Slide-Lok of Minnesota Polyaspartic Floor Coating Takes Fire Test and Passes

April 5, 2011 - PRLog -- The South Haven, Minnesota Volunteer Fire Department has run a Slide-Lok of Minnesota Polyaspartic Floor Coating test in one truck bay on a section of concrete floor in the fire station. The Slide-Lok of Minnesota Polyaspartic Floor Coating was selected for the test in the firehouse because of the outstanding performance characteristics of both the Slide-Lok Brand Polyaspartic Floor Coating System and the service provided by Slide-Lok of Minnesota. Slide-Lok of Minnesota is the local distributor for all Slide-Lok products and their sales territory includes all of Minnesota including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and suburbs, western Wisconsin and eastern North Dakota.

When Brad Madison, President of Slide-Lok of Minnesota, was contacted by the New Haven Fire Department, he found that the fire station representative had specific questions about the durability of the Slide-Lok Polyaspartic Floor Coating on a fire station floor. The specificity of the concerns were in regards to the wear and tear caused by a fully loaded, 35,000 pound fire truck. In addition to the weight issue, additional concerns revolved around the effects the special fire truck tires would have on the floor. All of the concerns related to the previous floor coating failure.

Madison stated, “That was the key question: What effect would the weight and the tires have on the performance of the floor? Simply stated, we did not know the effects of the excessive fire truck weight on either the floor or our stress joint repair product..”

“There were very specific concerns about floor coatings. Not only did it relate to the weight of the fire trucks going in and out of the fire station on a regular basis, but also the grit and dirt that would come into the station with the truck, after a fire. Madison continued, “And, there is always the potential of dropping firefighting equipment on the floor. As we found out in talking to the fire chief, past performance dictates future concerns. The fire station floor had been coated with an epoxy coating one year prior to the contact between Slide-Lok of Minnesota and the South Haven Fire Department. The concern moving forward related to the epoxy failure. The epoxy was peeling up under every spot in the fire station where the truck tires rolled. In addition to the epoxy peeling up, every stress joint that had been repaired was coming apart.”

Slide-Lok of Minnesota’s first step was to diamond grind off all of the epoxy in the 12’ x 36’ test section. What they found when they were grinding off the failed epoxy was that all of the stress joints had been filled with grout. Grout is not an effective crack repair product when a vehicle of any weight is driven on it, let alone fire trucks. After fixing all of the failed repairs and completing other preparations, the Slide-Lok of Minnesota’s Polyaspartic Coating System was applied. Madison said, “We did not know what to expect as it related to the weight of the trucks and the density of the tires. We created more than 15 tests in the truck bay. Those tests ranged from different number of coats to different mixtures to different chip patterns to different approaches to the crack repairs. We wanted to know how our product performed in this unusual environment.”

“The results were impressive, even to us.” Madison continued, “We did not know exactly what would happen. We have a great product. We know it works in residential applications and light commercial. We did not know what to expect with a 35,000 pound truck. Before this, I could not look the fire chief in the eye and promise performance. We were willing to put the test section down at our expense for the purposes of earning the business.

“Moving forward, the problem is the economy. After completing the structure for an addition to the fire station, the municipality did not have the resources to complete the floor coating. We are waiting for the economy to turn around and looking forward to another budget year. ” Madison said, “The product worked, budgeting and timing did not.”

For a more detailed case study, e-mail Brad Madison at brad@slide-lokofminnesota.com or call him at 651.503.0753 and he will be glad to send you the complete story.

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