Everything Restaurant Owners Need To Know About Dairy Brick Floors
If you recently purchased a restaurant with red dairy brick flooring, then it is important you understand how to properly maintain and repair it. While dairy brick is ideal for restaurant flooring because of its special natural properties, it is not completely maintenance- or repair-free.
To ensure your restaurant's dairy brick floor remains in good repair and looking great for decades to come, here's everything you need to know:
Dairy Brick Basics
Dairy brick is a special type of brick flooring used in restaurants and other buildings where floor sanitation is vital.
Dairy brick is also commonly referred to as acid brick, acid-resistant brick, or dairy tile. It is bright red in color and an ideal choice of flooring for restaurants and other foodservice buildings because it is:
- long-lasting
- chemical resistant
- abrasion resistant
Dairy brick's properties are a result of it being made of a high-silica shale clay that is fired at a very high temperature. The combination of the hot firing and clay composition make dairy bricks non-porous, strong, and nearly impervious to damage caused by liquids, chemicals, or other contaminants.
Since dairy brick does not absorb liquids, it is ideal for use in sanitary conditions such as your restaurant.
Dairy Brick Installation Basics
When the dairy brick was installed in your restaurant it was put down in such a way that it will drain spilled liquids into the floor drains. This prevents water or other liquid spills from sitting on the floor's surface for extended periods of time which can damage the grout.
After the dairy brick was installed, the floor was grouted with a cement-based grout. When the grout dried, the floor was then coated with a thin layer of epoxy for added waterproofing protection of the grout.
Dairy Brick Maintenance and Repair Requirements
All dairy brick floors require regular maintenance and repairs if you want them to last.
Your restaurant's floor needs regular:
- deep cleaning
- mortar repairs
- reapplication of the floor's epoxy coating
Without regular deep cleanings, the floor can harbor bacteria in its grout lines. Since sanitation is paramount in a restaurant, it's vital to schedule regular deep cleanings of the floor.
Finally, as you can imagine, the weakest link for a dairy tile floor is the grout. While it is protected under the epoxy coating, the coating will not last as long as the floor. It needs to be regularly reapplied. Before reapplication, a dairy brick repair contractor should replace any damaged grout or bricks.
For more information on dairy brick, contact a local company such as Archway Brick and Tile.