Food-Processing Wash-Down Facility — Tema Heavy
Food-processing facility commission requiring 2800 sqm FDA-compliant hygienic epoxy with seamless coved bases, antimicrobial finish, and multi-shift wash-down resistance. Industrial Floors Ghana coordinated phased installation against active food-production calendar with full HACCP-aligned QC documentation.
Project Profile
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Sector | Food-Grade Manufacturing |
| Scale | 4,200 m² |
| Scope | Full floor removal, substrate remediation, hygienic resin system installation, coved skirting, floor-to-drain gradient engineering |
| Timeline | 11 weeks (phased to maintain partial production continuity) |
A major food-processing operator within Tema Heavy Industrial Area commissioned a full floor replacement across its primary wash-down production hall and ancillary processing corridors. The facility operates under stringent food-safety protocols requiring surfaces that withstand continuous wet-process cycles, aggressive alkaline and acidic cleaning agents, and sustained forklift and trolley traffic — all without surface degradation or microbial harbouring risk.
Specification Challenge
Wash-down facilities present a compound specification problem that generic floor contractors routinely underestimate. Three conditions converged here to make this project technically demanding.
Thermal and chemical cycling. Production-floor wash-down routines alternate between steam-cleaning at elevated temperatures and cold-water rinse cycles. This expansion-contraction cycling destroys adhesion on systems that are not designed for thermal shock resistance.
Drainage gradient precision. Food-safety regulations require positive drainage gradients throughout — no ponding, no standing water zones. The existing slab carried legacy falls that were inconsistent and, in two production zones, reversed. Correcting these gradients without full slab removal required millimetre-accurate topping specification.
Regulatory surface continuity. Standard floor-to-wall junctions are microbial harbouring points. The specification mandated fully coved skirting with a seamless, sealed radius throughout — a detail that demands exacting workmanship at scale.
Approach
Industrial Floors Ghana mobilised a phased methodology to allow the client to maintain output in one production zone while the adjacent zone was remediated and installed — a sequencing plan developed during a two-week pre-installation survey.
Substrate assessment and ASTM F1869 moisture testing was conducted across the full 4,200 m² prior to any materials specification. Four zones registered moisture vapour emission rates above acceptable thresholds; these received a vapour-suppressant primer before any resin layer was applied.
Gradient correction was achieved using a flow-applied cementitious topping, laser-screeded to introduce positive falls across all previously non-compliant zones. Flatness was verified against DIN 18202 tolerance tables prior to resin application.
The resin system specified was a food-grade, textured polyurethane concrete — selected for its thermal shock resistance, chemical resistance across the cleaning agent spectrum in use, and its 6 mm build depth providing meaningful impact absorption. Textured finish specification met slip-resistance requirements for wet barefoot and booted traffic.
Coved skirting was installed seamlessly across all wall junctions to a consistent 100 mm radius profile, eliminating the floor-to-wall joint as a contamination risk.
All drainage outlets were recessed and sealed with food-safe grout to eliminate standing water traps.
Outcome
- Gradient compliance achieved across 100% of production floor area — zero non-conforming zones at handover
- ASTM F1869 moisture readings within specification across all 4,200 m²
- Client completed first full wash-down cycle within 72 hours of handover
- Zero remedial call-backs within the 12-month post-installation monitoring period
What This Project Demonstrates
Food-processing facilities in Ghana’s Tema industrial corridor are held to international food-safety surface standards that make flooring specification a regulatory matter, not an aesthetic one. This project demonstrates that the wash-down floor is a process-critical asset: gradient engineering, moisture control, thermal resistance, and hygienic detailing must be specified and executed with the same rigour applied to the processing equipment above it. Industrial Floors Ghana has delivered to this standard — founded 1975 — across five decades of food-grade and heavy-industrial floor commissions.