Devils Backbone beers are inspired by brewing traditions around the world. Vienna Lager, the company’s flagship brew, is one of the top Virginia craft brands in the Mid-Atlantic, and as such continues to be one of the fastest growing brands in the country. The Company operates two breweries in central Virginia. Basecamp, which opened in 2008, is the company’s original brewpub and The Outpost, a modern packaging brewery outside of Lexington, Virginia.
Beautiful Brewery Not So Beautiful Floors
The Outpost is the latest addition to the Devils Backbone family. The new custom built brewery is picturesquely located on a beautiful hillside in Virginia’s heartland and boasts a 33,000 sq. ft. facility on site. Prior to the second expansion, the first building’s flooring system was showing severe signs of deterioration as it had faded and stained through time.
Determined that its second building would not suffer the same fate, the brewery called on Flowcrete, having been suitably impressed with the resin flooring specialists’ extensive food and beverage reference list, as well as its exclusive partnership with anti-microbial agent provider, Polygiene, which inhibits the growth of 99.9% of bacteria, an integral factor in the industry.
When Flowcrete’s expert team of licensed contractors arrived on site construction was still ongoing, not to mention a large hole in the roof awaiting the imminent arrival of new brewing equipment via crane, once the flooring was installed.
Despite the gaping hole in the structure’s roof and temperatures as cold as 15-25F, the team completed the project ahead of schedule, taking just five days to lay the entire flooring system. This then enabled the state of the art brewery equipment to be brought in for installation earlier than anticipated, which delighted the client.
Prepping the Concrete
As the building was a new construction, blasting was required in order to prepare the concrete substrate for the application process. Flowcrete’s licensed applicator also filled joints in the concrete and installed cove base to protect the building’s walls from damage and provide a more aesthetically pleasing finish.
13,500 sq. ft. of Flowfresh SLB mortar system was then installed in the new cold storage, production, packaging and receiving area, with a full aggregate broadcast so as to provide a high level of slip resistance, which is paramount in food and beverage manufacturing plants the world over.
New Chemical Resistant Floors
The following day the entire system was coated with a Flowfresh SR sealer topcoat, to provide an outstanding chemical resistant, cementitious urethane floor. The high gloss, heavy duty flooring solution is ideal for wet processing zones in food and beverage manufacturing facilities because it contains Polygiene, an antimicrobial agent that inhibits the growth of 99.9% of bacteria, making it ultra hygienic.
Flowfresh SLB is slurry-broadcast and provides a positively textured colored floor finish, as well as being resistant to thermal shock and moisture vapor transmission. This in turn made it the perfect system to withstand the demands of a very busy brewery and also showcase the state of the art equipment that Devils Backbone utilizes.
Devils Backbone was so pleased with the job that Flowcrete and its licensed contractor delivered that the resin flooring specialists will be returning to the site in January 2015 to complete additional flooring installations.
To contact Flowcrete Americas please visit www.flowcreteamericas.com/contact-us
