Home brewery flooring options

[Sadu]

Hey everyone, just looking for some advice on flooring for a little home brewery.

I have this little room, approx 7x10', which I'll be turning into a brewery. It's currently got a concrete floor but the surface is very rough and uneven - impossible to mop properly. However it does seem structurally ok, no cracks anywhere.

I'm looking at DIY ways to improve this. I have some good quality porcelain tiles I can use for cheap or free, so I'm exploring this option. I'm told epoxy grout makes for a smoother surface that is iasier to mop.

I'm giving thought to going the whole hog and installing a trench drain across the room about where the bucket is. And building up a concrete slope on the floor to point towards the drain then waterproofing and tiling over that. This would mean there would be a small 2" step as you come into the room, which is fine. But also positioning things on a sloped floor could be tricky and maybe it would affect the resale of the house later on since what else is a sloped floor good for?

Is a sloping floor a handy thing to have (brewing every 1-2 weeks) or am I over thinking this?

Other option would be to level the surface and maybe install a drain, which I'd mop into. I do like the drain idea since I have conicals and they would be sooooo easy to clean over a drain. Again, this increases the complexity a lot over a flat tiled floor and mopping up spills.

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has built a brewery floor or drain and how it worked out. Thanks in advance

 

[Rev2010]

Maybe I'm wrong here... but wouldn't tiled floors be dangerously slippery in a brewery? (even a home one?) Sorry I can't offer more help here, I've never done this sort of work but when I saw tiles "slippery and dangerous" is what I immediately thought.


Rev.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

A properly installed high-grade porcelain tile floor is tough, waterproof, and will last a lifetime. @Rev2010, slipperiness depends on the tile. USA-made tiles have a rating for coefficient of resistance, and that rating tells how slip-resistant it is. We have a porcelain-tile shower, for instance, and it is not slippery.

 

[cubalz]

My electric brew house is 30' x 30' and I installed plastic racetrack flooring interlocking squares down over the concrete. The are 12' x 12' each and snap together using a rubber mallet. They are non slip, water resistant and allow airflow underneath them for times when you have spills and need to mop. Not cheap but built to last, they are made so that you can park a truck on top of them.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

My basement brewery has restaurant grade 8"x8" no slip tile with a drain in the floor (for clean up, spills, etc). So far I've been happy with the flooring.

 

[Sadu]

The tiles I have seem ok for slippage, they are currently used in a bathroom which seems fine. I'll need to check but I don't think they are gloss smooth.

 

[schematix]

I’d consider vinyl. It’s not sexy but super cheap and practical. Cleans easily, durable, water resistant, and they make some stuff that looks good.

Epoxy is great but be careful with too much grit - it tears mood up.

Tile is good too but you’re gonna have black grout pretty quick so consider something darker, larger tiles, and thin grout lines.

 

[bigdood]

A drain is nice but I can't imagine spending the money on a drain and tying it into your septic/sewer/whatever for a homebrew batch every few weeks. I'd get some of the paint on epoxy floors to make things easier to clean, a mop/squeegee, and put the rest of the money you would have spent on putting in a floor drain or ditch into conicals and temp control or some other equipment upgrades.

 

[Dlawrence529]

Maybe a garage floor epoxy kit? I dont have experience with it but ive been looking at it for my garage

Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield 2 gal. Gray Garage Floor Epoxy
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-EpoxyShield-2-gal-Gray-Garage-Floor-Epoxy-261845/202963950

 

[MaxStout]

Second on the garage floor epoxy coating. You can get the texturing kit that adds some grit to the surface, so there's lees chance of slipping when wet.

 

[augiedoggy]

so at the brewpub we built a raised platform with a floordrain we tapered with wood furring strips and hydraulic concrete and penny sized floor tiles (black grout) .(this made the floor stronger and also east to remove if layout changed).. It ended up being very slipper when wet.. Went to Ollies and bought $6 rubber mats like you would find behind a bar and we use those over the tile floor when brewing and then remove them when we plan on being open for aesthetic reasons... not sure if your goals are function or bling motivated or a little of both but just info to consider..

 

[Pappers_]

At the CHAOS brewhouse (www.chaosbrewclub.net), I love having concrete flooring sloped so that everything runs down to a drain, underneath our utility sink. No worries at all about any spills, so easy to clean.