Valspar Provides Solutions for Boston Beer Co.
November 1, 2007
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Valspar Provides Solutions for Boston Beer Co.
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
— Valspar Flooring, 1191 Wheeling Road, Wheeling, Ill., 60090; 800/637-7793; www.valsparflooring.com
