A new Toyota dealership in Peru needed easy-maintenance flooring for 40,000 square feet of outdoor vehicle service bays, a customer waiting area, and an indoor parts department. The floor needed to withstand both heavy foot and vehicle traffic, and wear and tear from dropped mechanics’ tools. But, just as importantly, the finish also needed to be attractive because, with no walls separating customers from work areas, nearly every square foot would be highly visible.
Contractor Michele Amanchantoux met those needs by creating a durable but decorative terrazzo-like floor, and differentiating work areas in the mixed-use space by color-coding them. The contractor installed an epoxy coating using Rhino Linings’ Concrete Solutions Color Flake System.
Defining floor uses
Amanchantoux used four different paint flake colors to designate areas for specific uses: orange for service bays, blue for parking, green for the parts area, and gray for public areas. The crew divided the job into several smaller projects based on color, and finished one area before moving on to the next.
It took the eight-person crew eight days to complete the project. In doing so, the contractor effectively blended the service bay with the dealership’s showroom, while also clearly defining spaces for work, parking, and customers.
Application details
Surface prep: The crew used a concrete grinder to level the surface and a pressure washer at 3000 psi with a 15-degree tip to remove debris, dirt, and oil that might interfere with bonding.
Epoxy: The crew poured the tinted Epoxy 200 primer onto the floor and spread it thin with a metal squeegee. A worker wearing spiked shoes used a ¼-inch nap roller to back roll and remove any squeegee marks. The tinted epoxy, applied in medium gray or light gray depending on location, served as both a primer and a base coat.
Color flakes: While the epoxy primer was still wet, crew members broadcast paint flakes to the point of refusal. After 12 hours, they swept away excess flakes with a broom. They then scraped the floor with a 14-inch metal floor scraper to knock down any edges.
Sealer: Next, the crew applied two coats of HP Urethane using a ¼-inch nap roller to seal the floor and protect against UV damage and chemicals.
Submitted by Rhino Linings Corp. Visit http://concretesolutions.com.
