Seamless floors and walls: Sika sustainable solutions

Sika flooring project for a medical clinic: Associazione Caterina Onlus

This project involved the installation of a flooring and a wall coating system in a medical clinic run by the Associazione

Caterina Onlus in the province of Salerno, destined to host gynaecological, paediatric and general medicine departments. The installation of the centre's floors and walls was part of Sika Italia's first social project, and was fully financed by the

Romuald Burkard Foundation. This social project also provided free canteen meals for one year and the purchase of all the centre's medical equipment.

Project Requirements

The Association asked for many requirements, but the most important was the need of a seamless and anti-allergenic floor in accordance to all applicable hygiene and health standards, to prevent the proliferation of bacteria in critical areas.

The floor surface therefore had to be easy to clean and maintain, as well as resistant to wear, humidity and chemical agents.

Technical Solution

Flooring:
Sika ComfortFloor^®: smooth polyurethane, elastic, coloured, low VOC flooring system.
1. Primer: Sikafloor^®-155
2. Wear layer: Sikafloor^®-3000
3. Top Coat: Sikafloor^®-305 W

Sealant:
1. Fillet sealant: Sikafloor^® PRO-3
Elastic, water-hardening, polyurethane-base, one-part floor sealant.

Wallcovering:
1. Skimming and smoothing: Sika^® E2 Malta New
Three-part epoxy-cement, thicotropic, low thickness skim coat.
2. Coloured, anti-bacterical finishing coat: Sikagard^®-403 W
One-part, acrylic, coloured, elastic, anti-bacterical coating, applied in two coats.

Sika's Sustainable Approach

For this project, Sika evaluated the sustainability of individual products and of the Sika ComfortFloor^® system using LCA. LCA, or Life Cycle Analysis, compares and assesses the environmental impact that products and systems generate throughout their entire life cycle, commonly referred to as their “cradle to grave” cycle (i.e. from natural resources to end of life disposal). LCA assessments help distinguish between products that may be similar in performance but quite different in terms of environmental impact. Obviously, the lower the impact, the better the product.