Safety?
Did you know that workplace health and safety has an impact on your concrete sealing choices? Or should we say, your choices might have an impact on your safety.
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In the context of concrete?
Knuckling down to our topic – specifically, sealing large-format exposed concrete floors.
Exposed concrete floors need to be consistent in appearance, and durable against future load and traffic. And when you’re constructing anything at all, it’s generally thought to be good if you keep costs down. Therefore we get a cheap cure and seal coating, for example, one of the popular chlorinated rubbers. Problem solved, right?
And we do understand this – there’s a very good reason why chlorinated rubber is popular, and has been used so long. For what it does, it is cheap and effective.
One problem solved, another created?
What is Chlorinated Rubber?Chlorinated rubber is an elastomer – natural or artificial rubber – to which up to 65% chlorine has been added for hardening purposes. As noted, one of its most common uses is to seal concrete floor slabs.
Why not do an internet search – ‘Is chlorinated rubber safe?’ |
Will you choose a product with VOC so high that all workers in that zone need respiratory PPE while the product is being applied, and for some time after?
Will you choose a product where any run-off must be collected to avoid contamination of the site? Will you choose an environmental pollutant?
And here’s something else: will you choose a product that only hardens the top few millimetres of the slab … condemning the slab to craze cracking under traffic after a few years?
Better choices
Don’t do this to yourself, to your workers, to the asset owner, and to the environment. Chlorinated rubber is unsafe and unnecessary.
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Talk to MARKHAM about the SLAB-TECT® system; an end-to-end approach for slab durability and finish.
- High-quality concrete curing.
- Permanent deep penetrating hardening (about 150mm deep).
- Buff finish on the hardened substrate for an excellent and lasting appearance.
SLAB-TECT® potentially replaces multiple products – curing compounds, hardening compounds, and finishing sealers – in one easy-to-specify system. Add MARKHAM’s supply-and-apply service; permanently durable concrete; and perfectly safe for the environment, with no odours and no run-off… Win-win-win!
(And just on the topic of the environment – concrete in itself has bigger problems, but making it more durable and longer-lasting can help make it more sustainable. Just sayin’.)
So there are a bunch of reasons to choose SLAB-TECT® – the advanced and permanent protection for exposed concrete floors. Get in touch today to talk about your project needs.
