Line Marking Solutions on Concrete Floor that Sweat

We frequently get asked to help solve line marking problems for concrete floors that sweat.  Any porous substrate that allows moisture to either rest on it or, worse still, penetrate it will not be a stable surface for allowing any form of line marking to reliably bond to the surface.  Our ranges of heavy-duty line marking solutions (PermaStripe, PermaRoute, PermaLean etc) all rely on a thick self-adhesive base, but, however good the adhesive is, if the surface is damp or moisture can travel through the surface at a later point then the application will not be successful.

What is Concrete Sweating?

I will not go into a massive amount of detail explaining what this is as there are far more knowledgeable concrete experts on the internet, I will only briefly describe what it is and how it affects line marking products in particular.

Concrete sweating is also known as SSS, a simple description is humid air hitting a concrete slab with the air having a higher temperature variance compared to the concrete.  It can sometimes be caused due to an ineffective vapor barrier being fitted when poured but I will discount that for this as I am certain that all floors we will discuss are not in that area of fault.

How Can I Prevent Concrete Sweating?

Thankfully Heskins has vast expertise in this area.  As Heskins was originally formed to produce and sell anti slip tapes, those products are often required to be applied onto external porous surfaces such as wood, concrete or stone.  A common application would be to solve people slipping when descending external concrete steps at a public building or members of a golf club slipping when using the railroad sleeper steps.  These are just common examples but the same principles apply to both; the surfaces are porous, they are external and they need a self-adhesive bond.

Let’s get the first point out of the way; Heskins does not nor ever has used water based (aqueous) adhesives on our materials, I know that they are cheaper and I know that are easier to work with due to no Federal solvent regulation when manufacturing but they really are rubbish for any application such as this.  If you are apply any self-adhesive material onto any surface that may have moisture you must never use a water based adhesive, they are now extremely common and may feel good when you touch them, but, around moisture the adhesive will simply break down and you will have no application at all, it will lift rapidly.  Heskins only uses quality modified solvent acrylic adhesives, we always tend to overload the adhesive, although it makes it more expensive it means that we then save by not having to deal with rejects as they are completely water stable and grip onto any surface they meet.

Sealing the Application Area

Even if the adhesive is not water based that is not sufficient when applying line marking onto sweating concrete.  If the moisture is already on the surface at point of application, or, the moisture penetrates the concrete and is travelling through then it will lift line marking tape, it will lift line marking resin and it will lift line marking paint.  But it can be easily fixed with our help.

You need to seal the application area.  You don’t need or want to seal all of the floor, only the small sections where the line marking is being applied. Using our Surface Primer then creates a perfect seal.  You brush in place the product, wait for it to dry then apply your line marking as normal.  You will have a durable and weather condition proof product that will be exceptional.

The Heskins Surface Primer is available in convenient 17oz or 34oz containers, the larger size sealing approximately 50ft².

If need any help or advice on this, please call our knowledgeable technical team who willingly provide free help.