Aviation and aircraft hangar offer many flooring challenges. Regular concrete cannot sufficiently withstand the caustic chemical spills, or the weight of the aircraft. Concrete often stains, cracks, or spalls under the pressures presented by an aviation hangar environment. Planes are unloading and moving heavy items in and out of the hangers causing additional stress on the floors. Untreated concrete floors also are very difficult to clean and to keep clean, which makes them unattractive options. Polyaspartic coatings provide a solution for the many flooring problems presented by aviation hangars and airplane mechanical areas.
Some aviators and hangar facility managers turn to epoxy floors. Epoxy floors, however, have several drawbacks. Epoxy floors are multi-day installations, depending upon the project size. They typically need 6-8 hours of cure time between coats. The aviation industry cannot afford to have their airplanes stored outside in the random weather elements for a week while they wait for their new epoxy floor.
Another drawback with epoxy coatings is they are not durable and can become brittle in as little as 12 months. Epoxy that delaminates in this fashion makes for upset facility managers and airplane owners. While epoxy coatings are good flooring solutions for small spaces, they are not great solutions for larger areas, such as aircraft hangars.
Polished concrete is another potential flooring solution hangar facility managers may consider for their floors. Polished concrete offers a highly polished finish, LEED Green points, environmentally-friendly qualities, limitless customization, and durability.
However, polished concrete is still not a great choice when it comes to aviation hangars. Due to installation time and lack of good oil and hydraulic spill solutions, polished concrete is not a good flooring solution for aviation hangars. Polished concrete requires a set of steps to continuously hone it to a specified level of gloss. For big spaces, such as airplane hangar concrete floors, it can take up to two or three weeks for a polished concrete contractor to complete the project. And like epoxy, polished concrete does not take oil staining or hydraulic fluids well. Unless there is a thick topical chemical guard treatment applied to the polished concrete, the oil spill will penetrate the concrete, causing permanent staining.
Neither polished concrete nor epoxy provide the best flooring solution for aviation hangars and aircraft mechanic areas.
Spartacote customizable concrete coatings are an excellent choice for aviation hangars and aircraft mechanical areas.
What makes Spartacote coatings different from polished concrete and traditional epoxy coating systems? Spartacote coatings offer floor owners fast return to service—often with work performed in 1 day for certain sized applications.
Spartacote coatings also offer excellent chemical resistance to salt, water, and oils. For aviation facilities specifically, Spartacote resists Skydrol B, the hydraulic fluid found in airplanes that may accidentally spill out on to the floor while performing routine aircraft maintenance. Since Spartacote is a seamless flooring solution, no liquids can penetrate the surface.
Spartacote concrete coatings offer an excellent solution for aviation hangars and mechanical areas.
Original article found at: https://www.hpspartacote.com/blog/difficulties-in-aviation-hangar-flooring-systems-designs-and-in-airplane-mechanical-areas/
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