Floor painting with BETOPOX 92 AR in the PIF building of the Barcelona Port Authority.

Descripción sistema

The PIF area (Border Inspection Point) built in the ZAL Prat, brings together in the same space all the sanitary and non-sanitary controls of goods at the border, with the aim of streamlining border control processes and facilitating the passage of goods through the Port of Barcelona.

This is a multi-purpose area designed to quickly and professionally carry out controls on goods, especially those of animal, vegetable and perishable origin. Its functions range from the control of goods intended for human consumption (food, medicines, etc.) to the quality inspection and documentation of import and export products.

Its dimensions are designed to meet the needs generated by the Port of Barcelona’s traffic: 5,729 m2 of floor space; 3,119 m3 of cold storage, divided into three areas: ambient temperature, refrigeration (-4º) and freezing (-18º); 8 different operational areas; 31 loading bays; and a lorry parking and waiting area.

Reason for the intervention

In certain operational areas (loading/unloading areas and chambers) the existing pavement was badly damaged:

Cracks and spalling.

Rubber marks caused by wheelbarrow traffic.

Requirements

The Department of Conservation and Aids to Navigation of the Port Authority of Barcelona, in its Technical Specifications Ref. 20181070011, had established requirements for the products and treatments to be applied, which in summary consisted of prior mechanical preparation of the substrate, localised sealing of cracks, localised repair of spalling, general painting with epoxy paint and painting of horizontal signage.

Existing pavement characteristics

In the same specifications, it was reported that the sanitary floor was composed of 20 cm of HA-25/F/20/IIa concrete with 20 Kg/m2 of metallic fibres with a surface finish consisting of two layers of anti-slip epoxy resin mortar. The pavement had yellow painted horizontal signage in the loading and unloading areas.

Challenges and constraints

The planning of the works had to prioritise the normal activity in the operational areas of the building, understood as the loading and unloading bays, the ambient temperature stores, the refrigeration chambers and the freezing chambers. In order to meet this requirement, the work was carried out during a public holiday period.

This time constraint meant that the products to be applied had to be chosen very precisely so that they would harden sufficiently to guarantee optimum commissioning when the area resumed normal activity.

Condensation in the freezing chamber could be an added difficulty and required specific treatment of this area.

Molins Solution

In view of the conditions described above, the operation proposed by Molins consisted of the following:
“Verifying that the current surface finish was perfectly adhered to the base substrate. If this was not the case, the loose parts had to be eliminated and repaired, so that the new flooring could be received with guarantees. The cracks had to be sealed with BETOPOX® 920 P epoxy adhesive.
“Clean the existing surface by removing the remains of wheelbarrow rubbers, dirt, etc., and then sand the surface to facilitate the adhesion of the new coating.
“Apply the transparent epoxy resin primer BETOPOX® PRIMER.
“Apply two coats of BETOPOX® 92 AR epoxy coating.
“Painting of horizontal signs.

Execution

Preparation of the support

“1. The initial phase of the operation consisted of discovering and thoroughly removing areas of unglued or weakly adhered coating.

“2. The repair of these spalls, as well as half-rounds and small cracks was carried out with BETOPOX® 920 P, a two-component structural adhesive based on solvent-free epoxy resins, with selected fillers, thixotropic, which meets the requirements of EN 1504-4 and class R4 according to EN 1504-3.

“3. Next, rubber marks from wheelbarrows and other accumulated dirt were removed, using specific technical cleaning products that did not alter the treated surface.
“4. As a last step, surface sanding was carried out; in this way, the initial roughness of the pavement (which gave it an anti-slip characteristic) was maintained, while at the same time introducing a new element (the sanding grooves) that would act in favour of the adherence of the new coating.

” 5. The condensation caused by the freezing chamber shutdown was a critical point due to the difficulty of removing the humidity to a level that would allow the new flooring to be applied. The use of suction mechanisms and high-powered heaters allowed progress to be made on schedule.

Bonding bridge
“Once the previous steps had been completed, in order to achieve perfect adhesion between the finish and the substrate, BETOPOX® PRIMER, a low viscosity, 100% solids, transparent epoxy resin primer of 300g/m2, was applied by roller.

Finishing
“After 24 hours, the high-strength epoxy floor coating BETOPOX® 92AR was applied. The product is a solvent-free two-component pigmented epoxy resin with high mechanical and chemical resistance, which meets the requirements of the UNE EN 13813 standard. It was applied by roller in two coats. The first coat was 250 g/m2 and the second 150 g/m2. Once this second coat was dry, the horizontal signage paint was applied.

Before and after

Sources:
http://www.portdebarcelona.cat/es/web/zona-client/serveis
Technical Specifications ref. 2018107001. Department of Conservation and Aids to Navigation of the Port Authority of Barcelona.