The Millennium Galleries opened in 2001, is one of four Sheffield museums which collectively have over a million visitors every year. The museum hosts a number of Events and Exhibitions including permanent collections from Victorian writer John Ruskin and Metalwork, Sheffield being world famous for its metalworking past.
The museum buildings manager was concerned about slipping on the floor tiles in the main entrance lobby covering approx 144m2, the tiles are of a high gloss porcelain variety which are by their nature slippery when wet. We gladly responded to the request and applied the Tile Doctor Anti-Slip treatment to a small area so they could see for themselves how effective the treatment is. The solution we use is not an Anti Slip coating but an invisible treatment which only becomes active when wet. The management team soon came back with a positive response and gave us the green light to complete the remainder of the floor.
Before applying the Anti Slip treatment we cleaned the floor using Anti-slip Pre-cleaner diluted 1 part cleaner to 4 parts water, this was applied using a slow speed buffing machine fitted with a black buffing pad and then the floor was rinsed with water and left to dry for 30 minutes.
Once dry the Anit-slip solution was applied neat using a pump action spray, this was then worked into the tiles using a deck brush taking care to avoid splashing any exposed metalwork or glass. After 4 to 5 minutes the Lock-in solution was applied again diluted 1 part solution to 4 parts water and applied directly on top of the Anti-slip solution, this was worked into the tile using a black buffing pad. We used a low speed Victor Trojan Buffing machine to do this, the low speed reduces splashing.
The last step was to polish the floor with a white buffing pad and wash down with clean water to neutralise any remaining anti slip solution which was then removed with a Wet and Dry Vacuum.
The building manager was very happy with results and left the following message: The anti-slip treatment provided by the Tile Doctor is proving a complete success. The floor area treated which was rapidly resembling skating area where on wet days upwards of 75 people suffered slips has been transformed to a pedestrian friendly surface