plenty of different types of industrial flooring and poured flooring that is used in manufacturing plants. However, epoxy and urethane systems are among the most popular. With a sloped flooring solution, you can reduce injuries not only in commercial kitchens but also in areas such as industrial processing facilities where the concrete substrate is used.
Whether it’s food processing or another industry, sloped flooring is an option that handles thermal shock and is optimized for extreme temperature changes. The surface is anti-slip and chemical-resistant flooring – it can be even applied over brick or tile floors. A system like this provides a long-lasting floor that drains properly and is sanitary, non-slip, and chemical resistant.
What Is The Recommended Drainage For Slope To Drains Flooring Options?
There are different standards for sloping on different continents around the world. In the US, we like to keep to the following chart that displays the proper drainage for slope-to-drain flooring options.
- 0% – 0 Inch Slope – No Fluid Flow
- 1% – 1/8 inch Slope – Fluid Will Flow with Assistance Needed For Surface Water
- 1.5% – 3/16 inch Slope – Fluid Will Flow with some assistance needed
- 2% – 1/4 inch Slope – Complete Fluid Flow Without Any Assistance Required
Now, there are various types of industrial and commercial sloped floors that are used in industrial and manufacturing plants. With epoxy and urethane systems, you can get decent slip-resistant flooring and construction that will work to your needs. Once you have installed it, you won’t need any mats and will have a construction that will act great against spills of boiling liquids or any other needs in your room or area.
In Need Of Expert Concrete Floor Sloping Services?
At Extreme Epoxy Coatings, we specialize in various flooring solutions for different areas. Our cost-effective sloped floors have been helping business owners mitigate issues and eliminate puddles for more than a decade.
Our team is here to make sure that your flooring surface properly connects to your sewer lines, drain systems, or drainage pipe. We will use the best flooring material for your needs. and you will get a warranty on both the material and our installation service.
Our specialists are here to diagnose and repair your existing sloping floors or perform a new installation of a sloped and slip-resistant floor. We will identify the root cause of the problem and find the best solution to fixing or installing a new sloping floor from scratch.
Contact Us Today For Professional Commercial Kitchen And Bathroom Slope Flooring Services
If you have recently encountered a drainage problem or need a floor with more traction, we are here to help you understand the process of creating slopes on your floors. With our slip-resistant solution, you can say goodbye to slippery floors and wet concrete all around your commercial object.
Instead of choosing rubber flooring solutions, we will show you the best way to prevent accidents and also make your environment not only puddle-free but also durable and with good traction. Our main service is providing flooring solutions of all kinds that will keep your floors durable against pressure and moisture. Some of our biggest commercial clients are homes for the disabled, schools, as well as companies in the food and beverage industry.
If you are seeing a wet floor problem in your industrial plant, you should immediately take action and choose our slope flooring services. We can even install a slip-resistant floor for you, or you can choose a textured surface that works best for your needs.
If you are still not convinced, contact us today, and we’ll show you how we helped business owners prevent accidents and invest in safe flooring solutions with adequate drainage for their needs. We will also give you a free quote on your new commercial slope flooring project!
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