Resin flooring contractors Winsford industrial estate occupiers rely on for concrete that was never specified for the load it now carries. Supporting units across Road One, Road Three, Road Five, Woodford Park and the wider Winsford area beside the A54 and A5018.
Working for national manufacturers, logistics operators and public sector estates since 1999.
As resin flooring contractors Winsford operators call on regularly, we survey concrete that is doing a job it was never designed for. The Winsford Industrial Estate is one of the largest in Cheshire, laid out along Road One, Road Three and Road Five, and much of it was built decades ago for lighter duty than its current occupiers impose.
The pattern is consistent. Racking has gone up, handling plant has got heavier, and throughput has risen, while the concrete underneath has stayed exactly as it was. So the failures are dusting across the open floor and indentation or cracking at racking base plates where the point load concentrates.
That makes the honest proposition assessment, repair and upgrade rather than replacement. Most of these floors can be brought up to the duty they now carry, and breaking them out is rarely the right answer.
The core of the industrial estate, with manufacturing, storage and distribution units of many ages.
Industrial and warehousing premises carrying steady handling plant movement through the day.
An established industrial and trade area with light manufacturing, servicing and storage units.
Industrial and storage premises along the valley, with notably variable concrete condition.
Trade counters, servicing and storage premises linking the town toward Middlewich and Northwich.
Storage and handling buildings where chloride exposure adds to the ordinary abrasion duty.
Point-load tolerance at base plates, where under-specified concrete gives way first.
Impact and abrasion resistance on concrete laid for a lighter duty than it now takes.
Grinding back and sealing, stopping surface breakdown without paying for a screed.
Durable, cleanable finishes tolerating oils and the constant movement of small plant.
Non-absorbent systems resisting chloride ingress into the concrete beneath them.
Impact-resistant edges and slip resistance where yard grit and water are carried in.
Racking has gone higher and handling plant has got heavier, but the concrete is the same as the day it was poured. Dusting across the open floor and indentation at base plates are the two symptoms that follow.
EN 13813 states load class rather than leaving it implied, so the specification answers the duty the floor now carries.
Loose laitance breaking down is a preparation and sealing job. Grinding back and sealing costs far less than a screed.
Assessment, localised repair and an upgraded wearing surface. Breaking out sound concrete is rarely the right answer.
Winsford occupiers rarely have anywhere to decant to, and a unit standing empty is a cost most of them cannot absorb. So the work is planned around keeping the building in use.
Floors are taken bay by bay or aisle by aisle, with racking relocated in sections rather than emptied wholesale, and rapid-cure systems used where an area has to be back under load quickly.
Preparation runs under H-class extraction with shared areas screened, which matters here because grinding a dusting floor in an occupied unit will otherwise put that dust straight into the stock. Respirable crystalline silica is limited under EH40 to 0.1 mg per cubic metre over an eight-hour period.
Thickness and load class stated explicitly, because under-specification caused the problem first time.
Respirable crystalline silica is limited to 0.1 mg per cubic metre over eight hours, so extraction is standard.
HSE L24 demarcation of walkways and crossing points between racking runs and moving handling plant.
Soundness and moisture testing on ageing concrete, which decides whether upgrading is viable at all.
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 stating load class where a screed is specified. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside that classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up. In Winsford the question is usually which type closes the gap between the original duty and the current one.
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 floor sits at the bottom of that range, which is why assessment comes before assumption.
| 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.
Base plate repair, crack stitching and joint sealing across the older estate units.
Walkways, crossing points and racking bays applied in resin rather than in tape.
Damp proof membrane where a substrate fails moisture testing, as a standalone package.
Base plate repairs and upgraded wearing surfaces installed with racking relocated in sections.
Ageing concrete ground back and sealed, stopping surface breakdown without a full screed.
Impact tolerant systems phased bay by bay so the unit keeps working during the upgrade.
We work across the town regularly, from Road One, Road Three and Road Five through to Woodford Park and the Weaver Valley units. We are Cheshire based rather than Winsford based, so a survey usually happens within days and there is no mobilisation charge for attending.
Almost certainly not. Dusting is loose laitance at the surface breaking down, and on sound concrete the answer is grinding it back and sealing it. That sits at the bottom of the price range, where a replacement screed sits near the top, so it is worth having assessed before assuming the worst.
Because that is where the point load concentrates. A racking base plate puts the full weight of a loaded bay through a small area, and concrete specified for a lighter duty indents or cracks beneath it. The repair is localised, and the surrounding floor is usually still sound.
Usually, yes, and that is most of what we do here. We assess soundness, moisture and load capacity, repair what needs repairing, and specify a wearing surface matched to the duty the floor now carries. Breaking out sound concrete is rarely the right answer.
No. Work is taken bay by bay or aisle by aisle, with racking relocated in sections rather than emptied wholesale, and rapid-cure systems used where an area has to be back under load quickly. Very few occupiers here have anywhere to decant to, so we plan around that.
From £8 per square metre for a floor seal up to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Sealing a dusting floor sits at the bottom of that range. The full table by system is on the cost page.
Middlewich · Northwich · Crewe · Knutsford · Sandbach · Chester · Nantwich
Tell us what the racking carries, how the floor is behaving and which bays can be released first. We attend, test the substrate, and put a written specification and a fixed price in front of you at no cost.
