7696 Route 31
Lyons NY 14489
Voice: 315.946.1213 Fax: 315.946.4456
www.caswellplating.com
GRIP-STRIPä NON-SKID SYSTEM APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Surface Preparation
All surfaces should be clean, firm and dry. Areas painted with
single pack, air drying paints must have the paint removed prior to
the application of GRIP-STRIPäsystems. The paint may be
mechanically abraded off using Caswell Flap Wheels, a grinder or
by sand blasting. Polished metal or ceramic tiles surfaces need to
be roughened up using the Flap Wheel or a grinder.
Metalwork previously subjected to light oil and grease
contamination, should be wiped down to degrease with lacquer
thinner or acetone on a clean rag before and after abrading.
Heavily contaminated metals, such as oil tank tops, or around
machinery, should be heated up using a hot air gun, or gas torch,
to sweat out the oil and then degreased.
Concrete surfaces contaminated with oil should be sluiced down with Lacquer Thinner and then sawdust or
Cat Litter sprinkled over the area followed by more Lacquer Thinner to thoroughly wet the absorbent. The
solvent will dissolve the oil and as it evaporates, it will draw more oil from the concrete into the absorbent
media, which should be swept up once the lacquer thinner has completely evaporated. The concrete will
take on a whitish appearance and is ready for the Anti-slip System to be applied. Larger areas may be
sluiced in a LYE solution
Designing the System.
It is important to understand that treating a large area is LESS
effective than applying narrow strips. A shoe will 'float' over an
evenly laid out total area coating, but a thin raised strip will protrude
into the sole of the shoe more aggressively. The thin strips are less
likely to clog with debris and require less cleaning. Here you can see
how the slightly raised strips press into the shoe sole. These strips
need to be at least 1" - 1.5" wide. The strips do not need to go entirely
across the tread, as no one steps on the 6” either side of the tread.
Similarly, a walk-way doesn’t need to be treated wall-to-wall, 6-
9” can be eliminated on either side.
Depending on which aggregate you use, course or fine, the
thickness of the strips should be at least as thick as 1/32”
including the aggregate.
Spacing between strips should be between 3-4" so that a shoe
will not be able to land between strips.
The strips need to be at right angles to the main traffic flow,
however, when traffic is not flowing in any particular direction, it
is preferable to place the strips at 45 degrees or make a chevron
pattern.
Chevrons are also useful to indicate traffic flow direction. With a little imagination, and different colored
strips, many safety features can be brought to the pedestrian’s attention.
The use of stencils made from Fablon sheet
can be made and applied to the floor area,
then pulled up immediately after the system
has been applied. Traffic signs, such as
‘STOP’ and ’SLOW’ can be made in the
safety red, orange and yellow colors.
Applying the Masking Tape.
There is a trade-off between adequate
surface preparation and aesthetics in so
much as it is commonly accepted practice to
abrade a surface beyond an edge of a resin
bond. However, this could leave unsightly
abrasion marks. For example, this Terrazzo
staircase would have looked terrible with a
1/2’ roughed-up edge to each non-slip pad.
but on an industrial staircase, function
would be more important than looks.
Using Caswell Flap Wheels
gives you the accuracy to
abrade right up to the edge of
the masking tape joint line.
However, if it is especially
important to provide a clean-
cut edge, then the use of Duct
Tape instead of paper masking
tape will prevent the Flap
Wheel from abrading beyond
the correct edge.
Prior to masking tape application, thoroughly brush or
vacuum the entire area, to ensure no small debris is present.
if you do not do this, foreign bodies will likely get brushed
into the resin instead of the non-slip aggregate, making the finish look unsightly.
Once the masking tape has been applied, it is very important to carefully rub the tape edges down, ensuring
there are no areas where the resin can bleed underneath. The tape ends should be folded over on
themselves, and left standing up to enable you to quickly and easily pull the tape up once the resin and
aggregate has been applied.
Mixing up and applying the resin
Unless you have some help to apply it quickly, do not
mix up the entire contents of the resin, as you only have
about 10 minutes working life once it is mixed. The
application of the resin will usually take a little longer
than 15 minutes on a flight of twelve steps. So measure
out the material in a 2:1 ratio by volume.
Mix the resin together, making sure you scrape the sides
and bottom of the mixing vessel, and then rapidly apply
it to the masked area using a short, stiff bristled brush.
The resin needs to be applied fairly liberally, so it is the
thickness of two or three business cards.
Keep a careful eye on the resin to ensure it is not setting
up, and if you think it is beginning to thicken, stop
applying any more and apply the aggregate. It is better to
waste a little resin than try to remove it once it has prematurely set up.
Pour a liberal amount of aggregate on the top step or at
one end of you application, then using a soft bristled
brush, flick it lightly on the resin. Try not to drag any
aggregate out of the resin. Brush the excess material
onto the next step, or to the next strip. Don’t be too
fussy about sweeping up. You can do a better job once
the material has set up a little.
Once the resin is covered completely with aggregate,
go back to the beginning of the job and using a block
of wood, gently tamp the aggregate into the resin.
Immediately pull up the masking tape and if any
‘wet’ edges of resin are showing, lightly brush the
aggregate over them. If you are unfortunate to get
some bleeding of resin under the tape, making the
job look a little unsightly, then simply scrape it off
using a utility knife or a razor blade. You may also
use lacquer thinner to wipe up drips and spills etc.
but be cautious, as a thinned resin will obviously bleed under the masking tape easier.
The coarse and fine aggregates are specially selected for
this application because they are extremely hard and brittle.
This makes it virtually impossible to round off the edges of
the aggregate, unlike most sands, which will quickly end up
like a round pebble. If the aggregate were to be damaged, it
will break off, leaving another sharp point.
The aggregate needs enough resin to be bedded into. If you look carefully at the particles you can roughly
gauge how thick the resin needs to be. Imagine the aggregate to be an iceberg, and we know that roughly
three quarters of it is underwater. Your aggregate needs to be bedded in at about the same ratio as the
iceberg in water. The course aggregate will need a
deeper layer of resin than the fine aggregate.
Make sure you have a box to drop the removed
masking tape into; otherwise you’ll be cleaning up
dripping resin from the floor etc.
Finally, take a very soft hand brush or wide
paintbrush, and carefully brush off the steps,
starting at the top and working down.
Mark or tape off the area that was treated to ensure
nobody walks into the area.
After 12 hours, the area is safe to walk on. The
coating reaches full chemical resistance in 5 days.