Concrete Solutions for a Safer Plant

A meat-processing plant is one of the harshest environments for a concrete floor. On a daily basis, a typical floor can be subjected to caustic washdowns, thermal shock, harsh chemicals, standing water contamination, bacteria, heavy foot and forklift traffic, abrasion, and high impact.

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potential risks that come with an unprotected concrete floor are simply too great to ignore. Potential food contamination, increased insurance premiums from employee slips and falls, FDA and OSHA inspection failures, and forced production downtimes are all costly hazards, albeit ones that can be avoided with the proper protection.

Rust-Oleum Corp., a worldwide leader in protective paints and coatings headquartered in Vernon Hills, Ill., offers ThermaKrete[TM] urethane concrete floor topping, extreme flooring protection for the harshest meat- and poultry-processing plants. It provides long life for a plant floor with minimal maintenance, thereby reducing renovation costs and downtime. It is also slip resistant, which will increase employee safety and decrease insurance claims.

When applied to a floor, ThermaKrete resists bacteria contamination, reducing the chance of bacteria to cross-contaminate the manufacturing process, keeping the consumer and the processing plant's reputation safe. It is ideal for meat and poultry plants where concrete floors are subjected to dramatic temperature fluctuations or thermal shock, as the coating expands and contracts at the same rate as the concrete. The coating shields against thermal shock with temperature fluctuations from below -10 F to 240 F.

Safe for meat-processing plants, processes and people, ThermaKrete is VOC-compliant, water-based and solvent-free, and it has a low odor. It can be used in U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities based on the Food Safety Inspection Service Directive 11,000.4 (Rev.1).

ThermaKrete has no need for multiple coats, primers or sealers. Each three-component kit is easy to mix and use, and can be applied on an entire facility floor or for patch repairs. The coating can be self-leveled or trowel-applied at 3/16-inch or 1/4-inch thickness. Limited prep time is needed, and ThermaKrete can be put back into full service in less than 72 hours.

Rust-Oleum's ThermaKrete urethane concrete coating product lines include Self-Leveling Slurry, Trowel and Cove Mortar. Color choices are Tile Red or Light Gray. ThermaKrete is also backed by a two-year warranty--twice the industry standard.

Rust-Oleum also offers an interactive Web site, www.rustoleum.com/virtualsolutions. Virtual Solutions has simplified the entire coatings process by providing reliable coating recommendations in 30 seconds or less. By clicking on "Food and Beverage Industry" within Virtual Solutions, the customer is placed into a virtual food-processing plant. Users can click on the illustrated objects, such as flooring, machinery, equipment, walls, railings and more, and Virtual Solutions provides coating specifications, surface preparation and applications instructions, along with technical information.

For more information, contact Rust-Oleum Corp., Industrial Brands Group, (800) 769-6565, fax: (847) 816-2272, e-mail: lcederquist@rustoleum.com or visit www.rustoleum.com/industrial