Sika Sort Spitalfields Floor Problem

A corrosive problem with the floor at the New Spitalfields Market in East London, has been solved with a remedial flooring system from Sika-Armorex.

The floor area in question was 3,000 sq.

metres within the Market Hall that houses 115 trading units for wholesalers dealing in fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Extensive testing commissioned by the client showed that the problem in this area was deterioration of the original concrete floor surface caused principally by penetration into the concrete by acid from the fruits.

This deterioration also contributed to create a slippery surface affecting the hard-wheeled forklift trucks and the market traders.

The problem had been identified in good time but needed well tested remedial work to prevent the situation becoming worse.

Sikafloor-20 PurCem the three-component, water based, heavy duty, polyurethane screed was successfully trialled over one year and subsequently specified in favour of other systems to provide a hardwearing, chemical and slip resistant surface.

Three further elements were critical in the specification of the new floor surface 1.

The material must be foodsafe, with no odour.

2.

The application must be conducted within a narrow shutdown window between 12 noon Saturday and 9pm Sunday.

3.

The floor re-profiling had to be able to cope with the high residual moisture in the slab caused by daily washdown by road sweepers.

Contractors laid the Sikafloor-20 PurCem at 9mm thickness and back-rollered with a spike roller to create an additionally textured finish in natural grey.

Various trafficways, symbols and directional signs were incorporated using a contrasting safety yellow from the wide range of standard colours.

All work was completed in good time for the traders to begin setting their stalls Sunday night, ready for business bright and early on the Monday morning.

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