General Information
Location: Shreveport, LA
Building Type: Medical Facility
Product Manufacturer: Tnemec
Challenge
The current facility standard for Operating Room Floor Finishes has been heat welded sheet vinyl
to support cleanable hygienic environments to meet regulated sterilization requirments. Some of
the downfalls of this flooring solution are their significant susceptibility to failure due to moisture
intrusion, chemical attack, and system failure at the seam locations over time. Martin was
contacted by the Hospital Engineering Department to review these items and work with our
industry partners to design a new flooring system that would eliminate these issues. Martin worked
with Tnemec to provide a moisture tolerant Anti Microbial Resinous Seamless Floor Solution.
One of the main obstacles of this solution was that all installation operations were required to be
performed in a fully functioning hospital surgical suite on a very limited schedule allotment. It was
also determined by the client that a decorative option would be required to satisfy facility design
standards. This requirement added multiple steps to the application and still had to meet the rigorous
regulation standards related to sterilization and anti microbial support. Martin worked with Tnemec to
test multiple applications to find the proper solution to this challenge.
Solution
It was determined that a antimicrobial moisture tolerant resinous
application would be installed to support the issues with moisture
failure in the area and also provide the anti-microbial requirements
necessary for area sterilization. To accomplish the decorative
requirements Martin provided a custom decorative flake broadcast
that was developed with the client design staff to meet the current
finishes in the areas. This would require adiitional applications to meet the aesthetic requirements
which would make the schedule more complex and required a plan to address this requirement.
The project team developed a solution to utilize a fast cure application which allowed the 2nd
broadcast application to be over coated in 2 hours in lieu of standard cure times of 8-10 hours. This
required crew focus to provide the aesthetic requirements with the limited work time of the
material but did accomplish the schedule efficiency required.
During the final design phases of the application the surgical physicians stated that there could be
no substrate inconsistencies due the the specialized surgical equipment and a completely flat surface
was a non negotiable requirement. The decorative flakes provide a slight surface profile that
supports slip resistance so by eliminating that profile the potential for slip hazards greatly increases.
To eliminate the profile the team decided to install a high solids self leveling epoxy coat to fully fill
any surface profile ans provide a completely smooth application over the flakes. To eliminate any
slip hazards the team decided to install an aggregate filled finish coat for slip resistance.
The provided system allowed a low VOC site friendly solution that met the very limited schedule
allotment. The new system provided a fully monolithic moisture tolerant sterile application that has
performed exceptionally to date. In response to the success of this application the hospital team has
initiated additional OR areas at multiple campuses. Martin greatly appreciated the team approach
developed with the client as well as our industry partner Tnemec in the development to this solution
to resolve a facility issue that had been ongoing for years.
Martin always enjoys the opportunity to provide engineered coating based solutions to support
facility challenges. If there is an issue that Martin can help you address please contact us today to set
up a meeting to discuss any issues we can help you mitigate.
