Surviving the heat
Since opening in 2010, Argentinian restaurant, Porteño, has been one of Sydney’s most well- known and popular restaurants. In 2016, the owners moved the restaurant to Holt Street, Surry Hills, while keeping the old site at nearby Cleveland Street available for weddings, functions and events. Hychem products were chosen to provide a flooring solution for both venues.
The requirements
Resin flooring application specialist, Slab-Tek, were contracted to provide Porteño with a seamless flooring solution for its kitchen and bar areas, that needed to meet a number of requirements, including heat resistance, chemical resistance, hygienic finish, and slip- resistance.
Stephen Kiss, Director and part-owner at Slab-Tek, said Hychem’s Hycrete PU cement system was chosen as it provided the best protection and met all the requirements of the project
“As Porteño is an Argentinian inspired restaurant, some of its main features are a traditional Parilla (barbecue) and Asado (pit of fire) where the meat is cooked. These generate a lot of heat so the flooring system had to be able to handle high levels of heat for extended periods of time,” Stephen said.
“This is on top of other cooking facilities which generate heat such as ovens, stovetops and deep fryers. Hycrete PU has exceptional resistance to high temperatures and extreme thermal shock conditions which made it ideal for the kitchen conditions at Porteño.”
As barbecued meat is one of the restaurant’s specialities there is the risk of oils, fats and other ingredients falling on the floor, which can cause corrosion on unprotected floors.
“Hycrete PU provides one of the best defences against chemical attack on the market as it can resist chemicals such as acetic acid, lactic acid and oleic acid which are found in vegetable and animal fats, as well as other common cooking ingredients,” Stephen said.
“When chemicals and food spill on the floor they can also cause hygiene problems so Porteño wanted a product that was seamless to avoid bacteria build up.”
Hycrete PU was able to meet this requirement as it is 100 per cent seamless which prevents liquids and other products from building up and allowing bacteria to form. It also contains an additional additive called UltraFresh™ which provides effective resistance to bacteria, fungi, mould and mildew.
“As the kitchen and bar areas experience heavy traffic, the coating also needed to be hard wearing and slip resistant. We applied Hycrete PU-TC, which is a top coat, to provide Porteño with a high level of slip resistance to meet the requirements of heavy foot traffic,” Stephen said.
Applying the coating
Before applying the coating, the sub floor was built and graded with falls so that when the floor is washed down at end of nights the water runs to the drains. This was done using specialised sand and Hychem epoxies which form a hard sub floor that is excellent to apply Hycrete over.
“We trowel applied Hycrete PU-SL with a broadcast of non-slip aggregate. This product is a topping for concrete floors where difficult service conditions are the norm. It is also suitable for areas where there is a lot of heat as it is able to handle levels up to 120°C, making it ideal for Porteño.
“We then applied the Hycrete PU-TC to complete the job and provide extra slip resistance.
“We were able to coat both venues in the contracted timeframe and Porteño has been thrilled with how the product has been performing.”
For more information on Hycrete PU and other flooring solutions for hospitality, please contact Hychem on (02) 4646 1660.