Food and beverage facilities are often treated as a single environment when flooring is specified, but the conditions can change significantly from one area of a facility to another. A production floor exposed to hot washdowns has very different requirements from a cold room operating below zero, while a packing area may experience constant trolley and forklift traffic without the same level of moisture or chemical exposure.
This means there is rarely one flooring system that is automatically the best choice for every area. Effective food-safe flooring starts with understanding what happens in each operational zone and specifying a system that can withstand those particular conditions.
At Robex, this forms an important part of our approach to industrial flooring. Our experience across food processing, beverage production, commercial kitchens, cold storage and other demanding industries allows us to identify the inherent challenges within each area and develop a flooring specification around them.
Production and processing areas
Production floors are often among the hardest-working surfaces in a food facility. Depending on the operation, they may be exposed to liquids, oils, fats, food acids, cleaning chemicals, heavy equipment and continuous pedestrian or wheeled traffic.
Hygiene is also critical. Cracks, joints and damaged surfaces can create areas where dirt, moisture and bacteria accumulate, making effective cleaning more difficult.
A seamless system such as RX Foodsafe can be particularly well suited to these environments. This fast-curing MMA flooring system combines chemical, wear and slip resistance with a completely seamless, hygienic surface. It can also accept traffic within approximately one hour, helping minimise disruption when flooring work needs to take place around production schedules.
For particularly demanding food processing areas, RX Foodsafe HD provides additional heavy-duty performance for environments exposed to severe wear, thermal shock, aggressive cleaning and impact.
Cold rooms and temperature-controlled areas
Cold rooms and freezers present an entirely different flooring challenge. Low temperatures can affect both the installation and performance of conventional flooring systems, while condensation, moisture and regular cleaning add further demands.
Temperature changes also need to be considered. A floor that repeatedly moves between cold operating temperatures and warmer cleaning conditions needs to accommodate those stresses without cracking or delaminating.
MMA systems such as RX Foodsafe are valuable in these environments because of their ability to cure rapidly at low temperatures. RX Polarcoat can also provide a specialist solution for cold rooms, walk-in freezers and other temperature-controlled environments where a seamless, hygienic and easy-to-clean surface is required.
Industrial kitchens
Commercial and industrial kitchens combine several flooring challenges within a relatively small space. Heat, boiling liquids, grease, cleaning chemicals, wet surfaces and constant foot traffic all place pressure on the floor.
One of the most important considerations in these areas is thermal shock. Repeated exposure to hot liquids or steam cleaning can cause unsuitable flooring systems to deteriorate or delaminate.
RX PU 6290 is a high-strength polyurethane screed designed for demanding environments such as industrial kitchens and food processing facilities. Its resistance to thermal shock, abrasion and chemicals makes it particularly suitable for areas exposed to aggressive cleaning and temperature changes. The system is also seamless and non-slip, even when wet.
Washdown and wet processing areas
A floor in a washdown area must manage an unusual balance between hygiene, durability and safety. The surface needs sufficient slip resistance to provide traction when wet, but it must also remain practical to clean. It needs to withstand water, cleaning chemicals and potentially pressure or steam cleaning without allowing moisture to penetrate beneath the flooring system.
This is where specification becomes particularly important. Rather than simply choosing the most heavily textured finish available, the level of slip resistance should be considered alongside the facility’s cleaning procedures, drainage and operational requirements.
Packing and dispatch areas
Packing areas may not experience the same moisture, heat or chemical exposure as production zones, but they can be subjected to considerable mechanical wear. Trolleys, pallet jacks, forklifts, stock movement and constant traffic can gradually wear away an unsuitable surface. Here, abrasion resistance, impact resistance and ease of maintenance may take priority over thermal shock resistance.
A robust industrial coating such as RX Toughseal can provide a practical solution for suitable packing, storage and general traffic areas, creating a durable surface capable of handling the demands of everyday operations.
Loading bays and traffic zones
Loading and dispatch areas are busy operational zones where forklifts, vehicles and pedestrians often move through the same space. Clear, durable demarcation is essential for defining traffic routes, pedestrian walkways, loading areas and other designated safety zones.
RX Toughseal Demarcation Lines provide a hard-wearing solution designed to remain clearly visible in demanding industrial environments. With excellent resistance to abrasion, impact and rolling loads, the system can withstand the daily movement of forklifts and heavy traffic, helping food facilities maintain safer, more organised loading and dispatch areas.
Tailor-made specification makes the difference
There is more to choosing food-safe flooring than selecting a product labelled suitable for food production. The specification should reflect exactly how the facility operates.
At Robex, we consider factors such as:
- Operating and cleaning temperatures
- Chemical and food-product exposure
- Wet and dry conditions
- Pedestrian, forklift and machinery traffic
- Slip-resistance requirements
- Hygiene and cleaning procedures
- Substrate condition
- Downtime available for installation
With decades of experience across almost every industry, our technical team understands the inherent problems different operating environments present. This allows Robex to recommend a combination of flooring systems where necessary, rather than applying a standard solution across an entire facility.
The right flooring for the right area
By specifying each area according to its actual conditions, businesses can achieve better hygiene, safer working environments, longer-lasting floors and fewer maintenance problems. The objective is not to install the same flooring everywhere. It is to create a complete flooring solution in which every system is fit for purpose.
Robex provides tailor-made industrial flooring specifications for food and beverage facilities, combining systems such as RX Foodsafe, RX Foodsafe HD, RX PU 6290, RX Polarcoat, RX Toughseal and RX GripKits according to the requirements of each facility.
Contact Robex to discuss your facility and let our technical team specify the right flooring solution for every area of your operation.
