Flooring

[Kari]

This post may be a little premature since I do not have all the data. But here is goes anyway.

A wash dry fold customer of mine does flooring for big grocery stores like Publix. They come in and sand blast the floor, grind down any imperfections and then lay what he called a Seamless Laminate Floor. The thing that got me interested is that it is non slip, can be done overnight with no down time at all, and can be installed no matter what temp. The problem is it's $16 per sf. He has some other stuff that is just as good and cheaper. He could not get me a quote until he got the exact SF of the place and he was heading out of town that night. Said he was going to contact me next time he is in town.

Anyone had any experience with this kind of floor? I know kind of lacking a lot of critical details, like the name of the product.

[Winston]

I don't know what a "seamless" laminate floor is, but if it is anything like the laminate flooring I have in my home, you don't want it in a laundromat. Normal laminate flooring has a pressboard backing and is unsuitable for wet environments. At $16 a sq ft, I would rather have ceramic or porcelain.

[DuboisLaundry]

while waiting for the name of the product I did a Google search for "seamless laminate flooring" and found several suspects, and they are not the product you might have in your kitchen...

Most were 1 or 2 part liquid that is mixed and poured or trowelled onto existing concrete flooring and allowed to dry and cure. Some were part of a "system" where one layer of 1 or 2 part liquid is applied first as an underlayment and allowed to cure followed by another layer of some other 1 or 2 part liquid as the actual flooring surface

some were epoxy, some urethane, some polyurethane, and some were other poly-something-or-others stuff. Some were reinforced with glass, quartz, or perhaps other minerals

From the maunufacturer's and dealer's websites that I saw, I really can't say how well they would hold up long term in a laundromat, but the folks making and selling them are of course quite confident. Many of them could easily have been $16/sq ft or more.

some are supposedly immune to chemical spills ( bleach? ) others extremely hard wearing under heavy traffic, others designed for years of repeated hot-water washdown.

None really caught my eye as being perfect for the laundromat without further research. I kind of liked the ones that are formulated for locker rooms and showers because of their water proof and slip resistant properties, but am skeptical they would wear out too fast in the laundromat.

[pete f]

I spent about $3 a ft for tile, grout, mortor and put down porcelin tile in my last store. and will do the same when I remodel the one I just bought. I think the tile guys get $3 a ft to install
For $16 you could put down marble and still have money left over for corian folding tables :)

[KJD]

My porcelin tile floor is about 17 years old. You can't beat porcelin tile.

[Kari]

I would love to put ceramic or porcelain; however, my store use to be an old Phillips 66 gas/service station. The floor is not 100% level there are slight slopes to the floor from where the cars drove into the bays. Why they did not fix this when the converted to a Mat I don't know. i think we are just going to put regular tile back in, that is what was there for years. I would love to put in this seamless floor. But even at the $10 per Sf that I was quoted today that is a little more than I want to spend. I would rather put that money toward my mortgage. But for anyone who is interested here is a website for a product this guy uses. Don't know how well it would hold up in a mat.

http://www.res-tek.net/

Thanks for eveyones input

[pete f]

my new store had a terrible floor. You can level with stuff they sell at home depot, speedie quick level, or something, I forget the name. It is a bit expensive, but will fill in those rut. Also you can use mortor, just do it in layers. I had some holes I filled with dirt, then cement over and smooth. Use good mortor to lay them and they are somewhat forgiving.

[laundryman]

I spent about $3 a ft for tile, grout, mortor and put down porcelin tile in my last store. and will do the same when I remodel the one I just bought. I think the tile guys get $3 a ft to install
For $16 you could put down marble and still have money left over for corian folding tables :)

$3 sf to install tile, give me the guys number!! $7 is the Avg price for non mud floor for a good tile guy with a mud floor its about $ 9 without tile.

The stuff this guy is talking about is not a laminate flooring its an epoxy floor and its worth every penny. This is the same stuff they put in factory floors only now they can make it any color you want.

[Kari]

What I like about it is that it has a cure time of 60 minutes where as Epoxy takes several days(I think about 14). Also the temp for installation is from 20 degrees f to 100 Degrees. so you can install the floor overnight with no down time in the dead of winter. Plus it is non slip.

[DuboisLaundry]

the fast cure is appealing to me too.
But I think I need to pay off the mortgage first

replace a few VCT tiles here & there in the meantime

[Sunflower]

You can tile a non-level floor by putting down self leveler and then cement boarding, crack membrane or whatever is appropriate... If you can get it in inexpensively... It will last forever, raise the value of your property and is much more slip resistant than vinyl tile. (P.S. My husband who's been selling and installing tile for 25 years would tell you to use porcelain with a commercial slip resistant rating. It's much stronger than ceramic.) Anna