Fresh Prepacked Seafood Specialist

Bluff Fisheries are a supplier of prepacked seafood that pride themselves on having a true passion for perfection when it comes to fresh meat and seafood, not to mention customer service. The owner is a fifth-generation butcher and has been working with seafood since he was 13 years old and fishing since he was old enough to hold a rod.

They recently opened a new 300m2 facility and sales outlet in North Lakes, near Brisbane, and needed a suitable floor finish that would be hard wearing, hygienic and suitable for food processing uses whilst at the same time being aesthetically pleasing and safe to be used in the customer areas.

The product that was selected by the owner that satisfied all of these criteria was Sikafloor® PurCem®-22N in RAL5015 Skye Blue, and the selected installer was Apex Epoxy Flooring who have a proven track record of on-time and faultless installations.

The new concrete slabs had been installed without sufficient falls to drainage for use as a food processing area. To rectify this it was necessary to increase the floor gradient around the room perimeters so the floors could be washed and cleaned without leaving standing water under the tables, benches and equipment that would be fixed in place after the floor finishes had been installed.

The new floor finish would need to be suitable for use in wet conditions and provide a high degree of slip resistance – as members of the public would be walking on the new floors and would be wearing a wide variety of footwear this was an important consideration.

Sika solution

Sikafloor®-94 epoxy resin was applied by Nathan Young of Apex Epoxy Flooring to increase the falls around the room perimeters and to form the new resin skirtings. Sikafloor® PurCem®-21N was then trowel applied to the floor areas, fully broadcast with graded aggregates and then sealed with Sika 31N sealer to complete the Sikafloor® PurCem®-22N system and leave a P5 slip resistant surface profile. The 22N is certified by HACCP for use in the food industry and contains less than 1g of VOC per litre of material, so is perfect for use in even the most strict conditions where members of the public and other retailers may be in close proximity during the installation.

This is an important consideration for installers who have to carry out flooring work in shopping or commercial centers without causing dis-ruption to trade or inconvenience to the public.

The colour chosen for the project was Skye Blue RAL5015 from the Sika polyurethane cement flooring range.