Downers Grove Epoxy Flooring installs commercial kitchen flooring in Downers Grove, IL, serving surrounding cities including Hinsdale, Burr Ridge, Western Springs, La Grange and Westchester. Over more than 20 years on commercial concrete, we have seen that kitchen floors fail in their own particular ways: grout lines that harbor bacteria, tile that cracks under dropped stockpots, and coatings that lift where scalding water and degreaser hit them every night.
That is why most of the kitchen floors we install are seamless urethane cement systems with integral coved bases, built over a slab that has been diamond ground or shot blasted and repaired. A moisture test is written into the scope before the price is final, and the proposal names the product line, the number of coats, the cove height and the finished thickness, so a restaurant owner or general contractor can check the result against the plan.
Below we explain the health department and code requirements that shape a kitchen floor, the systems we use, the details at drains and walls, and how we schedule around service. New build-outs and replacements of failed tile follow the same standards, so the guidance applies either way.
Health Department and Code Requirements
DuPage County Food Service Plan Review
Restaurants, bars, bakeries and food stores answer to the DuPage County Health Department plan review. Its food service construction and design manual calls for floors in food areas that are commercial grade, durable, smooth, non-slip, nonabsorbent, grease-resistant and easily cleanable, with coved bases at a 3/8-inch radius, and it does not accept sheet vinyl in those areas. A floor that misses those points can hold up an opening, so we build to them from the start and recommend confirming the finish schedule with the department during review.
FDA Food Code Coving and Antislip Rules
The FDA Food Code, which the county standards draw from, addresses coved floor and wall junctures in section 6-201.13 so that the joint between floor and wall can be cleaned rather than collecting debris. Section 6-201.11 covers floor surfaces and includes an exception that allows antislip floor surfaces in areas subject to moisture, which is why a textured kitchen floor can still meet the cleanability requirement.
Cook County and Neighboring Jurisdictions
Some of the communities we serve sit in Cook County rather than DuPage, and some villages straddle the line. The health desk for a food floor depends on where the parcel sits, so we ask early which department will review the plan and build to that department’s finish requirements.
Kitchen Floor Systems We Install
Urethane Cement Body Coats
Urethane cement is the backbone of most kitchen floors we install. It resists the thermal shock of hot water and steam cleaning, stands up to grease, fats, sugars and many cleaning chemicals, and tolerates more moisture in the slab than a standard epoxy. It is troweled or applied as a slurry at a thickness matched to the traffic, with heavier builds around cooking lines and dish areas.
Slip-Resistant Aggregate Textures
Kitchens are wet and greasy, so texture is not optional. We broadcast aggregate into the system and seal it with a topcoat that sets the final profile, with more aggressive texture at fryer lines, dish stations and walk-in entries and a finer texture in dry storage. Slip resistance is specified by the broadcast and topcoat we use, not promised as a slogan.
Integral Coved Bases
An integral cove carries the floor system up the wall in a continuous curve, so there is no seam between floor and wall for water and debris to collect in. We form coves to the radius the plan reviewer asks for and to a height that suits the room, and we finish them so they clean as easily as the floor itself.
Drains, Walk-Ins and Problem Areas
Floor Drains and Trench Drains
Water has to reach the drain, so the floor is sloped and the coating is sealed into drain bodies and trench drain edges. Poor drain details are one of the most common ways water gets under a kitchen floor, so we treat every drain as a critical joint rather than a hole to coat around.
Grease Interceptors and Access Lids
Restaurant kitchens often have grease interceptors under or near the floor, with access lids that have to stay serviceable. We detail the coating around interceptor access so the lid can still be lifted for pumping and inspection without breaking the floor seal.
Walk-In Coolers and Freezers
Walk-in coolers and freezers see cold temperatures, condensation and heavy rolling racks, and the threshold between the walk-in and the warm kitchen takes constant traffic. We choose systems that handle those temperature differences and pay special attention to the threshold, where many kitchen floors start to fail.
Scheduling, Preparation and Compliance
Working Around Service
Most restaurants cannot close for long. We plan kitchen floors around service and deliveries, using overnight and weekend windows and fast-curing urethane cement systems so the kitchen can reopen quickly. Larger kitchens can be phased in sections so part of the line stays in use.
Equipment on casters is rolled out, and fixed equipment is coordinated with your kitchen contractor so the floor and cove run behind and under it where the plan calls for that. Leaving the floor unfinished under a range or a prep table is a common shortcut that inspectors and cleaning crews both notice.
Removing Tile and Preparing the Slab
Many kitchen jobs start with tearing out failed quarry tile or old coatings. The slab is then ground or shot blasted, cracks and spalls are repaired, and low spots are corrected so the new floor drains properly. When a slab needs replacement rather than repair, we say so before the job is quoted.
Dust, Odor and VOC Limits
Grinding dust is captured at the machine and bagged, never washed toward floor drains or storm inlets, and work areas are sealed from dining rooms. We choose products inside the Illinois VOC limits for floor and industrial coatings, which bind the person applying them, and ventilate so the kitchen is ready for food prep on schedule.
- 20+ Years of Floor Work
- Moisture Tested in Writing
- Free Written Quotes