Antistatic (ESD) floors

An ordinary polymer floor is a dielectric. A person walking across it in rubber soles picks up several kilovolts. For a warehouse that means nothing; for electronics assembly it means a destroyed component, and in an explosive area it is an ignition source.

An antistatic floor solves exactly one problem: give the charge a path to earth with a controlled resistance. Not “the lower the better” — that would earth the person who touches a live conductor — but strictly within a specified band.

What makes it physically different

A conductive grid and a conductive layer are built into the system. Charge leaves the surface through the body of the coating into copper tape, and the tape into the building earth. Conductivity comes from filler inside the material itself, not from something applied on top. That is why polishing or waxing such a floor kills it — and it is the first reason sites lose their certification a year after handover.

How the system is built up

1. Substrate preparation — as for any polymer floor.
2. Conductive primer.
3. A grid of copper tape across the area, bonded to the building earth. There is never just one earthing point: at least two per room, more depending on area and design.
4. A conductive, carbon-filled intermediate layer.
5. The ESD topcoat of the specified conductivity class.
6. Measurement and report.

What resistance is required

The required value is set by the design or by the equipment manufacturer, not by us. A distinction is normally made between conductive (of the order of 10⁴–10⁶ Ω) and dissipative (10⁶–10⁹ Ω). Requirements for an electrostatic protected area are set by IEC 61340-5-1, while the method for measuring floor covering resistance is IEC/EN 61340-4-1.

And here is what is regularly confused at handover: the earthing resistance measurement an electrical laboratory performs to national wiring rules is not the same thing. It checks the building earth, not the floor. An earthing report does not satisfy an ESD requirement, and vice versa. If your design says “antistatic floor”, ask which document it will be accepted against before work starts.

Where it is needed

Electronics assembly and repair, SMT lines, server rooms and data centres, cleanrooms, pharmaceutical production, laboratories, operating theatres, rooms with explosive mixtures and dusts, areas where solvents, powders and fuels are handled.

What we do not promise

The resistance of such a floor depends on air humidity, on the cleaning regime and on what it is cleaned with. We hand the site over with a report valid at handover and provide a maintenance procedure. If the floor is later polished with wax, the property will drift — and that will not be a defect of the coating.

Neighbouring solutions

We are not tied to a single brand: we select the material for the task and can supply any manufacturer’s. Four things drive the choice — budget, site conditions, load and the required service life. Supply and installation are on us.

If there is no electrostatic requirement, see epoxy floors. Thermal shock and steam cleaning — polyurethane-cement. A moving substrate and ultraviolet — polyurethane. General page: “Industrial polymer floors”.