Battery charging and battery manufacturing areas can be some of the harshest environments for concrete floors.
Sulfuric acid from lead-acid batteries can damage conventional floor coatings and eventually attack the concrete underneath.
A chemical-resistant flooring system provides an important first line of defense.
But in areas where battery acid exposure is frequent, facilities may benefit from another level of protection: battery acid-resistant film coating.
This specialized film acts as a sacrificial layer over a compatible chemical-resistant flooring system, helping protect the more permanent flooring system underneath.
What Is Battery Acid-Resistant Film Coating?
Battery acid-resistant film coating is a protective layer installed over a compatible chemical-resistant flooring system, such as a Novolac epoxy.
Think of it as an additional barrier between battery acid and your floor.
Instead of spills, splashes and drips repeatedly contacting the primary flooring system, the film becomes the first layer exposed to the acid.
If the sacrificial layer eventually becomes stained, worn or damaged, it may be possible to replace it without replacing the entire flooring system underneath.
(see video transcript below)
Why Battery Acid Is So Damaging to Concrete
Concrete is extremely durable. But it isn’t immune to chemical attack.
Lead-acid batteries contain sulfuric acid. When that acid repeatedly reaches an unprotected floor, it can begin attacking the concrete and deteriorating flooring systems that weren’t designed for that environment.
Signs of damage may include:
- ❌ Acid staining
- ❌ Pitting
- ❌ Surface erosion
- ❌ Soft or deteriorating concrete
- ❌ Peeling or bubbling coatings
- ❌ Recurring coating failures
- ❌ Damage around cracks and joints
Once the protective flooring system fails, the problem can become much bigger than an unattractive floor.
The concrete itself can begin deteriorating.
We Saw This Firsthand at a Battery Manufacturing Facility
Advanced 360 Total Floor Care encountered this exact problem during a project at a battery manufacturing facility in Gladstone, MO that manufactures locomotive batteries.
Before batteries leave the plant, they undergo testing.
During testing, the batteries can become extremely hot. In some cases, sulfuric acid can boil over the battery and reach the floor.
Over time, that exposure had begun taking a toll on the existing flooring system and the concrete underneath.
How a Battery Acid-Resistant Flooring System Works
Protecting concrete from battery acid involves more than simply applying another coat of epoxy. A successful system starts with the condition of the concrete itself.
Step 1:
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Prepare and Repair the Concrete
Before installing a new flooring system, deteriorated coatings and damaged materials need to be addressed.
On our Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing project, the existing floor had several underlying issues.
The Advanced 360 Total Floor Care crew:
- Removed deteriorated coating
- Mechanically ground the concrete
- Shot blasted the substrate
- Removed fine dust and contaminants
- Repaired holes and damaged concrete
- Ground repairs flush with the surrounding floor
- Removed deteriorated or improperly installed joint filler
This step is critical.
Even the best chemical-resistant coating can’t compensate for poor surface preparation or damaged concrete underneath.
Step 2:
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Install the Chemical-Resistant Flooring System
Once the concrete has been properly prepared and repaired, the chemical-resistant flooring system can be installed.
The appropriate system depends on the chemicals, traffic and operating conditions inside the facility.
For the Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing project, Advanced 360 Total Floor Care installed a urethane cement system followed by a Novolac epoxy topcoat.
The urethane cement provided a durable industrial base.
The Novolac epoxy was selected to provide additional resistance to the aggressive chemical environment created by the battery manufacturing and testing process.
Step 3:
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Add a Sacrificial Film Where Additional Protection Is Needed
In areas experiencing frequent battery acid exposure, a compatible battery acid-resistant film can provide another protective layer.
The film is installed over the chemical-resistant flooring system and becomes the sacrificial surface exposed to spills, splashes and drips.
Rather than allowing repeated exposure to attack the primary flooring system, the replaceable layer takes the abuse.
This can be particularly valuable in concentrated areas where battery acid exposure occurs regularly.
You Probably Don’t Need It Everywhere
One of the most important things to understand about battery acid-resistant film is that it generally isn’t necessary across an entire warehouse or manufacturing facility.
Instead, additional protection can be concentrated in high-risk areas such as:
- ⚠️ Battery charging stations
- ⚠️ Battery changing areas
- ⚠️ Battery maintenance rooms
- ⚠️ Battery testing areas
- ⚠️ Areas experiencing recurring acid spills or leaks
The rest of the facility may require a completely different flooring system.
Using specialized protection only where the exposure occurs can help control project costs while protecting the areas at greatest risk.
What About Forklifts and Heavy Traffic?
Chemical resistance is only one consideration when designing an industrial flooring system.
Facilities also need to consider what happens on top of the floor every day.
That may include:
- ✅ Forklift traffic
- ✅ Pallet jacks
- ✅ Battery-changing equipment
- ✅ Heavy foot traffic
- ✅ Impact
- ✅ Cleaning equipment
- ✅ Washdowns
Some sacrificial battery acid-resistant films are not designed to withstand heavy forklift or pedestrian traffic.
That’s why a film shouldn’t simply be added to every battery area automatically.
The entire operating environment needs to be evaluated first.
Slip Resistance Matters, Too
Chemical spills can create another concern: traction.
On our Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing project, aluminum oxide aggregate was incorporated into the topcoat to help increase traction.
The amount of aggregate was carefully measured for each batch to help maintain consistent texture across the finished floor.
It’s a small detail, but it’s an important example of why industrial flooring systems need to be designed around the actual environment.
The goal wasn’t simply chemical resistance.
The finished floor also had to work for the people using the facility every day.
Don’t Forget the Concrete Joints
Joints are another potential weak point in an industrial concrete floor.
The Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing facility contained both control joints and expansion joints, and the existing joint material wasn’t simply covered over.
Failed and improper joint material was removed during preparation.
After the new flooring system was installed, the joints were recut and filled with the appropriate chemical-resistant material.
This matters because control joints and expansion joints serve different purposes.
Treating every joint the same way, or simply coating over a failing joint, can create problems later.
Installation Conditions Can Affect the Finished Floor
There are also things happening during an industrial flooring installation that aren’t visible once the project is finished.
Environmental conditions can affect how coating products cure and bond.
During the Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing project, the Advanced 360 Total Floor Care crew monitored conditions including:
- 🔴 Surface temperature
- 🔴 Air temperature
- 🔴 Humidity
- 🔴 Dew point
- 🔴 Product temperature
The prepared substrate also had to be protected from contamination before the new flooring system was installed.
These details aren’t exciting to look at in a finished-floor photo.
But they’re extremely important to the performance of the finished system.
Benefits of Additional Battery Acid Protection
In the right environment, adding a sacrificial acid-resistant layer over a compatible flooring system can provide several advantages:
- ✓ Additional protection against sulfuric acid
- ✓ Reduced direct exposure to the underlying flooring system
- ✓ Protection for the concrete underneath
- ✓ Easier replacement of the sacrificial surface
- ✓ Potentially lower long-term maintenance costs
- ✓ Longer service life for the underlying flooring system
The objective isn’t to add more coatings simply because you can.
It’s to keep battery acid from reaching the concrete.
Is a Standard Chemical-Resistant Coating Enough?
For many facilities, yes.
A properly selected chemical-resistant flooring system may provide all the protection the area requires.
Other facilities experience much more frequent or severe acid exposure and may benefit from an additional sacrificial layer.
The decision should be based on factors including:
✓ Frequency of battery acid exposure
✓ Severity of spills and leaks
✓ Number of battery charging or testing stations
✓ Condition of the existing concrete
✓ Existing flooring system
✓ Cleaning procedures
✓ Forklift and equipment traffic
✓ Long-term maintenance expectations
A warehouse charging a handful of electric forklifts may have very different requirements from a plant manufacturing and testing industrial batteries every day.
Real-World Results: Gladstone, MO Battery Manufacturing Facility
At this Gladstone, MO battery manufacturing facility, Advanced 360 Total Floor Care wasn’t dealing with a theoretical risk.
Battery acid had already been eating away at the concrete.
The solution required addressing the entire flooring system – not simply covering the damaged areas with another coat of epoxy.
The project included:
- ✅ Removal of deteriorated coating
- ✅ Concrete grinding and shot blasting
- ✅ Concrete repairs
- ✅ Removal of failed joint material
- ✅ Urethane cement installation
- ✅ Chemical-resistant Novolac epoxy topcoat
- ✅ Aluminum oxide aggregate for additional traction
- ✅ Proper treatment of control and expansion joints
The result was a flooring system designed around the actual chemical exposure and operating conditions inside the plant.
And the plant manager noticed more than the finished floor.
He said the floor looked great and that the Advanced 360 Total Floor Care crew delivered what had been promised.
He also pointed out something that’s especially important when contractors are working inside an active industrial facility:
He didn’t have to be there overseeing the crew for most of the project.
When we asked the Plant Manager whether he had to “babysit” the Advanced 360 team, his answer was: “Not at all.”
Do You Need Battery Acid-Resistant Film?
Not every battery area needs the same solution.
Before choosing a flooring system, start with the conditions inside your facility:
- How often is battery acid reaching the floor❓
- Is your existing coating peeling, bubbling or deteriorating❓
- Has the concrete underneath already been damaged❓
- How much forklift and equipment traffic does the area receive❓
- Are you repairing the same areas repeatedly❓
The answer may be a chemical-resistant flooring system.
It may be a chemical-resistant system with additional sacrificial protection.
Or the existing concrete may require repair before either solution can be installed.
The important part is identifying why the floor is failing before deciding how to fix it.
Battery Acid-Resistant Flooring in Gladstone, MO
Advanced 360 Total Floor Care helps warehouses, manufacturing plants, distribution centers and industrial facilities throughout Gladstone, MO and the Kansas City metro diagnose and repair difficult concrete flooring problems.
If battery acid is damaging your coating – or you’re repeatedly repairing the same concrete – don’t automatically assume you need another coat of epoxy.
The flooring system may simply not be designed for the environment.
Schedule an Industrial Floor Assessment to determine what’s causing the damage and what level of chemical protection your facility actually needs.
➜ Explore industrial floor coating solutions designed for chemical exposure, heavy traffic, and demanding facility conditions.
(Video Transcript)
We are working inside a manufacturing plant for uh locomotive batteries. They station them right here and they test them before they go to the market. Here is the locomotive battery that they manufacture over here. Sometimes they get very heated and then the acid starts boiling and overflowing and then it spills on the concrete floor.
So, if you don’t have the proper coating that chemical most likely is going to attack the concrete floor. We’re going to apply our urethane cement and then after that we’re going to topcoat it with a noble epoxy which is made for this type of environment. It can handle harsh chemicals. Part of the project we are going to remove the old joint filler.
There are so many spots that the joint filler has been deteriorated. We’ve got control joints and also, we have an expansion joint. You have got to treat them differently. Not all uh concrete joints are equal. So, we’ll treat them properly.
We remove the deteriorated coating. We went ahead and did some repairs and also we ground the entire substrate the concrete and also use a shot blasting just to remove any fine dust. If you notice, there were a lot of holes underneath that old coating. We filled them with a product fast cure and then we ground them down flush with the floor. This product is compatible with the urethan cement that we’re going to use so we have good bonding.
Pablo is getting ready to remove the existing joint filler. The joint filler in some areas is already gone and also they have the wrong type of joint filler. For us to guarantee this job and make sure that we have a long-lasting product, we need to remove everything and start from scratch. And then we have confidence that we did it properly. I do not want to build on something that might not have an integrity to be a lifetime floor. All right. Go ahead.
Hector is using the Metabo making a very fine line at the edge of the slab. We do that intentionally. We want to anchor and key in our product so that will help prevent any lifting on the future.
After you grind and shop blast or vacuum the surface, we wear booties because we do not want to contaminate the surface. The surface is very rough right now almost like a sand paper. That’s why we wear the boots – to prevent any marking or anything that can lead to uh breaking the adhesion of the coating when we apply. Doing a professional job, you have to be neat. When you work in the area, you have to respect the property. Setting up your mixing station to prevent any leakage or any stains. Using proper protection before you apply, it helps a lot. You could be lazy and don’t do anything at the beginning and be messy and you will spend a lot of time cleaning up when you get done.
It’s very humid and it’s very hot inside this warehouse. When you apply industrial coating, epoxies and urethan cement, you need to watch the temperature of the surface and the due point and the air temperature as well. The surface temperature is 80, which is really good and I’m hoping that it does not increase. Another thing also we do, we keep the product in a very cool area, and we keep checking the temperature of the product, the liquid and the filler. When the batteries are overflowing, the acid sometimes more slippery than regular water. This is um aluminum oxide. We’re going to add to the top coat to give it a little bit of traction. This is just an extra step to make sure that the floor is safe. Pablo went ahead and pre-measured the aluminum oxide. So, we make sure that we have the same amount in every mix. We don’t want to have variation. If you notice, we have this device here. We hook it to a vacuum to prevent the dust going up in the air. It’s not good for our people and it’s not good for the environment. So, that’s one of the best practices we use.
Finally, we were able to put the topcoat, the Nova Act epoxy. Great product. Has a lot of chemical resistance. It’s really good for this type of environment. We’re going to come back, remove the tape, cut the joints, and fill them, and turn over the floor to the customer to use. We finished putting the product down. Now the last step is cutting the joints and refilling them with the proper material. That’s what we call honoring the joints. We fill them with products during the process of the installation.
Now Pablo went ahead with the saw. He cut the joints again and next step will be filling them up with the proper material. Is a product that has a lot of chemical resistance. Since we have a small job like this, we’re going to use our small pump. The advantage of this pump mixes the chemical for you automatically. We have the base and then we have the hardener and then we use the static mixer which pulls the two chemicals equally one to one mixes them and then dispense them through this static mixer into the joint. This will prevent guessing or mixing the product improperly. One to one the machine will do the work for you automatically. This is the base. It has the pigment and the pigment fell down the bottom. You need to mix for about a few minutes so you can suspend all the color before you start pumping the product. As the best practice, we always do a couple of shots to make sure that we have product that mixed properly before we dispense it into the joint.
Okay, I’m back. We finished with the project. We removed the deteriorated epoxy. We ground, shop blasted, primed, and we installed the urethan cement. And then we topcoat the floor with a novel act which is made for this type of environment. I’m very pleased and happy with the way the floor turned out. It’s really good and this is a lifetime floor is going to be easy to clean and maintain and also it has all the protection they need.
I’m here with Steven. Um he’s the manager of the plant. Stephen, tell me a little bit about your floor. What issues and problems you had.
Uh beforehand with the acid getting on the floor was eating up the concrete. Um, now with this new flooring, that should be all taken care of.
Do you like your new floor?
Floor is great. Floor was looks really great. Really good job.
How do you feel about UBM Advanced 360?
Did a great job. Didn’t have to I wasn’t even on site for the majority of the project. Guys did a wonderful job. Didn’t have to be here to oversee it. It’s great. Great quality.
So, you didn’t have to babysit us at all?
Not at all.
Okay. Would you deliver what we promised here?
Absolutely.
Okay. Would you recommend us for your friends?
I would.
All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Appreciate you. Thank you.
