Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations   Home  Flooring of Automobile Workshops   Great changes have taken place in the automobile industry over the past few years. Automobile companies are focussing on and putting up highly visible showrooms that are attached to large workshops so as to provide high value service to the customer. The automobile workshops may not look as glamorous as the display areas. However, the workshops do present a picture of efficient maintenance as these are manned by highly qualified personnel and have the latest, state-of-the-art equipment. This overall presentation helps instill greater trust and confidence in the customer when compared to the traditional garage of the past. In such a scenario, the workshop floor has come to assume great importance and every aspect of its set-up is planned to suit the specific needs. Though entry to the workshop area is restricted, there are some showroom-cum-workshop designs and layouts, which are visible through glass partitions. Generally, the automobile workshop floors have the following sections:    ▪  The entry ramps. ▪ The main passage areas along the workshop. ▪ The parking areas for repairs. ▪ The washing areas. ▪ The painting and drying areas. ▪ Adjacent rooms for stores, tool room, testing areas etc.   It is well known that the workshop flooring should adequately provide for:    ▪  Pedestrian movement with safety shoes. ▪ Car movement. ▪ Colour demarcation as per code. ▪ Uniform level. ▪ Slopes and speed breakers. ▪ Anti-skid surface in wet areas.   Keeping the above requirements in mind, H & R Johnson (India) Ltd has designed floor tiles that are best suited for this purpose. Marketed under the brand name "Endura", these specifically designed floor tiles have the following properties.    ▪  High abrasion resistance. ▪ Good grip and anti-skid safety ▪ Easy repair and maintenance. ▪ Impact resistance. ▪ Resistance to stain. ▪ Resistance to chemicals. ▪ Pleasant earth colours.   Endura tiles are the result of 3 years of dedicated effort to engineer a tile to meet the specific needs of automobile industry. Endura tile used for this purpose is a tile of 12mm thickness in the size of 304mm X 304 mm. These tiles are available in a choice of five colours - Ivory, Brown, Terracotta, Grey and Green, giving automobile companies the flexibility of creating individualized and unique showrooms-workshops. High abrasion resistance is provided by high silica content that gives the total tile a hardness of 8 on the MOH scale. This is not just surface hardness but the hardness remains constant for the full cross-section of the tile. Good grip and anti-skid properties: The plain surface tiles are made with sufficient roughness for anti-skid reasons. Surface designs similar to steel and aluminum checkered plates are incorporated to break the film (membrane) of oil or water to give a grip to the soles of shoes and also to car tyres. Impact Resistance is taken care of in the tile by increasing the thickness to 12mm and limiting its size to 304mm X 304mm. This offers good bedding to the base structure, as the size of the tile is easy to apply on the floor and ensure that there are no voids below. Endura has a very high crushing strength and with good application to the floor, the total load is transferred to the structure. Resistance to stain is achieved by closing all the micro pores in the tile with highly anti abrasive ceramic powder. This is heat-treated and gets absorbed in the cavities. No oil or grease stains persist after normal cleaning. Chemical resistance is provided by a high stable vitreous structure with very low water absorption. The final chemical composition of the tile is at pH 7 and is neutral to all chemical attack. This is as per IS 4457. Easy repair and maintenance: Damage to tiles is controlled by fixing the tile with a gap of 3-5mm. This gap is filled with Epoxy grouts. The epoxy grouts also absorb the sheer stress caused by the car tyre on starting movement and turning at the same spot. Isolating the tile in this way helps easy spot repairs. Aesthetics - Pleasant earth colours give a good look and elevates the general mood in comparison to the drab cement look. The colours can also act as markers for demarcation. Use of these tiles has elevated the Indian automobile workshops far above the usual, age-old traditional garages in order to match the international standards in advanced countries. This modem flooring laid out with technologically superior tiles creates a favourable and lasting impression on any visitor to automobile showroom-workshop.

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