Flake floor coating specification: Section 09 67 23 guide spec

This is a complete CSI 3-part guide specification for vinyl flake broadcast flooring under MasterFormat Section 09 67 23. It is the garage, shop, and light commercial build: aggregate thrown to rejection across the entire field and fully encapsulated in resin. Architects, engineers, and general contractors can copy it into a project manual as written or edit the bracketed values. It reflects the process Bel Covo crews run in production under the RESA methodology: Resin-Encapsulated Seamless Aggregate.

How do you use this guide specification?

1. Keep both moisture tests. Part 3 requires ASTM F1869 and ASTM F2170 together. Editing the section down to one test is how a floor passes on paper and blisters a season later.
2. Do not trade the profile check for the absorption check. CSP 3 is a minimum, not the goal. The absorption verification in Part 3 is the article that actually predicts whether the system bonds.
3. Coordinate the slab. If the pour is in your scope, Section 03 30 00 (Cast-in-Place Concrete) should deliver a cured, uncoated slab. Cure-and-seal compounds destroy coating adhesion and add grinding cost.
4. Edit the brackets, keep the sequence. Spread rates, moisture limits, cove dimensions, and mockup sizes are the intended editing points. The coat order and the Part 3 quality-control articles are the process itself.

Section 09 67 23: flake floor coating

Part 1: general requirements

1.1 Summary

Work of this section includes resinous flake flooring: substrate preparation, moisture testing, moisture vapor barrier primer, crack and joint treatment, a pigmented body coat receiving vinyl flake broadcast to rejection, media recovery, a clear encapsulating coat, a matte urethane topcoat, and integral cove base where scheduled.

1.2 Related sections

• Section 03 30 00, Cast-in-Place Concrete: slabs to receive resinous flooring.
• Section 03 35 43, Polished Concrete Finishing: mechanically polished floors where a polish is specified instead of a coating.
• Section 07 26 00, Vapor Retarders: under-slab moisture protection.
• Companion guide specifications under this same section number: quartz broadcast flooring and metallic pigmented resin flooring.

1.3 References

• ICRI Guideline 310.2R, Selecting and Specifying Concrete Surface Preparation (concrete surface profile, CSP).
• ASTM F1869, Standard Test Method for Measuring Moisture Vapor Emission Rate of Concrete Subfloor Using Anhydrous Calcium Chloride.
• ASTM F2170, Standard Test Method for Determining Relative Humidity in Concrete Floor Slabs Using in situ Probes.
• ASTM D4060, Standard Test Method for Abrasion Resistance of Organic Coatings by the Taber Abraser.

Article 3.1 requires both ASTM F1869 and ASTM F2170. They measure different quantities and neither one substitutes for the other. Do not edit this section to accept one test in place of the other.

1.4 Definitions

• Broadcast to rejection: continuous application of aggregate into wet resin across the entire field until additional media is no longer accepted, producing 100 percent coverage at uniform density.
• Encapsulation: complete coverage of the broadcast aggregate under clear coats, leaving no exposed media in the wear surface.
• Encapsulation coat: the clear coat placed over the recovered broadcast to bury the aggregate and set the texture of the floor.
• Topcoat: the final coat over the encapsulation coat. It adds chemical and abrasion resistance, sets the sheen, and slightly reduces texture. It encapsulates nothing.
• CSP: concrete surface profile per ICRI 310.2R, numbered 1 (nearly flat) through 10 (very rough).
• Absorption: penetration of the primer resin into the open pore structure of the prepared slab. Surface profile describes the shape of the surface. Absorption describes whether that surface will take resin into it. Adhesion and resistance to moisture vapor drive both depend on absorption, not on profile alone.
• 100 percent solids: a resin carrying no solvent and no water, so wet film thickness and cured film thickness are equal and nothing evaporates out of the placed coat.
• Hot tire pickup: lifting of the coating where a warm tire cools onto it. It is the visible failure mode of a coating that sat on the slab instead of absorbing into it.

1.5 Submittals

• Product data for each coat in the Article 2.2 build, including published spread rate, pot life, recoat window, and cure schedule.
• Vinyl flake blend samples, [2] blends minimum for selection.
• Reports for both moisture tests required by Article 3.1, before material order.
• Mockup: [50] square feet minimum, demonstrating broadcast density, flake blend, texture, and final sheen.

1.6 Quality assurance

• Installer qualifications: trained or approved by the system manufacturer, with [3] years minimum installing full-broadcast resinous systems.
• Resins for the vapor barrier, primer, and body coat shall be 100 percent solids. Solvent-diluted and water-based epoxies are not acceptable in those positions.
• Application at manufacturer-published production rates and spread rates.
• The approved mockup is the standard of comparison for the work.

1.7 Project conditions

• Substrate and ambient temperature within manufacturer limits and at least [5] degrees F above dew point during application and cure.
• Slab moisture within the Article 3.1 limits and holding there for [48] hours continuously before the first coat. A slab does not dry on the same schedule the air does.
• Building enclosed and other trades off the work area from primer through final cure.

1.8 Warranty on the installed work

• Workmanship warranty on the installation as stated on the accepted proposal. Manufacturer material warranties pass through to the owner.

Part 2: products

2.1 Basis of design

The basis of design is RESA Flake by Bel Covo (Resin-Encapsulated Seamless Aggregate). This section states process and performance requirements rather than a named manufacturer product line. The installer submits the specific resins proposed for each coat under Article 1.5, for approval against the requirements of Article 2.3.

2.2 System build

Total system build: [1/16 to 1/8] inch, depending on broadcast density and body coat build.

Coat 3 is specified polyaspartic because the encapsulation coat is the coat that takes the UV, and there is no truly UV-stable epoxy: a clear epoxy chalks and ambers within roughly [18 to 36] months where the floor sees direct sun through a door or a west-facing window. A clear epoxy may be substituted only on floors with no daylight exposure and no gas-charged high-bay lighting.

Coat 4 is specified matte. A gloss wear surface shows traffic patterns in the drive lanes and at the doors within the first years of service. A matte aliphatic urethane holds a subtle eggshell sheen, adds chemical and abrasion resistance over the encapsulation coat, does not telegraph traffic lanes, and slightly reduces the broadcast texture underfoot.

Where the schedule names a system tier from the pricing catalog, it maps onto this build as follows.

2.3 Materials

• Moisture vapor barrier epoxy: 100 percent solids, formulated for placement over concrete carrying elevated moisture vapor emission. It is the primer on every floor of this section, not only on floors that fail Article 3.1.
• Body coat: pigmented 100 percent solids epoxy, color as scheduled, of a viscosity that accepts broadcast media to full depth throughout the working time of a mixed batch.
• Broadcast media: vinyl flake blend, color and chip size as scheduled and as approved on the mockup.
• Encapsulation coat: clear polyaspartic, [80 to 90] percent solids, low odor, UV stable, of sufficient body to bury the recovered broadcast surface in the specified number of coats.
• Topcoat: aliphatic urethane, matte sheen, with published abrasion data per ASTM D4060.

2.4 Accessories

• Joint filler: 100 percent solids moisture vapor barrier epoxy blended with clean, dry [30] sieve blast sand, placed and shaved flush before the primer coat. Semi-rigid polyurea joint filler is not acceptable under this system. An epoxy coating does not develop a bond to a polyurea filler, and the joint lines telegraph and open.
• Crack repair: rout and fill with the same 100 percent solids epoxy mortar used for joints, unless the approved repair method for the project states otherwise.
• Integral resin cove base: standard cove is [4] inch height by [1/8] inch thickness with a [1-1/2] inch radius at the floor. Heights from 2 inch through 8 inch may be scheduled in place of the standard.
• Stem wall radius (garages and shops, where scheduled): fill the expansion gap at the slab-to-stem-wall joint and place a mortared radius approximately [1] inch up the stem wall, so the floor can be flood washed and squeegeed out without driving water and debris into the gap.

Part 3: execution

3.1 Examination

• Moisture, both tests required. Test per ASTM F1869 [3 lb per 1,000 SF per 24 hr maximum] and per ASTM F2170 [80 percent RH maximum]. ASTM F2170 reports how much moisture the slab is holding right now. ASTM F1869 reports how much moisture is leaving the slab across 24 hours. The two readings separate: a wet slab under humid air at an equalized temperature emits very little, so it can pass the calcium chloride test and still fail the relative humidity probe. That slab will drive moisture into the coating as soon as the temperature changes. Run both, and do not proceed on one result.
• Substrate: verify slab is cured [28] days minimum, uncoated or mechanically stripped, and free of curing compounds, sealers, and contamination.
• Grade: record low spots exceeding a 4 percent slope between two adjacent grade points. A fluid-applied coating follows the floor plane, and resin pools in low spots as gloss and thickness variation. Report each spot and present remediation options before application.

3.2 Preparation

• Mechanically prepare the substrate by diamond grinding or shot blasting to [CSP 3] minimum, verified against an ICRI comparator.
• Verify absorption, not profile alone. The objective of the mechanical pass is to remove the cream layer and open the pore structure so the primer resin penetrates. A profile number by itself does not prove that happened. A hard, dense, or over-troweled slab can read CSP 3 from an aggressive scratch pattern and still refuse resin. Verify by placing water droplets on the prepared surface at [3] locations per 1,000 SF: each droplet shall darken and absorb within [60] seconds. A droplet that beads means a closed surface, whatever the measured profile. Continue grinding, and report slabs that will not open.
• Joints and cracks: fill scheduled joints and routed cracks with the Article 2.4 epoxy mortar before the primer coat. Grind and mask edges and terminations.

3.3 Application

Each step below states its objectives, its hazards, and the key best practices and methods that matter to the end result.

1. Slab readiness

• Objectives: place the first coat only on a slab that has held below the Article 3.1 limits for [48] hours continuously.
• Hazards: coating on the first dry day after a wet or cold stretch traps the water the slab took on during that stretch. Slabs change temperature and moisture content far more slowly than the air around them, so a warm dry morning proves nothing about the slab. The result is blistering and delamination months after the crew leaves, when the trapped vapor expands.
• Key best practices and methods: leave the relative humidity probes in place and read the trend, not a single number. Dehumidify the enclosed space and hold it. A falling probe trend under a stubbornly high calcium chloride reading means the slab is giving up its moisture and the drying is working.

2. Vapor barrier primer

• Objectives: a heavy, fully absorbed coat of 100 percent solids moisture vapor barrier epoxy at [75 to 110] SF per gallon, set by the porosity of the slab.
• Hazards: an unmonitored spread rate. Wet film equals cured film on a 100 percent solids resin, so nothing evaporates and nothing recovers a starved coat. The second hazard is viscosity. A two-part resin thickens from the moment it is mixed, and a thickened resin sits on the slab instead of going into it. That is where hot tire pickup and vapor delamination come from. A batch left standing in the container will go exothermic, reaching 150 to 180 degrees F within minutes, and exothermed resin is broken down and brittle. Do not place it.
• Key best practices and methods: verify the rate by material consumed against area covered. Mix batches small enough to place at working viscosity, and keep material out of sun and heat. Return after [2] hours and look for spots where the resin disappeared into the slab, then prime those again. On a slab porous enough to drink the whole coat, squeegee a tight skim coat first and let it tack so it seals the pores, then place the full primer coat at the normal rate.

3. Body coat and broadcast

• Objectives: vinyl flake broadcast to rejection into a wet pigmented body coat, 100 percent coverage of the field at uniform density, with the flake seated and interlocked in the resin rather than resting on it.
• Hazards: resin that flashes before the media lands. Broadcast depth is what interlocks the aggregate and gives the floor its structure, not only its color. If the first area rolled is already tacking while the last area is still wet, the two areas take different amounts of media and finish differently. Partial or decorative scatter coverage is not acceptable.
• Key best practices and methods: work in bays sized to the working time of one mixed batch, and broadcast into each bay while it is still wet. Rotate broadcast positions to even out the field. Where a polyaspartic body coat is scheduled under the Premium Fast-Cure tier, the space shall be climate controlled at approximately [70] degrees F, because a polyaspartic body coat outside that control flashes too fast to seat media consistently.

4. Recovery

• Objectives: all unbonded media off the field, and the broadcast surface knocked down flat.
• Hazards: unbonded media and sharp standing flake edges telegraph through the encapsulation coat as texture defects and consume encapsulation material.
• Key best practices and methods: Scrape the entire field in two opposing directions to remove the sharp edges of embedded media, then vacuum. Screen the surface before the next coat.

5. Encapsulation coat

• Objectives: full encapsulation of the broadcast layer under the clear polyaspartic encapsulation coat at [100 to 120] SF per gallon, with no media exposed in the wear surface. This coat sets the texture; the topcoat sets the sheen.
• Hazards: exposed media in the wear surface is an encapsulation failure, not a texture option. The other hazard is material kept in the pot too long: pot life falls with ambient temperature, and most epoxies give about 10 minutes at 70 degrees F but only 3 or 4 minutes at 90 degrees F.
• Key best practices and methods: place enough body to bury the recovered profile, in batches sized to the pot life at the day’s temperature. Confirm encapsulation by hand across the field before the topcoat.

6. Topcoat

• Objectives: a matte aliphatic urethane topcoat at [350 to 450] SF per gallon, setting the final sheen, adding chemical and abrasion resistance, and slightly reducing the overall texture.
• Hazards: skipping this coat to save a day. The encapsulation coat alone leaves the floor glossier, less chemically resistant, and prone to showing traffic lanes.
• Key best practices and methods: apply within the recoat window of the encapsulation coat. Verify sheen against the approved mockup under the room’s own lighting.

7. Cove and details

• Objectives: integral cove base, stem wall radius, and terminations matching the approved mockup.
• Hazards: details improvised in the field rarely match the mockup the owner approved.
• Key best practices and methods: install per the approved mockup at the scheduled locations and dimensions.

3.4 Field quality control

• Verify spread rates by material consumption against area covered, per coat, and record them.
• Inspect the primer coat [2] hours after placement for starved and absorbed-out areas, and re-prime before proceeding.
• Inspect the cured field for pinholes, fisheyes, unencapsulated media, and roller lines. Repair per manufacturer method before the next coat or before acceptance.

3.5 Protection

Protect finished surfaces until full chemical cure. Prohibit vehicle traffic before the cure time the topcoat data sheet states.

Which resinous system should you specify?

Each broadcast system gets its own section because the products and the execution genuinely differ. A single combined resinous spec has to describe metallic pigment as a broadcast media to fit the template, and metallic pigment is not broadcast at all: it disperses into the resin and places fluid with it. Specify the system that matches the floor.

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Flake flooring projects

Ready to price a flake floor instead of specifying one? The online quote calculator prices the system and its options live, and the garage floor coatings page covers the same build for homeowners. Or call (888) 852-3528.