There are various products on the market as well as numerous installation contractors. Your experienced, knowledgeable, professional contractor who can provide a turnkey installation should be the starting point.
There are various products, including epoxy and polyurethane ESD coatings (for road areas), on carpet, rubber and vinyl.
ESD Vinyl
The only ESD vinyl floors to consider are solid vinyl tiles (SVT). This requires a lot of maintenance, but with proper maintenance, the SVT vinyl is attractive. The material is reliably inexpensive, but installation and annual maintenance costs may be prohibited (at least $ 1 a year). It can stack quickly .. for five years, it adds over $ 5 / sq. Foot to original cost. There are real wax-free vinyl flooring, but they can be expensive and should only be used in very light movement areas. High-speed polishing (polishing) is often recommended for cleaning, which can be expensive (the heat from the polishing machine is melted and then closed again). An alternative to this is low-speed polishing using the static spray control formula. The cost of maintaining SVT conductive plates is more than maintaining carpet and rubber.
Static dissipative carpet tile
Carpet tiles installed with a clean, quick-drying adhesive. Tiles can be installed directly above old VCT or concrete. If you are tired of maintenance and wax SDD dissipative vinyl ESD, then carpet tiles can be a good choice. Of course, the carpet has its drawbacks. Carpet is poorly suited to accommodate heavy loads, such as forklifts and pallets. The carpet also has low resistance to chemicals and solvents.
Rubber rubber
The best advantage of conductive rubber is that it is effective in preventing static electricity in places where grounded shoes are not used or cannot be used — places like computer labs, command centers, and 911 call centers. ( IMPORTANT: you must be sure that the selected rubber is conductive, not static dissipative; static dissipative rubber conductivity of the floor exceeds the recommended system resistance (<35 mΩ) for ESD S20.20-2007). Ergonomically, rubber has a better anti fatigue factor than epoxy or vinyl; Rubber is less porous than vinyl, which simplifies cleaning, washing and care. However, the installed cost of rubber is the highest of all options.
ESD Epoxy Resin
High quality epoxy resins and urethanes are easy to install, have a low level of service, durability, attractiveness and cost. Solid colors, glossy and satin finish. Templates, multiple colors and textures are available. You must specify an epoxy system that will comply with ESD S20.20-2007. This requires that the resistance is <35 million ohms. Many products on the market do not meet this standard. For explosion protection, it must be below 1 million Ohms. An applicator with qualified experience and knowledge can ensure compliance with these standards. At sites where permanent heavy loads and high levels of movement are the norm, epoxy resins are usually the only practical flooring material. No wax is required, and low cost per square inch can make this choice reasonable. One of the disadvantages of epoxy is the lack of color stability. and a smooth surface that can become slippery if wet. In addition, when exposed to ultraviolet rays, epoxy resin will tend to amber or yellow. These problems are solved by specifying a UV resistant epoxy basecoat with a polyurethane coating. This system provides a satin non-slip finish that has excellent long-term color fastness.
Combining different materials
To meet the different needs of different departments, you can combine different floor solutions for different areas of the object. You can install conductive carpet tiles in an assembly shop, and then install a high-capacity perimeter with an epoxy conductive flooring system to handle most of the traffic of a forklift truck. Another possibility is to install vinyl tiles over the floors for access and epoxy product in places with heavy traffic.
