What Is Coving, and Is It Important for Commercial and Industrial Floors in Kitchens and Food and Beverage Facilities?

Food and beverage facilities, from commercial kitchens and bakeries to industrial processing plants and dairies, are busy, demanding environments. These spaces must meet rigorous safety and hygiene standards to reduce the risk of contamination and food-borne illness .

The right flooring in food and beverage facilities is essential to maintaining a hygienic , safe workspace, but an important detail is often overlooked: coving.

Far from just a finishing touch, coving is a necessity for flooring in the food and beverage industry.

What Is Coving?

Coving is a curved, seamless finish that is installed at the intersection between flooring and the wall or a vertical surface. It is usually made from resin (epoxy or polyurethane) mortar and installed with a coving trowel to create a sloping curve. Coving lines the edges of the floor, extending seamlessly from the floor to the wall and serve as a protective barrier. The result transforms two separate surfaces—the wall and the floor—into one smooth surface.

By eliminating the 90-degree angle where the floor and wall meet, coves make floors much easier to clean and ensure there are no places for dirt, dust, germs or pathogens to hide.

The Importance of Floor Coving in Commercial Kitchens and Food and Beverage Facilities

The area between the floor and the wall is difficult to clean and sanitise, a high-risk area for bacterial growth and vulnerable to moisture damage—all of which can contribute to serious hygiene concerns in food and beverage facilities.

Installing a resin coving system along food and beverage flooring makes the surface easier to clean and results in a seamless, non-porous finish, creating a safer and more sanitary environment.

Coving Acts as an Impervious, Impermeable Seal

Food and beverage facilities are damp, moist and waterlogged environments, thanks to regular washdowns, spills, leaks and cleaning schedules. Without adequate protection, water and other liquids on the floor can seep into the seams between the floor and the wall, causing a buildup of moisture and potentially harbouring a breeding ground for pathogens.

Floor coving provides an impervious, impermeable seal that is watertight and resistant to moisture, preventing liquids from seeping into the concrete substrate through unprotected seams.

Coving Creates a Seamless, Easy-to-Clean Surface

The 90-degree angle where the wall meets the floor along the side of a room is notoriously difficult to thoroughly clean. Dirt, dust and grime inevitably build up in these hard-to-reach areas, potentially leading to significant hygiene issues.

The seamless, curved surface of floor coving is easy to clean and eliminates areas where dirt can accumulate or where bacteria could grow. With a cleanable, seamless finish, coving helps ensure food and beverage facilities can meet strict hygiene and sanitation standards and create a safe, clean workspace.

Industry-Leading Floor Coving for Kitchens, Bakeries, Dairies and Factories

Floor coving is an important part of any resin flooring system, and food-safe resin coving products are designed to meet the rigorous safety and hygiene standards of food and beverage facilities like commercial kitchens, bakeries, dairies, processing plants and factories.

The application of coving on resin flooring creates a long-term, smooth, seamless and impervious transition between the floor and the wall. It adheres to the floor substrate and the wall with a strong seal, leaving no cracks or crevices where moisture, bacteria or dirt could hide. The seamless finish ensures the coves are extremely easy to clean, too, which is ideal for food and beverage environments.

Additionally, floor coving made from epoxy, polyurethane or other resin materials has the same beneficial properties as the floor coatings themselves—from durability and chemical resistance to high adhesion and quick curing times, resin-based floor covings are long-lasting solutions for food and beverage facilities.

Shop Food Grade Flooring and Coving Solutions at Sherwin-Williams

Sherwin-Williams is the leading provider of floor coating, screed and coving for the food and beverage industry. Our line of high performance resin flooring and coving offers superior resistance to moisture, chemicals, impacts and abrasions. With our durable, easy-to-clean and long-lasting food and beverage flooring solutions, you can extend the lifespan of your manufacturing or processing plant floors and experience cost savings for years to come.

Contact a Sherwin-Williams representative today to learn more about our food-safe resin flooring and coving solutions for the food and beverage industry.