Best approach to walls and floors with peeling paint?

Greetings,

We have an older plant, with a concrete floor and concrete block construction.

The interior walls were painted a long time ago, and now it is peeling.  We know we need to do something...we're just not sure what the best approach would be.

My boss has a friend in the food industry who recently visited a plant where they had NO paint...bare walls, even unpainted equipment!  That seemed strange to me...

The interior walls are somewhat porous...the concrete block was not skim-coated or anything, so it has the normal pits and crevices.  I don't think it would be considered adequate to leave it unpainted or uncoated in some way...but what would work best?

We want something that will not require maintenance...or, at least, minimal maintenance.  If possible, it could even be the same thing we could put on our floor (though we don't know if we really need to do the floor...it's smooth, no cracks that I know of at this time).

Any thoughts?  Suggestions?  Products/processes to avoid?

Thanks!

Brian

I would think you could put a polyurethane coat on cinder block in the same way you could on a concrete floor? Impervious to moisture and handles forklift and equipment abuse on the floor, so likely would last forever on a wall.

I'd worry about just paint on the blocks unless it's on there pretty thick, they can be so fragile that you end up with it looking bad/flaking off.

If your facility is super dry (I think you do grains?) Then you may not necessarily have to put anything on them, but you're going to want to sand off the flaking paint.

Thanks FFF,

Yes, we're a grain processing facility.  I was actually contemplating shutting down production to sandblast the old paint off the walls, which would also help smooth out the walls, too...then the question would be whether we leave the walls bare (likely fine for FSMA, but I'm not sure it would pass muster if/when we decide to go GFSI?), or just go ahead and coat the walls now while we've got everything shut down and torn apart (any suggestions on brands/types of polyurethane that would work for both walls and floor in a facility that has temperature shifts the same as ambient outside weather in Minnesota?).

Must to contemplate...anyone else have any thoughts or experience as well, to throw into the mix?

I agree with the above.  Get rid of the paint.  Do a micro validation study on the bare walls .  Is there an issue from a bacterial / mold / fungal perspective.  If there isn't - you caould use the study as evidence to an auditor that the bare walls are OK.  Physical contamination issue would be via regular monitoring for things like webs, dirt build-up, damage.  Chemical contamination you would need to asses and monitor as well.  Chemical issues can be sealed behind a coating if needed.

Pacamara,

We're a grain processing plant for animal food (not food-grade)...don't you think a micro validation study is a bit overboard?  My boss would never pay for that to get done...

Hello,

I suggest a liquid tile on the wall and a traffic paint on the floor. 

regards,

redfox