Resin flooring contractors Atherton small unit occupiers and landlords rely on when floor paint has already failed. Supporting light industrial, trade and distribution units across Chanters Industrial Estate, the Atherleigh Way corridor and the Howe Bridge area.
Working for national manufacturers, logistics operators and public sector estates since 1999.
As resin flooring contractors Atherton occupiers call on regularly, we work almost entirely in units of a few hundred to a few thousand square metres. The town sits between Leigh and Bolton on the A577 and the A579 Atherleigh Way, with employment land laid out on former colliery and mill sites.
Because units are small and let on relatively short terms, floors rarely get a planned lifecycle. They are patched, painted, or left until a safety issue forces the question.
So the local problem is remarkably consistent: aged concrete worn through to a soft, dusting surface, usually carrying thin site-applied floor paint that has flaked away in the traffic lanes.
The principal industrial estate on former colliery land, with distribution and light industry.
Industrial and trade units along the A579 link road between Atherton, Leigh and the A580.
Older employment land on the southern edge with workshop and storage accommodation.
Small multi-occupancy units and yards on the eastern approach into the town itself.
Trade counters and merchant yards with pallet, trolley and customer traffic together.
Mixed workshop, storage and service premises across the eastern side of Atherton.
Sealing worn concrete to stop dust and give a genuinely cleanable working surface.
Abrasion from swarf, sawdust and dropped components on a floor that sweeps clean.
Oils, fuels and solvent resistance with measured grip around wash and inspection.
Forklift and pallet-truck routes needing a durable, non-dusting surface and marking.
Hard-wearing floors coping with trolleys and customers without looking neglected.
Preparing and sealing vacant units so an incoming occupier inherits sound concrete.
Thin site-applied paint over laitance has nothing to bond to. It looks acceptable for a few months, then lifts in exactly the lanes that get used, and the dusting problem it was meant to solve comes straight back.
BS 8204-6 requires a sound, clean, prepared base, so grinding or blasting is not an optional extra here.
Worn concrete sheds respirable crystalline silica, limited under EH40 to 0.1 mg per cubic metre over eight hours.
FeRFA Types 1 to 8 and EN 13813 let a small unit be specified honestly rather than sold a heavy-duty screed.
Occupiers here run from a single unit and cannot decant, so the programme is built around keeping the business trading rather than around our convenience.
Floors are taken zone by zone or over a weekend. For landlords, the window between tenancies is the cheapest and least disruptive there is, and preparing and sealing then avoids the incoming occupier inheriting a problem.
Preparation runs under H-class extraction with areas screened. On a multi-occupancy estate the neighbouring unit is somebody else’s business, so containing the dust is part of the method rather than a courtesy.
The EH40 limit of 0.1 mg per cubic metre over eight hours makes sealing a dusting floor a control.
BS 8204-6 requires a sound, prepared substrate, meaning mechanical removal not overcoating.
EN 13813 and FeRFA Types 1 to 8 match build-up to actual traffic instead of over-specifying.
HSE L24 supports marked pedestrian routes and vehicle zones where units share access.
FeRFA classifies resin flooring into eight types by build-up and thickness, and BS 8204-6 governs which one a floor actually needs, with EN 13813 for the screed. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside that classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up. In Atherton the honest question is which of the lighter types genuinely does the job.
FeRFA Type 1. Two or more coats up to 150 microns, binding a dusting substrate and giving a cleanable surface. From £8 per square metre.
FeRFA Type 2. Dual component to 300 microns, solvent free, in gloss, matt or silk. Chemical resistance with a decorative finish.
FeRFA Type 3. Up to 1000 microns over prepared concrete and the system specified on most industrial jobs. Takes colour well for demarcation.
FeRFA Type 4. Multi-coat build at 1 to 3mm with aggregate broadcast between coats, for impact and constant wear.
FeRFA Type 5. Flow-applied at 2 to 3mm for a seamless finish where hygiene and cleaning matter more than impact resistance.
FeRFA Type 7. Three part filled system at 4 to 6mm thickness, giving a self-smoothing finish for heavy and very heavy duty areas.
FeRFA Types 7 and 8. Trowel-applied at 6 to 9mm to take thermal shock, steam cleaning and constant heavy forklift traffic.
Cures at temperatures down to −5°C and is ready in around two hours. Installed overnight or at a weekend it can remove the need to shutdown entirely.
Cures in hours, but the odour can taint food, fabrics and stock and the area must be cleared and ventilated. Better suited to new build and refurbishment projects.
Rates run from £8 per square metre for a floor seal to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Sealing a dusting unit floor sits at the bottom of that range, and on most Atherton units that is genuinely the right answer.
| System | FeRFA | Thickness | Per m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor Seal | Type 1 | Up to 150µm | From £8 |
| Epoxy and PU Coating | Type 2 | 150 – 300µm | £8 – £12 |
| High Build Coating | Type 3 | 300 – 1000µm | £8 – £12 |
| Multi-Layer Flooring | Type 4 | 1 – 3mm | £12 – £16 |
| Self-Smoothing | Type 5 | 2 – 4mm | £20 – £30 |
| Heavy Duty Flowable | Type 7 | 4 – 6mm | £25 – £35 |
| Heavy Duty PU Screed | Type 8 | 6 – 9mm | £30 – £40 |
| Polyaspartic | Chemistry | 300 – 500µm | £38 |
| MMA | Chemistry | 2 – 6mm | £45 |
Inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Rates assume a sound, accessible substrate and are indicative until the floor has been surveyed. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside the FeRFA type classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up.
A three day shutdown at a plant turning over £2,000 an hour is £120,000 of lost output. On most sites that is several times the price of the floor.
Five contractors quoted one timber processing plant. All five proposed the same system and a three to four day closure. None of them costed the closure.
We proposed a faster-curing system installed across a weekend. A higher rate per square metre, and no shutdown at all. On the client’s own figures the avoided losses exceeded the price of the floor.
We install evenings, weekends and one bay at a time.
Whether a shutdown costs you thousands an hour or simply gets in the way, you do not always have to close your site for a resin flooring installation.
Grinding or blasting off failed floor paint and laitance back to sound concrete.
Forklift routes, walkways and shared yard zones applied in resin rather than tape.
Damp proof membrane where a substrate fails moisture testing, as a standalone package.
Worn estate concrete ground back and sealed, taking the dust out of the working area.
Oil resistant finishes over prepared concrete in joinery, fabrication and vehicle bays.
Vacant units prepared and sealed so the next occupier starts on a sound surface.
We work across the area regularly, from Chanters Industrial Estate through to the Atherleigh Way corridor, Howe Bridge, Hindsford and the trade premises around Bolton Road. We are Cheshire based, so a survey usually happens within days and there is no mobilisation charge for attending.
Because it was applied over laitance rather than sound concrete. Thin site-applied paint has nothing to grip, so it lifts first in the lanes that get used most. The answer is mechanical preparation by grinding or blasting, and there is no coating that avoids that step.
Yes. Worn concrete releases respirable crystalline silica under traffic and sweeping, and EH40 sets a workplace exposure limit of 0.1 mg per cubic metre over eight hours. In a small unit with little extraction, sealing the floor removes the source rather than trying to manage it.
In most Atherton units, no. FeRFA Types 1 to 8 and EN 13813 exist so build-up can be matched to the traffic you actually have, and a seal or a coating is frequently enough. We would rather protect your budget and tell you that than sell a screed the unit does not need.
It is the best time you will get. An empty unit removes every access constraint, preparation and sealing can be done in one visit, and the incoming occupier inherits a sound, sealed floor rather than a problem that surfaces six months in.
From £8 per square metre for a floor seal up to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Most work here sits at the lower end, with removal of failed paint priced separately. The full table by system is on the cost page.
Tell us what is on the floor now, what the unit is used for and whether it is between tenants. We attend, test the substrate, and put a written specification and a fixed price in front of you at no cost.
