Anti-slip treatments

[boazcan]

Is there anyone here that has successfully added this service to their hard surface "portfolio"?

I have thought about it for years, but after talking to someone in the business here locally most of them lack any sufficient knowledge of the tile and stone industry. Just how to apply their acid etching products.

Curious on any feedback - thanks.

 

[Bee Busy]

I would go to dirtygrout.com where there are many guys experienced in the anti slip process.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Ditto what Bee said, several guys on DG board have experience. Use search function.

Be careful, i have seen more botched jobs then successful.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Folks applying anti-slip as "professionals" are starving. I'm actually bringing it back and writing an additional page for my web site as we speak. But what I'm really bringing back is my walkway safety auditing service. As I see it the problem with anti-slip treat applicators is their lack of ability to really audit the static and dynamic friction of a floor when they're called to "solve" someones problem. I got my field experience under fire when I was doing cleaning for a fortune 500 food chain.

When face to face with a commercial customer (and I guess even a residential as well) it's critical you know what you're talking about when it comes to evaluating the friction of their floor surface and the real miss-information floating around the country about OSHA and the ADA. There's several anti-slip coatings and several acidic based ones as well. The acidic ones require some real caution. Here's my recommendation.

Seek out the NFSI (national floor safety institute) and their walkway safety class. Research Tribometers as well. The new BOT-3000 isn't cheap but it's unbelievably accurate. If simple applying some coatings to some residential customers is all you want then the commercial route might not be for you. The commercial venue is going to require you become an expert in order to be heard and get repeat business.

 

[ted mcfadden]

The best thing that you can do is to change your vocabulary. Use the term slip resistance instead. Nothing is anti-slip and slip resistance treatments need constant maintenance. They act light micro-etching agents, increasing the surface area of the tile so that when wet the foot has more to grab onto. THe drawback is that the pores created tend to fill up when mopped negating your work. When offering this you need an iron clad contract limiting your liability as well as a lot of practice. It does not hurt if you can test your work with a slip meter (but these can be pretty expensive). The method of testing the Coefficient of friction and the actual coefficient necessary to meet the standards, has changed over the years so make sure you are using right information in that regard as well. I use Slip Grip and have liked it since I started using it 10 years ago.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

What kind of liability are you referring to and what standards as well?

 

[Cameron DeMille]

ADA standards.

The liability of you providing a non-slip coating like they asked, and someone falling on their head because there was water on the floor, or something like that, that you have no control over when they don't listen to what you tell them.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

I'm gonna help as many as can about this ADA miss-information that's been floating around for almost 10 years now. This is what the enforcement title says about ground and floor surfaces:

4.5.1* General.Ground and floor surfaces along accessible routes and in accessible rooms and spaces including floors, walks, ramps, stairs, and curb ramps, shall be stable, firm, slip-resistant, and shall comply with 4.5.

The asterick refers to an appendix that has been miss-represented for several years now (A4.5.1 is NOT the enforceable standard). The information is the appendix is actually miss-represented as well (but that's another story all together). There are no published/enforceable slip resistant coeffecient standards by the ADA. I tell commercial customers and even a few lawyers lately don't take my word on this, phone the ADA and allow them to explain exactly was is and isn't written in their standards, it's quite a story they will tell you. So, be careful what you tell your customers.