Resin flooring contractors Leigh food, chilled and general distribution operators rely on for floors judged on hygiene as well as wear. Supporting facilities across Leigh Business Park, the A580 East Lancashire Road corridor and the industrial areas at Bickershaw and Plank Lane.
Working for national manufacturers, logistics operators and public sector estates since 1999.
As resin flooring contractors Leigh operators call on regularly, we are judged on drainage and detailing more often than on durability. The town sits on the A580 with the M6 at Junction 23 to the west, which attracted distribution needing scale and access without motorway-corridor land values.
What separates Leigh from the county’s other distribution towns is the weight of food-related and temperature-controlled activity in that mix. A general logistics floor is judged on abrasion and impact. A chilled or food-handling floor is judged on thermal tolerance, drainage, hygiene detailing and wet slip performance.
So the failures here are thermal shock cracking and ponding at inadequate falls, and both usually show up at an inspection long before the floor is structurally finished.
Almost every failed industrial floor comes back to the same four variables: the condition of the substrate, the quality of the preparation, the temperature and contamination on site, and whether the system was matched to the traffic it actually carries.
Get those right and a resin floor runs for fifteen years and more. Get them wrong and it blisters, delaminates or dusts within a year or two, regardless of what the manufacturer’s datasheet claims.
We survey the substrate before we quote it. That means moisture testing, an assessment of what is already down, and a written specification naming the system, its FeRFA type and its thickness — so you know what you are buying and so does anyone who has to approve it.
Diamond grinding or shot blasting back to sound concrete, moisture testing to confirm the substrate is dry enough to coat, and repair of cracks, joints and spalled areas before any resin is mixed. Skipping this is why cheap floors blister and peel.
Substrate condition, preparation quality, temperature and contamination are the four variables that determine whether a resin floor lasts fifteen years or fifteen months. FeRFA guidance is explicit: resin flooring follows the substrate profile beneath it.
The principal modern business and industrial location, with distribution and commercial units.
Distribution and industrial floorspace at Lowton taking advantage of the trunk route.
Redeveloped industrial and storage accommodation on former colliery land to the west.
Industrial and storage premises on redeveloped employment land west of the centre.
Industrial and trade premises on the A579 link running north towards Atherton.
Older industrial and workshop stock near the canal junction in the town centre.
Forklift traffic combined with temperature differentials, condensation and cleaning.
Washdown, steam cleaning, organic soiling, drainage falls and coved detailing.
Thermal cycling at door lines and low-temperature installation constraints.
Aisle abrasion, dock-edge impact and racking point loads across large plates.
Durable, cleanable surfaces that also present well to visiting customers daily.
Fuel and oil resistance with washdown and measured slip performance.
Where falls are inadequate, or lost during a previous overlay, water stands. Cleaning stops being effective, slip risk rises and the area fails inspection while the floor itself is still sound. Re-establishing falls is a survey-stage decision, not a finishing detail.
Correct falls to drainage are designed at survey, because a ponding area cannot be cleaned however good the surface is.
Steam and hot water washdown impose bond stress that epoxy tolerates poorly, so polyurethane screeds lead here.
A more aggressive anti-slip profile carries cleaning implications, and the two are balanced rather than maximised.
Food and chilled operations run to schedules that do not move, so the sequence is agreed against production and cleaning windows rather than proposed around our availability.
Cold stores constrain it further. Substrate temperature and cure behaviour decide what can be laid and when, so we discuss return-to-service windows rather than promising timescales the conditions will not support.
Where polyurethane screeds are specified, and in these areas they usually are, ISOPA and ALIPA diisocyanate training records apply and every operative handling them holds current REACH certification.
Coved skirtings, sealed junctions, falls to drainage and detailing at plinths, drains and thresholds.
Polyurethane screeds where steam, hot washdown and chill-to-ambient transitions impose bond stress.
BS 7976 pendulum values in the wet state, balanced against the cleaning regime the area needs.
HSE L24 routes marked in resin and cleanable, rather than taped or applied as a surface film.
FeRFA classifies resin flooring into eight types by build-up and thickness, and BS 8204-6 governs which one a floor actually needs, with EN 13813 for the screed. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside that classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up. In Leigh the washdown temperature usually decides the chemistry before anything else.
FeRFA Type 1. Two or more coats up to 150 microns, binding a dusting substrate and giving a cleanable surface. From £8 per square metre.
FeRFA Type 2. Dual component to 300 microns, solvent free, in gloss, matt or silk. Chemical resistance with a decorative finish.
FeRFA Type 3. Up to 1000 microns over prepared concrete and the system specified on most industrial jobs. Takes colour well for demarcation.
FeRFA Type 4. Multi-coat build at 1 to 3mm with aggregate broadcast between coats, for impact and constant wear.
FeRFA Type 5. Flow-applied at 2 to 3mm for a seamless finish where hygiene and cleaning matter more than impact resistance.
FeRFA Type 7. Three part filled system at 4 to 6mm thickness, giving a self-smoothing finish for heavy and very heavy duty areas.
FeRFA Types 7 and 8. Trowel-applied at 6 to 9mm to take thermal shock, steam cleaning and constant heavy forklift traffic.
Cures at temperatures down to −5°C and is ready in around two hours. Installed overnight or at a weekend it can remove the need to shutdown entirely.
Cures in hours, but the odour can taint food, fabrics and stock and the area must be cleared and ventilated. Better suited to new build and refurbishment projects.
Rates run from £8 per square metre for a floor seal to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Food and chilled areas sit at the upper end, and falls correction is priced separately because it is engineering rather than area.
| System | FeRFA | Thickness | Per m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor Seal | Type 1 | Up to 150µm | From £8 |
| Epoxy and PU Coating | Type 2 | 150 – 300µm | £8 – £12 |
| High Build Coating | Type 3 | 300 – 1000µm | £8 – £12 |
| Multi-Layer Flooring | Type 4 | 1 – 3mm | £12 – £16 |
| Self-Smoothing | Type 5 | 2 – 4mm | £20 – £30 |
| Heavy Duty Flowable | Type 7 | 4 – 6mm | £25 – £35 |
| Heavy Duty PU Screed | Type 8 | 6 – 9mm | £30 – £40 |
| Polyaspartic | Chemistry | 300 – 500µm | £38 |
| MMA | Chemistry | 2 – 6mm | £45 |
Inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Rates assume a sound, accessible substrate and are indicative until the floor has been surveyed. Polyaspartic and MMA sit outside the FeRFA type classification because they describe the resin chemistry rather than the build-up.
A three day shutdown at a plant turning over £2,000 an hour is £120,000 of lost output. On most sites that is several times the price of the floor.
Five contractors quoted one timber processing plant. All five proposed the same system and a three to four day closure. None of them costed the closure.
We proposed a faster-curing system installed across a weekend. A higher rate per square metre, and no shutdown at all. On the client’s own figures the avoided losses exceeded the price of the floor.
We install evenings, weekends and one bay at a time.
Whether a shutdown costs you thousands an hour or simply gets in the way, you do not always have to close your site for a resin flooring installation.
Re-establishing falls and forming channel detail so washdown areas drain rather than pond.
Forming coved skirtings and sealed junctions at walls, plinths and door thresholds.
Damp proof membrane where a substrate fails moisture testing, as a standalone package.
Polyurethane screeds with coving and corrected falls, handed back audit ready.
Systems selected to cure at the temperature the store actually runs at, phased by room.
Abrasion resistant floors and joint repairs installed aisle by aisle around throughput.
We work across the area regularly, from Leigh Business Park and the A580 corridor at Lowton through to Bickershaw, Plank Lane, Atherleigh Way and the canal-side premises in the town centre. We are Cheshire based, so a survey usually happens within days and there is no mobilisation charge for attending.
Almost never. It is the falls, and they are frequently lost when a previous overlay was laid without re-establishing them. A ponding area cannot be cleaned effectively however good the surface is, which is why it fails inspection while the floor itself is still perfectly sound.
Because of washdown temperature. Steam and hot water cleaning, and chill-to-ambient transitions, impose thermal movement and bond stress that epoxy tolerates poorly. Polyurethane screeds are formulated to absorb that, so the chemistry follows the cleaning regime rather than a preference.
No, and it is worth saying plainly. A more aggressive profile grips better but is harder to clean, and in a food area that is a hygiene problem rather than a safety gain. We use BS 7976 pendulum values in the wet state and balance grip against the cleaning regime the area actually needs.
Often, but temperature governs it. Substrate temperature and cure behaviour decide what can be laid and how quickly it returns to service, so we set out a return-to-service window rather than promising a timescale the conditions will not support.
From £8 per square metre for a floor seal up to £45 for MMA, inclusive of preparation, labour and materials. Food and chilled screeds sit at the upper end, with falls correction priced separately. The full table by system is on the cost page.
Atherton · Wigan · Westhoughton · Bolton · Irlam · Salford · Warrington
Tell us how the area is cleaned down, where the water stands and how cold it runs. We attend, test the substrate, and put a written specification and a fixed price in front of you at no cost.
