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ing from the edge of the building wall to the newly installed drain," recounts Klapper. That's 3" (7.62cm) of solid epoxy! First, they isolated the processing room from the rest of the plant with plastic sheeting. They also created "a three-sided tent using plastic sheeting as dust containment to protect the machinery from dust when we did demo work," says Behunin. They protected themselves by wearing respirators with full face shields, gloves, boots, hearing protection, and hard hats. With men and machinery protected, the crew used Ingersoll Rand air saws, pneumatic chipping hammers, and scaling hammers to remove the delaminated coating and any unsound concrete. "We used a wet diamond grinding process to cut the concrete, which limited the dust. Then a plumber came in to install the new drain," Behunin says. When the plumber was finished, Behunin and his crew refilled any unsound spots on the old floor using back fill and tamping it into place. "There are no control joints in this monolithic floor," Behunin explains, "so we drilled ½" (1.27cm) rebar dowel into the BELOW "There are no control joints in this monolithic floor," Behunin explains, "so we drilled ½" (1.27cm) rebar dowel into the concrete for reinforcement." concrete for reinforcement." Next, the crew used Bio-T degreaser from BioChem Systems to clean and degrease the floor. "With the Bio-T, we remove the bio-hazards and prevent future delamination by exposing and cleaning the substrate," Behunin says. They poured the Bio-T into five-gallon (18.93L) buckets in a 20% solution mixed with hot water. This was then poured onto the floor and allowed to sit for the required two hours for complete disinfection. After a scrub with brushes, the floor was given another hot water wash. Then the floor was "acid-etched to create a clean, sound, and abraded surface," explains Behunin. "We use a 25% hydrochloric acid solution distilled down to 20% with water to etch the floor." Following a final hot water rinse, the floor was ready for coating. THE ART OF THE PITCH With a traditional floor, pitch is established with the concrete floor itself. The concrete is built up, sloped off, and tapered toward the drains. Made of mortar, sand, lime, and water, concrete is a far BELOW After a plumber had installed a new drain, Behunin and his crew refilled the trench using back fill and tamping it into place. 44 CoatingsPro J July 2012