Agricultural Applications Case Study
Robinway Dairy Farms -
Epoxy vs. Nanomolecular Densified Floor
With the cooperation of Jay Binveirse owner of RobinWay Farms Kiel Wisconsin and Don Woelfe President of Wolf Management LLC of Hilbert, Wisconsin, we performed a trial with CCSI nanomolecular coating as a sealer on densified concrete.
The following were the objectives of the test :
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To determine if a nanomolecular sealer application over densified concrete floor can be made more chemical resistant to the point of better than or equal to epoxy coated concrete. |
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To determine if a nanomolecular sealed concrete floor can be made equal to or more abrasion resistant than epoxy coating. |
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To determine the coverage factor of CCSI nanomolecular sealer over densified floor. |
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To determine if the nanomolecular sealer treated concrete floor will reduce mold and microbial growth |
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To determine coverage factors, installation time, labor reducing advantages over epoxy coating |
RobinWay Farms is a family run farm located in Kiel, Wisconson about 23 miles west of Sheboygan and is a well respected Dairy Farm in the area. Jay Binveirse the owner of RobinWay was voted best Dairy Farmer in the US in 2008 is considered a leader in the Agriculture business. He has 1000 cows and is expanding his operation even though the Dairy industry is hurting in the recent economic down turn. He has shown interest in being an innovator and is willing to move the Dairy business forward with new ideas and strategies by is path finding.
The applicator is Don Woelfel president of Wolf Management LLC. Don comes from a Dairy background and has over the last 30 years been an installer of polymer flooring in the dairy, swine and poultry business. He first set himself up in the hub of the dairy business in Chandler Arizona and installed systems throughout the SW USA in large Dairy Farms. He moved back to his home in Wisconsin where he is actively engaged in applications of epoxy polymer floors in milk parlors, feed mangers, silos and cow walk ways as well as building of barns, tanks and silos.
The trial was set up as follows:
The areas to be trialed were the feed mangers. The feed mangers in this case are a 36” wide section of concrete running the length of both sides of the center aisle way. Silage is added to the feed mangers whereby the cows are stalled (locked in place) to feed on the silage. The silage is scraped up to three times a day to keep the silage in place and out of the center aisle. Also the silage is removed by scraping to one end of the aisle to be transferred to another feed station. The cows are released from the stall and walk out of the area (not onto the coated area).
The areas to be coated were set up by Jay in the following fashion. Half of the new concrete mangers will be left bare as a control area. The balance half of the barn was to be subdivided into half epoxy and half CCSI Nanomolecular sealer. The two systems will be evaluated in a few months.
The silage leachate mixed with saliva and water from the water mist that is spayed over the cows for cooling, provides an ideal area for bacterial and mold growth in the concrete. This leachate is very corrosive over time due to decomposition food acids attacking the mortar.
< Cows feed from Feed Mangers
The feed mangers are constently scraped to keep the feed under the Cow’s mouth.
Concrete on installed in 2008, note the degree of concrete degradation after 1 year
The installation steps for the use of the CCSI's nanomolecular sealer system is as follows:
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860 Square feet of area to be treated |
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A 5 gallon pail of Pentra-Sil® (NL) Concrete Densifier Nano Lithium surface treatment was provided to Don and his crew. 5 gallons were used over the 860 SF area (172 SF per Gallon). The concrete surface was wet with densifier for a minimum of 20 minutes and allowed to dry. |
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After 24 -30 hours of densifier cure, Pat Miller and myself assisted Don’s crew to mix up the 2 gallons of CCSI nanomolecular sealer to provide half of the 860 SF area with 2 coats. Coverage on the first coat was 1 gallon covered 430 SF. Coverage on the second coat was 1 gallon covered 400 SF plus an additional 132 square feet of first coat (532 SF per gallon) |
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We waited about 30 minutes between coats. |
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On Tuesday July 15 we will return to complete the job. |
Observations:
- The densifier applied prior to nanomolecular sealer performed to our expectations. The concrete was sealed with reduced porosity. (see photos)
- The densifier was applied at a rate of 172 SF per gallon. This was less than the published rate. We can only assume the concrete was rather porous prior to application of the densifier.
- The nanomolecular sealer was mixed in accordance to CCSI‘s recommendations. The product was mixed with 2% mix ratio for 3-5 minutes. The humidity was low and temperatures were 75 F during application. The concrete was mainly in the shade that was coated.
- Sponge roller covers were used initially but were abandoned for short nap mohair roller covers
- The nanomolecular sealer installed easily with a fast application rate. Half of the entire trial area was installed in less that 2 hours with 30 minutes included for cure time
- Although the appearance of the epoxy system was aesthetically pleasing, both of the coating systems evaluated will quickly be under feed and not viewed. The epoxy and nanomolecular coating will soon be scratched, and scraped and will not be evaluated on its appearance but rather on performance.
- The control joints of the coating system wasl be filled with MX 12 self leveling joint sealant from CCSI.
- The epoxy system was installed in the following steps. The concrete was prepared using a hand grinder and vacuumed cleaned. A saw cut was installed at the terminal edge of the feed manger. The entire area was primed using a 100% epoxy clear primer and allowed to cure 4-6 hours until tack free. The control joints were filled with trowel applied flexible epoxy. The entire feed manger was coated with one coat 100% solids epoxy estimated at about 30-40 mils thick.
- The advantages of the nanomolecular sealer over epoxy are many. Surface prep is a broom cleaning or power wash only. Mechanical prep is a necessity with epoxy. The densifier is easy to install with out mixing a two component primer. Cure times for densifier is 24 hours versus 4-6 hours for epoxy. This time difference is mitigated somewhat because epoxy surface prep, saw cutting and priming are usually one entire shift of work and the densifier can be installed in less than 1 hour. The nanomolecular coating is installed at a rate faster than 2 component epoxy. The cure time to walking on the nanomolecular coating is much faster than epoxy. The epoxy will take 16 hours at 70 F or more for foot traffic. For Cow traffic 48 hours would be required. Nanomolecular sealed concrete can be placed in Cow Traffic in 24 hours.
- We should investigate how to add a colorant to the densifier to provide a pigmented version of CCSI's nanomolecular sealer. This will mitigate any concern about the look of the floor as compared to an epoxy alternative
- In conclusion the material costs are pretty even between the two systems. The applied cost is where the savings occur. The CCSI nanomolecular sealer system was installed in two days and placed in service in three days. The epoxy system was installed in 3 days and placed in service in 5 days.
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