Resin flooring contractors Irlam freight, logistics and heavy handling operators rely on for floors at the demanding end of the duty range. Supporting facilities across Northbank Industrial Park, the Port Salford tri-modal corridor and the units along Liverpool Road beside the Ship Canal.
Working for national manufacturers, logistics operators and public sector estates since 1999.
As resin flooring contractors Irlam operators call on regularly, we specify at the top of the duty range. The town sits where the Manchester Ship Canal, the Chat Moss railway and the A57 run within a few hundred metres of each other, and very few inland locations can transfer freight between vessel, rail and road on one site.
The operations that follow handle heavier and denser unit loads than a typical regional shed. Containers, steel, bulk packaging and palletised goods cross floors that also cope with weather, yard grit and constant movement between external hardstanding and internal storage.
The steel-making past matters as well. Made ground, old foundations and complicated ground histories underlie the redeveloped areas, so the survey does real work before the specification starts.
The principal modern industrial and distribution estate, built on former steelworks land.
Distribution floorspace around combined water, rail and road freight handling at Barton.
Waterside industrial and handling land at Irlam Locks with heavy plant movement.
Older and mixed industrial units along the A57 running towards Warrington.
Smaller-scale industrial and trade premises serving businesses across the local area.
Vehicle, trailer and plant workshops near the freight corridors with heavy axle loads.
Dense unit loads, container handling plant and continuous yard-to-building movement.
Concentrated point loading, stillage edge impact and abrasion from swarf and scale.
Heavy plant movement, weather exposure at openings and demanding threshold detail.
Dust control, abrasion and cleanability across genuinely large floor plates.
Fuel, oil and hydraulic resistance with wash bays and containment detailing.
Bunded, chemically resistant floors with correct falls and sealed containment.
On a site adjoining the Ship Canal the floor is not just a surface. Oil storage rules require secondary containment at 110 per cent of the largest container, and permitting governs discharges to controlled waters, so falls, junctions and bund coatings are one package.
Secondary containment sized to the largest container, with the floor, upstands and falls specified as one system.
BS 8204-6 and FeRFA Types 1 to 8 justify heavy-duty flowables or screeds under container handling plant.
Grit, rainwater and wet tyres make the area just inside a door the highest slip risk on the whole site.
Freight handling runs around the clock, so zoned working, temporary route changes and phased handback are agreed before a system is chosen rather than negotiated once we are on site.
Work is taken bay by bay or door by door, with rapid-cure options where an area has to be back in service within a shift. Cure behaviour is set out rather than a completion time promised.
Preparation runs under H-class extraction with areas screened, and on former steelworks ground the grindings are contained rather than spread across a working yard.
Oil storage rules at 110 per cent capacity, with permitting governing discharges to the canal.
BS 8204-6, FeRFA Types 1 to 8 and EN 13813 for abrasion and compressive performance.
BS 7976 pendulum values in the wet state where grit and water come in off the aprons.
Shunting, trailer movement and forklifts on one footprint need marked routes and crossings.
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 covering abrasion and compressive performance. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside that classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up. In Irlam the handling plant puts most areas near the top of the range.
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. Heavy-duty handling areas sit at the upper end, and containment detailing is priced separately because it is engineering rather than area.
| 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.
Bunds, upstands, falls and sealed junctions so a spill is held where it lands.
Arris rebuilding and flexible sealing across aprons, thresholds and handling routes.
Damp proof membrane where a substrate fails moisture testing, as a standalone package.
Heavy-duty build-ups under container plant and dense unit loads, phased by zone.
Point-load rated systems where stillages and bar stock concentrate weight and impact.
Bunded, chemically resistant floors around fuel, oil and chemical storage points.
We work across the area regularly, from Northbank Industrial Park and the Port Salford corridor at Barton through to Irlam Locks, Cadishead and the units along Liverpool Road. We are Cheshire based, so a survey usually happens within days and there is no mobilisation charge for attending.
Considerably. Oil storage rules require secondary containment at 110 per cent of the largest container, and permitting governs discharges to controlled waters, so the floor forms part of the containment system. Falls, sealed junctions, chemical resistance and bund coatings are specified as one package rather than separately.
Because the loads are denser than most warehouse specifications assume. Container handling equipment and dense unit loads sit at the top of the duty range, and BS 8204-6 with the FeRFA types exist to justify a heavy-duty flowable or a polyurethane screed rather than a coating.
Because grit, rainwater and wet tyres come straight in off the yard, and those first metres are the highest-risk area on the site. That zone is specified separately using BS 7976 pendulum values in the wet state rather than taking the value used across the rest of the floor.
It matters for the survey. Made ground, old foundations and complicated ground histories underlie the redeveloped areas, so we establish what is actually there before pricing rather than assuming a uniform modern base.
From £8 per square metre for a floor seal up to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Heavy-duty handling areas sit at the upper end, with containment detailing priced separately. The full table by system is on the cost page.
Eccles · Salford · Urmston · Warrington · Stretford · Leigh · Manchester
Tell us what crosses the floor, where a spill would go and which bays can be released. We attend, test the substrate, and put a written specification and a fixed price in front of you at no cost.
