Hygienic resin flooring for changing rooms and staff areas
Different grades of hygienic flooring are required for the various areas found within the food processing environments.
Production areas need a hard-wearing, chemical-resistant floor finish, which is able to stand up to heavy machinery and general wear and tear. Wet and dry processing areas need a floor that delivers a highly robust hygiene performance. Meanwhile, changing room flooring needs to be hygienic, easy to clean, and withstand heavy foot traffic.
Changing rooms can be congested and hazardous environments that are prone to wear and tear. Ensuring careful planning and the correct choice of hygienic flooring materials can benefit from excellent usability, maintenance can be reduced, and accidents can be averted.
Careful consideration of the flooring is required in areas such as toilets, showers and changing rooms to protect against damage from cleaning chemicals and bodily fluids. Personal products like soaps, hairspray, and deodorants, all of which could have high solvent or chemical content, can impact the life cycle of the changing room flooring. It is imperative that the flooring in areas such as this provides a hygienic, non-porous surface that is non-slip and delivers good chemical resistance to protect against damage.
Some facilities choose to install hygienic vinyl flooring. Although the material is easy to clean and cheap to install, over time it can rip, crease, curl and warp, causing trip hazards and exposed areas, which are prone to bacteria build-up.
Another disadvantage of hygienic vinyl flooring is that it has poor impact resistance. The probability of damaging the vinyl when using heavy and sharp equipment on a daily basis is rather high. Furthermore, the durability of vinyl is not very good, meaning high volumes of daily foot traffic will soon cause the facility to have major maintenance problems.
In comparison, tiled flooring is very hard-wearing and usually has good impact resistance. However, over time, the mortar between the tiles can be subject to cracking and chipping, which offers bacteria a place to hide.
Unlike vinyl flooring, once hygienic resin flooring is installed, it is extremely durable and impact-resistant. Resin is also installed as a seamless floor solution, meaning there are no joints, creases or crevasses which can be damaged and come under attack by unwanted bacteria.
Installing changing room flooring
One of our customers noticed the advantage our URAGARD hygienic resin flooring has had across their food manufacturing facility. They wanted to include the same quality hygienic flooring solution in their large staff changing and amenities building.
Having tried various flooring options in the past, our customer realised the importance of having a hygienic flooring with a seamless surface, which can prevent any build-up of bacteria, dust and debris in hard-to-clean places. Therefore, a high standard of cleanliness to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses is not only in their food process areas but also in areas outside of processing.
After a consultation on design and specification, the John Lord team carried out the manufacture and installation of over 1000m² of Uragard HT120W hygienic resin flooring to the canteen, toilets, shower rooms, changing rooms, engineers’ workshop and laundry areas.
Uragard HT120W is part of our HT Range of heavy-duty, high-performance and anti-slip polyurethane screed. Uragard HT120W is an independently tested slip-resistant screed, designed to provide safety under food and improve cleanability.
The addition of BioCote® and its high hygienic attributes means our Uragard resin flooring can also be antimicrobial.
Generally speaking, antimicrobial hygienic resin flooring can reduce bacteria, mould and fungi in as little as two hours and will achieve up to 99.99% bacteria reduction in 24 hours.
Having lower levels of microbes on a floor surface means improved hygiene, reductions in staining and odours, and a delay in degradation of materials. In summary, this can greatly extend the functional lifetime of a resin floor!
Hygienic resin flooring FAQs
What is the best hygienic flooring?
The best hygienic flooring solution is the one that suits your application, is easy to clean, and protects you against bacteria, mould, microbes and some viruses, like our John Lord hygienic resin flooring solutions with BioCote® included.
What is the best flooring for changing rooms?
The ideal changing room flooring is a hygienic resin flooring that has a seamless surface, suitable for easy cleaning, with the option of an antimicrobial additive like BioCote®.
What makes flooring hygienic?
Hygienic resin flooring requires an additive like BioCote® from John Lord, which gives you added protection from bacteria, mould and microbes.
