Case Study: Coating an Active Warehouse in One Weekend

Updated October 2026 · Written by the Legacy Industrial Coatings commercial team

Quick answer: We coated roughly 4,200 SF across three zones of an active, fully racked warehouse in a single weekend: a 2,223 SF main walkway and a 1,600 SF testing area got a moisture-mitigating epoxy system with a high-traffic urethane topcoat, and a 375 SF forklift battery charging area got troweled urethane cement with a novolac epoxy topcoat. Work ran from Friday evening to Sunday so the facility never lost a shipping day, and aisle striping followed the next weekend, after the coatings had fully cured.

Most warehouse floor projects don't start with an empty building. Racks are full, forklifts are running, and the operations manager wants to know one thing: how much downtime will this cost? This case study walks through a recent project where we recoated the highest-wear parts of an operating warehouse without shutting it down. We cover what the floor looked like, which system went where and why, how the schedule worked, and what we'd tell any facility manager planning similar work at 50,000 or 500,000 SF.

The client is kept anonymous. It's an operating, fully racked warehouse in North Texas with forklift traffic, a testing area and an on-site battery charging station.

What problem did the warehouse need solved?

The facility had three problems in three different zones, and each one needed a different answer.

• The main walkway carried the heaviest mixed foot and equipment traffic in the building, including a stretch that runs through a tunnel under the racking. The bare slab still showed shot-blast lines from an earlier prep job, and old, worn line striping had to come off.
• The testing area is a rectangular zone set apart from the storage aisles. It needed a clean, durable, easy-to-sweep surface and a clearly marked boundary.
• The battery charging area is where forklift batteries are watered and charged. Lead-acid batteries can spill or vent sulfuric acid electrolyte, which etches bare concrete and attacks many standard floor coatings.

On top of that, the whole building needed a deep clean and new aisle striping, and none of it could interrupt weekday shipping.

Which floor system went in each zone, and why?

Picking one product for an entire warehouse is the most common mistake we see. Walkways, test areas and battery rooms fail in different ways, so we specified each one separately using resinous flooring systems from Neogard.

Zone	Area	System installed	Main reason
Main walkway	2,223 SF	Moisture-mitigating epoxy primer, pigmented epoxy base coat, Hybri-Gard HTU high-traffic urethane topcoat (dark gray)	Abrasion and scuff resistance under constant traffic
Testing area	1,600 SF	Same system as the walkway	Clean, uniform, easy-to-maintain surface
Battery charging area	375 SF	Water-based epoxy primer, troweled urethane cement base, novolac epoxy topcoat (gray)	Acid resistance and impact toughness
Aisles and safety markings	About 4,500 LF of lines	Solvent-borne acrylic traffic striping	Wayfinding and fire-code markings

Why epoxy with a urethane topcoat on the walkway?

Epoxy builds thickness and bonds well to properly ground concrete, but on its own it scuffs and dulls in high-traffic lanes. A high-traffic urethane (HTU) topcoat adds the abrasion resistance, so the walkway keeps its color and sheen far longer. A moisture-mitigating primer went down first so moisture vapor coming up through the slab can't lift the coating later. For a deeper look at this family of systems, see our industrial epoxy page.

Why urethane cement in the battery room?

Urethane cement is a troweled, cement-based polyurethane that handles impact, heat and chemical exposure better than a thin epoxy film. We topcoated it with a novolac epoxy, which is formulated for stronger acid resistance than standard epoxy. Together they give the battery area a thick, tough base and an acid-resistant surface, and both urethane cement and novolac epoxy are among the systems major manufacturers list for battery charging zones.

Was the testing area an ESD floor?

No. The testing area was marked as a static-protected zone with a blue perimeter line, but the client did not need a conductive floor, so we used the same durable coating as the walkway. If your testing or assembly area handles sensitive electronics and needs a measured resistance range, that calls for a dedicated static-control (ESD) flooring system, which is specified and tested differently.

How was the floor prepared?

Prep decides whether a coating lasts two years or ten. On this project it was most of the labor.

1. Moisture testing before any coating was ordered for install, so the primer choice was based on the actual slab.
2. Full diamond grinding of the walkway and testing area to remove the old shot-blast pattern and the existing striping. Removing old line paint takes real time; it's easy to underestimate on bids.
3. Shot blasting and grinding in the battery area to open the surface for the urethane cement.
4. Repairs: spalls and surface defects patched, joints filled where needed.
5. A new saw-cut control joint in the battery area, located in the field, then cleaned and detailed through the finished system so the floor can move without cracking the coating.
6. HEPA dust extraction on all grinding, which matters in a building full of stored product.

How do you coat around racking without moving it?

Moving loaded racks is expensive and risky, so we didn't. The coating ran to the edge of the racks and through the walkway tunnel, stopping at the metal angle brackets, with a clean, straight edge line where the coating ends. In the testing area we used existing saw-cut joints as stopping points, which gives a crisp border that looks intentional and is easy to repair later.

This approach works well when the goal is to protect and brighten the traffic lanes rather than coat every square foot. If you need the floor under the racks finished too, that usually means a phased project where sections of racking are emptied and moved in turn, or choosing polished concrete for the open slab and coating only the lanes and specialty zones.

How did the schedule avoid shutting down operations?

All prep and coating ran on one weekend. The crew started Friday after 5 PM, when shipping wrapped for the week, and finished by Sunday. That kept every weekday open for the client.

• Weekend 1 (Friday evening to Sunday): grinding, dust extraction, repairs, joint work, then primer, base coats and topcoats in all three zones.
• Weekday after install: client walkthrough and sign-off on the coatings and cleaning.
• Weekend 2: aisle and safety striping by our striping partner, scheduled only after the coatings had fully cured.

Striping was deliberately pushed out a week. Taping and painting lines on a coating that hasn't fully cured can pull up the finish or leave tape marks, and the striping paint itself needs a cured surface to bond to.

What was the lesson on cure time?

When we checked the site Monday, the floor showed footprints. Staff had walked on it around 8 AM, only about 12 hours after the final coat. We flagged the risk to the client right away; they were happy with the finished floor and confirmed they'd keep traffic off until cure was complete. But it's a good reminder: put the cure schedule in writing and tape off the area. Most epoxy and urethane systems allow light foot traffic after about 24 hours and need several days before forklifts and full traffic, depending on the product and temperature. Your contractor should give you exact times for the system being installed.

What was included besides the coating?

A new floor looks worse next to dusty racks, so the client added a deep clean of the space before handover:

• High dusting and cobweb removal along about 850 linear feet of perimeter, plus columns and joists, using scissor lifts.
• Rack face wipe-downs.
• An under-rack detail clean along about 3,080 linear feet of rack edge.
• A general wipe-down of the space.

The striping scope covers about 4,493 linear feet of 4-inch yellow aisle lines, red crosshatching in front of six doors and under sprinkler downspouts, red boundary lines, and fire-extinguisher markings, with a blue line marking the static-protected testing area.

What was the outcome?

The client reviewed the coatings and the cleaning after installation and confirmed in writing that they were happy with both. The walkway, testing area and battery room were finished without losing a weekday of operations, and the facility now has distinct, purpose-built surfaces in its three highest-wear zones. Striping is the final step, scheduled for the weekend after cure.

How would this approach scale to a 50,000 to 100,000 SF warehouse?

This project was a targeted recoat, but the same playbook applies at full-building scale. Here's what changes as the square footage grows:

• Phasing replaces a single weekend. A 50,000 to 100,000 SF commercial floor typically takes 10 to 30 working days. In an occupied building we split that into zones, often by aisle groups or building bays, and work nights and weekends so each zone is out of service for as little time as possible.
• Zone-by-zone specs still apply. Even in a large distribution center, the open storage floor, the drive lanes, the battery room, the dock apron and any food or chemical areas usually need different systems. Many large DCs polish the open slab and coat only lanes and specialty zones. Our post on polished concrete vs. epoxy for warehouses covers that trade-off.
• Moisture testing scales up. On bigger slabs we test at more locations, because vapor emissions vary across a pour. Skipping this is the fastest way to a delamination claim.
• Cure time and striping need a calendar. With many zones curing at different times, a written cure and re-entry schedule for each one keeps forklifts off fresh coatings.

If you're budgeting, our commercial epoxy flooring cost guide breaks down typical market ranges by system. You can also see more systems and sectors on our warehouse flooring page and in our commercial case studies.

Frequently asked questions

Can a warehouse floor be coated without shutting down operations?

Yes. Most warehouse coating work can be scheduled for nights and weekends and phased by zone, so each area is out of service only during prep, coating and initial cure. On this project, about 4,200 SF across three zones was prepped and coated in a single weekend.

What is the best floor coating for a forklift battery charging area?

A system with real acid resistance. A troweled urethane cement base with a novolac epoxy topcoat is a strong choice, because the urethane cement handles impact and the novolac resists the sulfuric acid that lead-acid batteries can spill or vent. Standard thin epoxy coatings often etch or soften in these areas.

Do you have to move pallet racks to coat a warehouse floor?

Not always. If the goal is to protect walkways and drive lanes, the coating can run to the rack edges with a clean termination line, as it did on this project. Coating under racks requires emptying and moving them in phases, which adds time and cost.

How long before you can walk or drive on a new warehouse floor coating?

Most epoxy and urethane systems allow light foot traffic after about 24 hours and need several days before forklifts and full traffic, depending on the product and temperature. Get exact times from your contractor in writing and tape off the area until then.

When should line striping go down on a new floor coating?

After the coating has fully cured. Taping and painting on a coating that is still curing can damage the finish and weaken the striping bond, so on this project striping was scheduled for the weekend after installation.

About Legacy Industrial Coatings

Legacy Industrial Coatings is a commercial flooring contractor installing resinous coatings, urethane cement, polished concrete, LVP and LVT, carpet tile, VCT, sheet vinyl and rubber flooring for warehouses, manufacturers, healthcare, schools and offices. We work with manufacturers including Sherwin-Williams, Sika, Neogard/Hempel and Polymer Nation, and serve projects from our offices in Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix.

Planning a warehouse floor project? Request a site walk and proposal or call us at 214-305-6516. We'll test the slab, map each zone to the right system and build a schedule around your operations.