Some ancient construction techniques have stood the test of time. The feature photo above shows a section of an ancient walkway in Ephesus, Turkey. When compared to a photo of new construction shown below, the photo is striking in its contrast.
Slip-Resistant Floors – Don’t let the photos fool you.
Both photos appear to show grooves on the surface. The key is the word “appear”. One surface is from long ago and one recent. But don’t let the photos fool you.
A TV show, originally aired on the CBS television network from 1956-1968 called “To Tell the Truth”, featured four panelists that tried to identify an actual person (or their occupation) from two imposters. The panelist could ask questions of the three contestants. The imposters could lie with their answers to try to fool the four panelists.
Now, about the two photos.
While modern construction techniques allow structures to be built faster compared to ancient construction, these two surfaces serve the same purpose.
By using some type of hand chisel, the stone from Ephesus shows grooves cut into its surface, most likely intended to prevent slipping while walking.
What you see is not actually there.
The modern constructed floor photo is of a floor in an aeronautical facility. It shows what appears to be grooves cut in the floor. But what you see is not actually there. At least, it’s not there anymore.
At one time the floor had grooves cut into the concrete to prevent slippage of forklifts and pallet jacks. During renovations, the facility asked us to grind and remove the grooves and then polish the floor to match the adjoining polished concrete floor. Grinding the floor to remove the raised part of the floor grooves would make that part of the floor lower in height than the adjoining polished concrete floor.
Decorative liquid and sand to mimic concrete
Our solution was to fill in the low areas of the grooves with a three-part epoxy flooring material. Since the epoxy filled grooves would have a less profiled look than concrete, we placed a decorative epoxy material mixed with sand to mimic concrete on the floor. After the floor was ground level with the adjoining polished concrete floor, we applied densifier and polished the once grooved floor.
If this was the TV game show, at the end of the game, the TV host would ask the real contestant to identify himself from the imposters.
Looking at the two photos only, the grooved slip-resistant flooring could only be the ancient floor from Ephesus. The aeronautical floor has only the appearance of grooves.
But because it is now polished concrete, it is a slip-resistant flooring.
Contact Blackwell’s, Inc. to learn more about slip-resistant flooring.
