5 mistakes to avoid with poultry plant floors

When floors aren’t given high priority before, during and after installation, problems can arise.

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The floors inside meat and poultry plants may not always be something that gets a lot of attention, yet they often receive “more abuse than anything else,” said David Senn, Stonhard director of global accounts.

Floors are a key part of any plant operation, and Senn said they should be treated as such. Senn, while giving a TechTalk at the 2025 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, discussed the five mistakes people make the most often when it comes to floors at plants.

1. Not putting flooring first

When people have new carpeting or tiling put in the living room floors of their houses, one of the first things they do is remove all of the furniture. Yet that same principle isn’t always applied in meat and poultry plants.

“Typically the biggest mistake I see when someone is building a new facility is they set all their equipment and then ask a flooring installer to come in and crawl underneath,” Senn said.

When flooring installers are working with limited clearance, Senn said: “It affects the bond; it affects the workmanship; it affects the craftsmanship. It affects the overall performance of the material.”

He acknowledged that there are some instances when equipment removal is unavoidable, but he said the less obstructions, the better.

2. Run-to-failure mode

Most products will fall apart if they are not properly taken care of. Floors are no different.

“I see it time and time again. They’ll install the floor, they’ll make a huge investment, a million-dollar investment, and then do absolutely nothing to take care of that floor for the course of five, seven or 10 years. And guess what? Now they have to rip the whole thing out and start over,” Senn said.

A basic preventative maintenance program where smaller amounts are invested regularly can keep small problems from becoming big problems. And doing so can prevent longer periods of downtime. Senn said he didn’t just mean the downtime involved with a greater floor replacement project, but also hygiene issues that can arise when bacteria or pathogens collect in problem floor areas.

3. Buying a price

When seeking bids for new floor installation, don’t just look at the final figure at the end of the bid. It is important to know as much as you can about the flooring involved, and the process of getting it installed. It is important “to understand what your contractor is doing hour-by-hour.

By knowing all of these details, you can make the most cost-efficient decision. He said it’s important to remember that often, “the lowest prices is not the lowest cost.”

4. Covering your problems

Senn cited the old adage, a pig wearing lipstick is still a pig.

So when you just cover an old floor with new flooring materials, it is the same concept. Old floors that are often dirty and contaminated need to be removed, and not just covered, because the impurities will not go away.

It may be less expensive in the short-term, as well as quicker to complete, “but eventually it will come back to bite you,” Senn said.

5. Poor drain design

The most critical point in a floor system in a food facility is where it comes up and meets something that’s not a floor, Senn said.

This is certainly true of floor drains, he said. Where floors connect to drains, that is where cracking can often occur, where bacteria can collect. It is important to select a drain that is compatible with the type of flooring system that you use. He also said it has been his experience that squared drains have additional stress points that can lead to cracking.

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