Start initial blow down to clean up after carpenters to remove sawdust and debris.

Stuff drain pipe and mask with duct tape to prevent resin from adhering or clogging the plumbing.

Tape/mask the inside of the PVC drain to prevent ARR resin from adhering/welding itself to the inside of the drain so the drain cover would fit. 

ARR resins weld themselves to PVC and polyester resin precast drains and are the preferred drain material for ARR resinous floor.  Metal is the next preferred material and wood, as in this project, is the third.

If you encounter a project such as this, the PVC drain pipe could be run wild up into the drain about one inch, depending on the depth of the drain.  Since the drains are flat and needed fill to pitch them, there was plenty of height for this approach. It would also allow you to get at the PVC one inch stem to sand it lightly and wipe it with special ARR cleaners to ensure a one inch thick weld to the PVC pipe, virtually eliminating the possibility of future leaks. 

Over 100 nails were left protruding out of the floor by the carpenters.  The nails were hammered down if possible, or ground flush if unable to pound the nails below grade due to the screw effect of the nails.

 "Countersunk screw shank nails" were specified.  To avoid confusion specify "countersink screws at least 1/16" below the surface of the plywood for floors, walls, base and 45% chamfers strips or cant as the cove portion of the cove base or any area being coated with a resinous coating".

Position ventilation fans in strategic locations to ensure adequate air flow to facilitate the curing process of ARR resins.

ARR resin is thickened with special additives to use as a paste to attempt to close all the gaps after stuffing, if applicable. 

After degreasing the wall and washing it down with a special cleaner for ARR materials, it was masked for a wainscot situation and a pigmented roller coat of ARR resin is applied over the existing FRP board to permanently seal and waterproof it.  This FRP was only marginally adhered to the existing wall behind it.  It was like a wash board. When you push on it, the FRP board buckles and waves. A perfect breeding ground for harmful bacteria like ecoli, strep and staph among other nasty little creatures, if water gets behind it.

The flake size broadcast into this wall was 3/32".  Other sizes are available however in a food environment, IFS suggests no larger than a 1/8" size decorative flake be used.  Exceptions do apply where I have used 1/4" which is the size that was used in this floor application.

A double broadcast can be applied for a thicker protective surface if required.

Cured fiberglass is then ground flush to remove any points or bumps that occur during the process. 

In  order to eliminate the 3/4" steps in the plywood, multiple layers of ARR fill material are trowel applied to remove the terraced 3/4" step downs from the terraced plywood. Fill material must cure between layers.  After three fill loads were applied, another self leveling over the top of that whole area and surrounding areas were applied to create a smooth and unseen positive pitch to the trench in that area.  Pitching with plywood to remove most of the reverse pitch problem is less expensive than using ARR fill material. 

Wiping down the base with special ARR cleaner to remove fine dust and debris and to help ensure no other bond breakers like grease from leaky hoods were present prior to the application of the pigmented coating to receive the flake broadcast.

After removing the masking tape on the 45 degree cant base, the base was coated with one coat of ARR clear sealer and sanded smooth. In this photo, the floor is blown down again to begin the floor pouring operation in the dish washing area where we started the trench drain forming detail. 

Our organizational process was to pour all of the side rooms while waiting for the slow and tedious trench drain forming operation, then start pouring the floor from the dish washing area and work our way out the door toward the mixing station that was set up in the area of the restaurant that faces the water. That procedure kept us out of the way of the trench drain edge forming process. The "back" door (which is in the front of the building) slop sink area and the porch staging area in the background of this photo, were poured, flaked and topcoated earlier.

Due to the fast cure nature of the ARR material (fully cured in about 20 minutes or less, depending on the temperature) everyone is busy and there were no extra people or time to shoot video or pictures.

Normally, with precast drains, the drain trench is simply masked off and the entire floor would have been poured at one time.  Also, no inside coating and pitching of the trough with ARR resins is required with precast drains. However, due to the wood trench drain circumstances, and a surprise accelerated schedule, a slow, piece meal approach had to be adapted to the challenge at hand to conform to the new schedule.

Meanwhile, trench drain form detail continued in the main part of the kitchen while other parts of the floor were poured.

Mop the primed and pre-filled floor and cove base with special ARR cleaner to remove any dust that may remain after the blow down operation. Again, it helps remove any grease from leaky hoods that could easily be tracked on the floor on someone's shoes.

Grease can act as a bond breaker for the next ARR body coat and flake operation. I have actually seen shoe print outlines delaminate from a floor caused by someone unknowingly stepping on an oil slick outside the pour area, usually a plant employee, and walking on a primed floor before the body coat was applied.

Well here we go again, drain forms are stripped out of the main area of the kitchen. Excess body coat that leaked on the drain seat was removed.

Nail holes had to be patched from the screws holding the forms to the sidewall of all the wood drains, and ground flush after curing, adding to the dreaded wood drain misery.

Fans are set up to facilitate air flow in small coolers and pizza making area that don't get much air movement over the surface of the freshly poured topcoats being applied.

Airflow is critical for the proper curing process of ARR resins. 

Having control over air conditioners is also critical in warm climates in most instances.  Someone in the facilty unknowingly closed and locked the AC control box. The AC vent was blowing directly on a topcoat in a cooler that was shut down and it held the cold in that room. The amount of initiator was geared towards 95 degrees F.

To remedy the situation, we applied another topcoat with higher levels of initiator over the wet topcoat, scrubbed it into the existing and back rolled it. Of course it was the last topcoat of the night however, it did cured overnight.

Oh, but were not finished yet! Looks like we're set up for surgery.  No, it's drain pitching time.  Visqueen is rolled out on the floor around the trench drains and taped to the floor and the edge of the trench drains to ensure pitching material isn't accidentally spilled on our newly completed floor.

The next day the equipment movers installed all the kitchen equipment.

The moral of this project analysis is...

AVOID WOOD DRAINS AT ALL COST.