A material selection guide helps facility managers make a sound decision on the floor coating product that is most suitable for facility floors. The facility manager must spend time studying the content of the material selection guide, noting the features and capabilities of the product disclosed in the guide, and keeping in mind the manufacturer’s recommendation on the use and handling of the product which is also contained therein.
The guide can be quite lengthy in content, but facility managers need not consider it tedious work to review it. To make it easier to browse through the guide, below are a few items therein that facility managers should focus more on:
1. A generic description of the product profile, including acceptable application and surface usage. This provides a short summary about the product. If this part of the document can already hint at the appropriateness of the product to facility requirements, then this should encourage the facility manager to continue reading. If not, then the rest of the document can be skipped altogether.
2. Technical product details. This part includes everything from surface preparation, curing times, temperature requirements, mixing conditions, shelf life, coverage rates, application equipments, and the cleanup and disposal recommendations.
3. Health and safety recommendations. This part discloses the chemical ingredients contained in the floor coatings product, or if any are hazardous and contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This augments the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).
4. Warranties and limitations. This part of the guide indicates the manufacturer’s warranty on the floor coatings product. This basically tells buyers what the manufacturer’s action will be if the floor coatings product turned out defective. The most common remedy that manufacturers will cover is the replacement of the product in question.
