Anti skid additives. This time of the year we grow to appreciate stable non slippery walking surfaces. What’s worse then loosing your footing and realizing your going down! The answer for our driveways and sidewalks is of course shoveling, sand and salt.

Other surfaces can be a challenge to make non slippery. This is especially a challenge in industrial settings where the floors are constantly wet and often in food plants the floors have a anti-bacterial foam on the floor that can be pretty slick under foot.

There are a number of traction additives available. The ones we typically use when doing an Epoxy or MMA (methyl methacrylate) floor are Quartz or Aluminum Oxide. Quartz can get expensive and it is very heavy. Working with it gets old fast when holding a bucket of it to broadcast onto a floor but it is very durable and attractive. Aluminum Oxide is much cheaper but it is rather sharp, so gloves are a must and it can be rough on bare feet. Neither will change the color of the coating. In fact, Quartz is often predominately what is seen on a floor coating when broadcast to rejection.

There are a number of other anti skid additives available. Many you may not have heard of.

Walnut shells is a different one. Ground up of course.  The DuckBack brand is 100% walnut shells and is about a 60 grit product. It can be used with almost any floor coating and of course it is a “green” product.

Clear Grip is a anti skid additive made from a micronized polymeric aggregate. Basically it is a plastic.  It is lightweight and because it is clear it is not noticeable in the coating. It can be incorporated into  water-based, solvent-based alkyd, urethane or epoxy coatings.

Soft Sand is a rubber based granule. They come in multiple colors and the big plus is they are “soft”. They can be used the same way as other anti skid additives. Because they provide a comfortable, skid resistant surface, it would be a great choice for around pools, in locker rooms, etc.