Skimcoating....
 

I have recently successfully skimcoated about a quarter of our basement after having removed the asbestos tile. My daughter's boyfriend who runs a pub for his father was asking me if this would work in the basement of his pub where 170lb kegs of beer are moved. How much skim coating would have to be applied to prevent gouging by the metal kegs? Any ideas?

What are you using to skim coat the floor?

Skim coated with what?

I am using DAP/Bondex concrete floor leveler which contains Portland cement.
I add Quickcrete bonding adhesive. What thickness would be needed to prevent gouging by 170 lb metal beer kegs?

Whatever would gouge regular concrete will hurt your topping. The thing to watch for is chipping. Hopefully your bonder will work. Maybe coat the whole floor with epxoy when cured. Then wax it. Should be able to slide those kegs like curling stones.

Humm, It sounds like you are using the right stuff. The Bonding adhesive works great for hardening.
Still don't know how it will hold up to a beer keg being dropped and drug around on it though. My guess would be 3/8" if it sticks good to the floor.

How does it adhere to what you are skimming. That could end up being a problem. The keg gets dropped, breaks the bond, moisture undermines it, and then it just peels from there.

If it doesn't have good adhesion to the subfloor. I would say if you went about 3/4" it would be pretty tough. The thicker the better

What do you think about a nice thick layer of the skim coat and then a 2 part epoxy on top of that. I think that would be about as good as its going to get for the situation.

He should abrade the floor and install porcelain tile, which can be bought for as little as 99 cents a square foot.

That will hold up to the traffic you describe if laid without air entrapment.

In a public arena one must be mindful of spillage and the danger of someone slipping on wet tile. I would venture to guess there is a fair amount of beer spillage in a pub.
Other than that tile would be the best bang for the buck.

I second the industrial tile idea.
It would be quieter too.

Food and beverage inspectors might have opinions on keeping it sanitized and best product.

This part caught my attention. Did you hire a hazmat company, or just wing it with a shovel or tile scraper?

Asbestos removal......
 

In my part of the country (Georgia), any suspected asbestos material has to be removed by specialists and taken to a hazmat dump. When I needed to do some remodeling in a rental building a while back, there were some floor tiles that were of "unknown" material. So, instead of removing them, I had the contractor seal them in place and put new tiles over them. The subfloor is concrete so there is not much likelihood of any problems from below. Hopefully, the new floor will last another 50 years and the next owner will have to decide what to do with them!

Oh yes removing asbestos tiles. I did cover this subject a while back on the forum and I did suit up with the white suit, used a mask, did a lot of research on it etc. I wet the tiles thoroughly and chipped them out with a chisel. I would think that the particles did not become airborne as I did not grind them. I could have left them and entombed them with skimcoat but the idea of leaving them in the house was not appealing.
I believe there is no legislation here in this province forcing me to have it done professionally.

Also when we had mold in the basement I did it myself. I am down to bare concrete walls now so I do not want a reoccurence of that nature. I have saved us $$$$$ by doing it myself.

Thanks everybody re advice about floor covering that can take abuse from beer barrels. I will shortly go look at my daughter's GF's pub and see if the barrel storage is in the basement of the pub or on the main floor. Also as you mention there may be hygiene considerations/public health etc. Will keep you posted on what we decide.