Selecting the right walk-in cooler floor can save big budget dollars, make facility safer

Nation's Restaurant News, July 20, 1998 by Foster Frable Jr.

Freezers require 3-inch insulation, but since no walk-in manufacturer offers a 3-inch floor, a 4-inch floor is required. Using a combo box, entering a freezer through a cooler with 2 inches of insulation accommodates the 2-inch added rise to the freezer with a 24-inch ramp. Placing the freezer door in a cooler eliminates the flow of humid kitchen air from forming ice around the door. Since it is good practice for many items to be taken from the freezer and thawed in a cooler, a combo box also accommodates functional needs.

A change in the National Sanitation Foundation standard this year withdrew approval for common galvanized factory cooler floors, mandating a change to more expensive, stainless-steel floors. Galvanized floors tended to rust and dent with age. Usually weaker than stainless floors, they often are warped and bent when carts or mobile shelving is rolled across them. Stainless steel eliminates the rust but doesn't eliminate warping, denting or creasing owing to heavy cart traffic and other mobile equipment.

The best solution to solving problems with factory floors often is to eliminate them entirely. Manufacturers and sellers of walk-ins have long encouraged and quoted 4-inch factory floors as standard features, with purchasers and owners assuming that there was no other option. Representing 20 percent to 25 percent of a cooler's cost, eliminating a floor cuts deeply into the dollar volume for the vendor, so factory floors are encouraged strongly -- necessary or not. The majority of walk-in coolers are installed on slabs on ground level, so in most areas no insulated floor of any kind is needed. While there is a small reduction in thermal loss with floor insulation, when compared with the cost of purchasing and installing a factory cooler floor, the cost of energy to make up the minimal cooling loss rarely is recovered over the life of the cooler in most areas.

When planning freezers or coolers that are installed above grade, consultants, chain buyers and other savvy purchasers long have specified standard, rigid-foam building insulation, rather than factory floors. The low-cost insulation can be placed under the slab where the coolers and freezers will be located or set into a 2- to 4-inch-deep recess or depression in the slab. A thick-set quarry tile wearing surface then can be installed directly on top of the insulation. When seamless vinyl safety flooring material, such as Altro and Multi-Tech, thin-set tile or epoxy tile are installed, the insulation can be reinforced and protected by installing sheets of waterproof boards, such as Durock, Homasote and Den-Shield. Most walk-in manufacturers provide detailed drawings and sections for these installations in their catalogs.

Adding a cooler to an existing building is similar. If your kitchen or storeroom slab is located on grade, just install the cooler on screeds, vinyl channels anchored to the floor to hold the wall panels. When you are installing a freezer or a cooler on an upper floor, you have four options that can help avoid a steep incline:

* If the existing floor is set quarry tile, removing the tile and setting bed provides a 1 1/2- to 2-inch depression that can accommodate a 2-inch factory floor. A freezer requires a 4-inch-thick factory floor, but if it is set into a 2-inch depression, it will require only a 2-inch rise and a 24-inch-long ramp.

* With epoxy or thin-set quarry tile floors it is sometimes possible to scarf or grind 1 to 2 inches from the old floor using common floor milling machines that can remove concrete to any thickness required. On steel frame buildings with metal decking, the concrete slab on the top deck can be cut and removed. A new, thinner slab then is poured, creating a depression. An alternative is to install insulation on the deck before the replacement slab is poured.

* Many buildings built over the last 40 years use prestressed concrete T beams for floors. A 2to 3-inch topping slab often was poured to cover the joints and conduits and level the floor. Removing the topping slab usually has no effect on the floor strength and is relatively easy to accomplish. The insulation panels or insulated floor can be installed on top of the prestressed beams or floor panels.

* When those options aren't practical, consider installing a 3/4-inch solid Thermo Plastic PVC panel called Foamex, which offers the insulating value of most 4-inch walk-in floor panels. Manufactured in Europe, the product has been proved in such demanding installations as large supermarket freezers located over parking decks. It costs $15 to $20 per square foot and is available from Williams Refrigeration in Maywood, N.J.

Choosing the right walk-in floor solution can cut a big chunk from your budget, eliminate steep, slippery ramps, and allow carts and racks to roll smoothly into coolers. In facilities with food on plates or trays, a flush door without ramps or steps is a necessity.

Some may question the need for ADA compliance for access to a cooler or freezer. The inside of coolers and freezers may need to be checked by individuals who know the code.