Everyone wants to talk about the coating. The product. The finish. And those matter — but none of it means anything if the surface preparation isn't done right. Think of it like painting a wall: you can use the best paint money can buy, but if you skip the sanding and priming, it's going to peel.
Flooring is the same way, except the stakes are higher. In a food processing facility, a floor failure doesn't just look bad — it creates harborage points for bacteria, fails USDA inspections, and shuts down production.
What Happens When Prep Is Skipped
We see it all the time. A facility installs a floor coating — sometimes a premium one — and within a year it's delaminating. Peeling up in sheets. Cracking at the joints. The coating was fine. The prep wasn't.
Poor surface preparation leads to:
- Coating delamination — The new system lifts off the substrate because it never properly bonded
- Bacterial harborage — Gaps between the coating and substrate create hidden spaces where bacteria thrive
- Facility downtime — Failed floors have to be ripped out and redone, shutting down production
- Failed audits — USDA, FSMA, and HACCP inspectors know what a failing floor looks like
- Product contamination risk — A compromised floor in a food environment is a direct food safety risk
How We Prep: Three Technologies
At SaniCrete, we handle both preparation and installation in-house. That means we control the entire process from start to finish. We use three primary surface preparation methods, depending on the condition of the existing substrate:
Scarification
Our primary method for most food processing floors. Scarifiers use rotating cutters to remove existing coatings and create an aggressive mechanical profile in the concrete. This is the gold standard for cementitious urethane adhesion.
Shot Blasting
Uses steel shot propelled at high velocity to clean and profile the concrete surface. Ideal for large open areas and for removing contaminants that have penetrated the substrate.
Diamond Grinding
Uses diamond-tipped tooling to create a precise, uniform profile. Best for situations where we need controlled material removal and a specific surface profile.
The Right Profile for the Right System
Different flooring systems require different surface profiles for optimal adhesion. A thin-mil coating needs a different profile than a 3/8" cementitious urethane. We match the prep method and profile to the system being installed — every time. No shortcuts, no guessing.
That's why we've been doing this since 1990, and why our floors are still performing decades later.