The Cincinnati brewery of Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams, underwent a $6.5 million expansion project in 2005 following its purchase in 1997.

At the time of the expansion, flooring contractor E.B. Miller Contracting Inc., installed Valspar’s Flowfresh RT on thousands of square feet of fresh concrete poured for the new facility’s walkways and base floor. Flowfresh RT is a non-slip, heavy-duty rake and trowel urethane concrete that is chemical resistant and includes Polygiene, a built-in antimicrobial that inhibits growth of bacterial odors and guards against degradation from microorganisms. In addition, because it has the same coefficient of expansion as concrete, Flowfresh RT withstands extreme thermal shock, allowing it to tolerate sudden temperature changes without cracking or delaminating from the concrete surface.

Developed by Flowcrete PLC and offered in North and Central America by Valspar Flooring, Flowfresh floors combine demanding performance characteristics — resistance to impact, abrasion, aggressive chemicals/acids and thermal shock, the companies say. These advantages made Flowfresh RT the right flooring choice for the expansion. In fact, Todd Roseman, assistant brewing manager, was so impressed with Flowfresh’s performance that when it came time to refinish the original brewery’s aging filtration room, he again turned to E. B. Miller Contracting and Valspar Flooring.

Filtration rooms are often hot and steamy, making them the perfect environment for mildew and mold growth. In the case of the Sam Adams filtration room, the situation was more challenging; the room is located between several others kept cold for production, a combined environment that created even more condensation.

During the six-day, around-the-clock installation, the room’s tanks, pumps, piping and other equipment remained in place. E.B. Miller’s team set up rigging that reached up the 35-foot high walls, providing 100 percent fall protection, along with a makeshift tunnel to give control engineers ongoing access to computers on the parameter walkway, says E.B. Miller installer Greg Hardig.

On the floor pit area and walkway, E. B Miller Contracting applied the SR version of Flowfresh for its heavy-duty durability, heat resistance up to 210° F, and superior slip resistance.

For the ceiling, Adam Jordan, technical sales representative for Valspar Flooring, made the unusual specification of Flowfresh FC floor resurfacer rather than a conventional coating. “The exterior ambient temperature was bringing the dew point into play and the constant washdown of the yeast room located above the filtration room added concerns,” Jordan says. “As a result, the concrete ceiling had high moisture content; more than a typical coating would allow. I knew that Flowfresh FC with Polygiene would prevent mildew and odor-causing organisms from taking up residence in the coating.”

The results have proved themselves, Roseman says. “As great as these high-performance, long-lasting coatings look in the filtration room, the real bottom-line benefit is the reduced maintenance requirements that are yielding immediate savings,” he says. “Washdowns are much easier to perform, especially for the ceiling, and because the floors resist abrasion, chemicals and impact, we are not interrupting production for repairs or recoating.”
— Valspar Flooring, 1191 Wheeling Road, Wheeling, Ill., 60090; 800/637-7793; www.valsparflooring.com