The Challenge

Lucideon (then called Ceram) was engaged to establish if the slip characteristics of a resin floor, Stonblend GSI sealed using Stonseal GS7 Texture 1, that Stonhard installed in the canteen area of IBM Stuttgart in 2002, had altered during use. Stonhard were hoping to prove that the slip characteristics of the floor had not been changed by wear or cleaning over the six-year period in order to demonstrate to a prospective client that the floor was indeed durable.

What We Delivered

We undertook pendulum test measurements in both wet and dry conditions on:

• A new and virgin area of resin flooring
• Areas of well trafficked flooring situated in the serving area of the canteen
• Areas in the canteen where the flooring had not been well trafficked, i.e close to a wall.

The results were analysed and compared and it was found that the average pendulum test value of the new flooring was 66 in the dry condition and 59 in the wet condition in comparison to the insitu flooring which gave average dry values of 64 and wet 57. A range of 36-64 is categorised as being of low risk for slipping.

During the 6 years it had been in service the floor had only marginally changed and was still far in excess of the HSE minimum recommended value of 36 in the worst contaminated condition.

Value to the Client

The client was able to use the information to prove to a prospective customer that the resin flooring surface was durable and that the slip characteristics would not change substantially when subjected to high pedestrian traffic and cleaning. Their customer accepted our independent report and Stonhard were able to complete the sale.