Kitchen Floor Tile
Commercial kitchens are demanding more flooring applications. The kitchen floor tile and other flooring in a commercial kitchen must be skid resistant when wet, stand up to mobile cart, rack and footfall traffic and withstand heat and food acids.
Tiles have been used in kitchen floors for centuries, but the grout between tiles is the weak point in kitchen floor tiles. These are damaged by entry of water under a tile, which makes it loose and breakage prone. Chiefly at risk are washing, wet food preparation and wet cooking kitchen areas. However, damaged tiles can be easily replaced.
Quarry tiles of unglazed, kiln fired clay; silicon carbide, a coloring agent and an aggregate for slip resistance are the most common kitchen floors. Thicknesses range from 3/8” for food service areas to ¾” and more for heavier duty kitchen areas.
Vinyl tiles are also available, but they get slippery when wet and easily worn out and damaged by heat. These tiles are suitable only for dry storage areas of the kitchen. Kitchen flooring of epoxy composite, Hubbellite and composite vinyl sheet are sturdy, seamless and durable. These need expert installation.
Epoxy composite flooring is applied in layers. Epoxy resin mortar is followed by seal layers, an aggregate layer at the top and a clear epoxy finish to seal the floor. The finished flooring thickness is 3/16” to ¼”
Hubbellite, a mix of cement, limestone, copper and magnesium compounds and proprietary additives is troweled on a latex based coat over the cleaned kitchen floor in ½” nominal thickness and cured with a dressing coat. This flooring is strong, slip resistant and resilient.
Composite vinyl flooring sheets are of high quality vinyl with an anti-slip aggregate, and possibly a non-woven backing. They are 1/8” thick and installed over an adhesive layer on a prepared base. Heat welding seals these flooring sheets and coved bases at walls.