Resin Flooring – The Most Versatile Flooring System – FeRFA
Being the flooring of choice for many years in the food, automotive, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors, resin flooring has a long and proven track record in these types of industrial environments because of its excellent performance characteristics, and its ability to provide a seamless, hygienic, slip-resistant floor.
With the ever-increasing demands for durable and easy to maintain flooring within the commercial sector, resin flooring is widening its success by becoming more and more popular in commercial projects such as hospitals, retail and leisure outlets.
Whether industrial or commercial, choosing the correct flooring system has always been the key factor in ensuring that all the client’s requirements are met from the chosen system.
The selection process should always include an exchange of information between the client and the resin flooring manufacturer and the contractor.
Any particular site issues or requirements such as slip resistance and the cleaning and maintenance, should be discussed to ensure the client has an understanding of what is involved in laying a resin flooring system and which resin system would be the most suitable.
The Resin Flooring Association
FeRFA, promotes the use of a classification system to assist specifiers. This is now the basis of the relevant British Standard, BS8204-6.
The different resin types are defined from Type 1 to Type 8, based on the applied thickness of the resin system.
The thickest type is greater than 6mm and is effectively impervious, for the heaviest loading and trafficking.
The FeRFA classification system allows a cross-reference between products from different manufacturers, irrespective of brand names, and provides useful guidance when selecting a resin flooring system.
| TYPE | NAME | DESCRIPTION | DUTY | TYPICAL THICKNESS |
| 1 | Floor seal | Applied in two or more coats. Generally solvent or water borne. |
LD | up to 150 µm |
| 2 | Floor coating | Applied in two or more coats. Generally solvent free. |
LD/MD | 150 µm to 300 µm |
| 3 | High build Floor coating | Applied in two or more coats. Generally solvent free. |
MD | 300 µm to 1000 µm |
| 4 | Multi-layer flooring | Aggregate dressed systems based on multiple layers of floor coatings or flow-applied floorings, often described as ‘sandwich’ systems. | MD/HD | > 2 mm |
| 5 | Flow applied flooring | Often referred to as ‘self-smoothing’ or ‘self-levelling’ flooring and having a smooth surface. | MD/HD | 2 mm to 3 mm |
| 6 | Resin screed flooring | Trowel-finished, heavily filled systems, generally incorporating a surface seal coat to minimize porosity. | MD/HD | > 4 mm |
| 7 | Heavy duty flowable flooring | Having a smooth surface. | HD/VHD | 4 mm to 6 mm |
| 8 | Heavy duty Resin flooring | Trowel-finished, aggregate filled systems effectively impervious throughout their thickness. | VHD | > 6 mm |
The selection process should always account for the functional needs of the floor finish, the substrate on which it is to be installed, and the aesthetic requirements.
All of this may sound complicated, but not so when there is easy access to information and guidance when choosing a flooring system.
The specialist resin flooring contractor will assist throughout the process, and additional information and guidance are also available via the FeRFA website which includes easy to access technical guidance, together with real case studies across a number of market sectors.
All of this information, plus a list of FeRFA Specialist Contractors and Manufacturers is available via one source – the FeRFA website www.ferfa.org.uk.
