Share thisBecause animal research facilities represent some of the most technically challenging building types to design, the care that needs to be taken in selecting “mission-critical” systems and materials must extend all the way to choices of interior finishes for the animal holding and circulation spaces, as well as support areas, such as cage wash suites. Of all finishes, none is more critical from the standpoint of performance than the flooring system. This is especially true when one considers that it’s not only the initial installation, but also unavoidable maintenance and repair/replacement issues and costs that need to be taken into account.
For a variety of reasons, fluid-applied flooring has become the “tried-and-true” system of choice for vivarium flooring. Yet obviously, more than one system type is available, with some of them available in a number of variations. This article attempts to summarize and clarify the most important issues to be considered during system selection – a practical mini-guide –thereby simplifying and demystifying the process.
Basic System Selection
The predominant type of fluid-applied flooring system being specified and installed in the United States is based on epoxy resin chemistry. Within this broad heading, several variations on the basic formula allow a given system to offer exceptional performance in some specific aspect of its function and appearance. It should also be noted that urethane-based products and formulations are often used as part of the system.
Of the other types of fluid-applied flooring, the most frequently used in vivaria are:
- - MMA (methyl-methacrylate) based systems
- - Urethane based systems
Still used occasionally in less critical areas are various seamless sheet-vinyl flooring systems, but these are quite rare, and are in any case outside of the scope of this article. Thus we will concentrate the discussion on epoxy, MMA, and urethane systems.