Natural Floors
When Y-Slip is applied to a surface of natural stone, marble, granite, slate, flagstone, and cement products such as terrazzo, quarry tile, unglazed tile and concrete, the surface may not contain silica, however these surfaces are all mineral products which contain Alumina. The non-fluorine-containing compound dissolves this alma, thus leaving hundreds or thousands of microscopic pores or pockets on the surface where the alumina was prior to treatment.
So the finish is flat, but when the surfaces become wet the microscopic pores fill with the fluid, so when the surface is walked on, a vacuum is created within the pockets, thus increasing the friction of the floor when wet.
Alkaline detergents work by turning fatty acids into soap, so when a floor is not cleaned properly, it leaves detergent and soil distributed over the whole surface, consider what happens when a wet spill occurs, turning the surface into an instant skating rink.
It is fair to say that correct cleaning is key to the performance of an installed floor, even more important when you relate it to slip resistance, so it is vital to know the condition of an installed floor at any time. Work we carried out with BAA showed their ability to meter installed floors on a regular basis, for monitoring cleaning performance, not only met their duty of care, under occupiers liability act, it also allowed them to target failing floors based on their own in house standard, which was drawn up using our EXL Tester to monitor floors regularly, as the documentation shows, this is supported by the HSE.
It is clear that the specification of suitable flooring by solely establishing its traction value, can become diluted when you consider the life of the installation and how quickly even the most carefully selected flooring can fail after installation.