Flooring around facility swimming pool

Contributed by Avmor.

Most public swimming pools are surrounded by tiles that help prevent slip and fall accidents. Typically these are porcelain or ceramic tile. These are selected because they are available in a wide variety of colors, designs, and textures and because, when installed correctly, they are not impacted by moisture.

However, many of these tiles still must be regular treated to ensure they are clean and remain slip resistant. Martine Menard a sales representative with Avmor, a leading manufacturer of professional cleaning solutions, recently met with a pool facility in Canada that was having three problems with the tile floors surrounding their pool. These were:
1. The tiles needed to be more slip resistant.
2. The tiles were becoming soiled too quickly.
3. Managers were finding it nearly impossible to keep the tiles clean.

What was happening here, according to Martine, was that the managers of the pool facility sought to increase their floor’s coefficient of friction – slip resistance - by applying an acid-based treatment. Using this process, the tile surface is “etched” by the acid, creating ridges, making the floor more slip resistant.

Although pool users typically can't see any difference in how the tiles look after the acid treatment, they could feel the difference, especially if they were wearing rubber-soled shoes. The new ridges created by the acid treatment provided more friction. This created better traction, which helps prevent slip and fall accidents.

However, after several acid treatments, soil was building up rapidly in the ridges making the walkways unsightly. And because the soil was lodged in the small ridges, it was tough to remove. Using different cleaning solutions along with a floor machine proved ineffective. After a few days, and after heavy foot traffic, the soiling would simply build-up and reappear. This became a major pain point for the managers.

To address this challenge, Martine suggested that the pool administrators use Avmor's TF700 Instant Traction Floor Conditioner. This is an advanced "one-step" microabrasion cleaning solution that cleans the tiles as well as provides slip resistance.

TF700 is designed to be used on a wide variety of tile floors, not just those surrounding pools. This would include terrazzo, quarry tile, Mexican tile, ceramic tile, and concrete. TF700 can be applied using an auto scrubber or by merely mopping it on the tile floor.

"What most impressed my customers about TF700 is that it is a one-step treatment," says Martine. "This saves so much time and makes it so easy to apply."

Martine adds that TF700 not only increases the slip resistance of tile floors, "it continues to do so with each follow-up treatment. Each time the floor is treated and cleaned, the [slip] resistance of the floor increases - this is the opposite of what typically happens when floors are cleaned using traditional cleaning solutions."

Another thing that impressed Martine's customers was her help in addressing the pool administrators’ challenge. "At Avmor, we always try to go the extra mile for our customers," she says. "This is why, after 70 years, so many of our customers place so much trust and confidence in Avmor."