Aircraft Hangar - floor finish requirements NFPA 409

[blugosi]

According to the NFPA 409 Standard on Aircraft Hangars, floor finish requirements are very strict:

"7.5.1
The surface of the grade floor of aircraft storage and servicing areas, regardless of type of hangar construction, shall be noncombustible and above the grade of the approach or apron at the entrance to the hangar."

We are looking for an epoxy resin flooring system for a two Airbus 320/ Boeing 737 hangar which is non-combustible and also withstand the heavy use and I cannot find one.
I have only found limited combustibility products (Bfl-s1 per the European Standard EN 13501)
The maintenance engineers request a floor suited for Skydrol hydraulic fuel spills.

Does anybody know of any non combustible epoxy resin flooring system, or does NFPA specify a rare bird?

 

[Inspector Gadget]

I am assuming, then, that polished concrete won't fit the bill?

I see you're in Greece. Is NFPA 409 being used a guideline, or is it empowered by act/law/statute/etc?

 

[blugosi]

It seems that concrete does not react well to Skydrol and other hydraulic fuel types.
That’s why they protect it with epoxy resins.
NFPA 409 is the international standard for comercial aircraft maintenance hangar fire protection, I am not aware of any others.
And in fact , the Greek State has adopted it since year 1999.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

It seems that concrete does not react well to Skydrol and other hydraulic fuel types.
That’s why they protect it with epoxy resins.
NFPA 409 is the international standard for comercial aircraft maintenance hangar fire protection, I am not aware of any others

The reason I was asking is that I've got a hangar project on the go right now, but I'm in Canada. NFPA 409 is not empowered by reference in code. (It's loosely referenced in an appendix note, but only insomuch as it refers to vapours ... nothing else.)

 

[ICE]

Epoxy floor coatings are slippery.
Skydrol is dangerous to people and it ruins concrete.

https://aeroparts-plus.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Skydrol-500-B4-SDS.pdf

 

[blugosi]

For the record, the NFPA Technical Questions Service replied to my official question as follows. I have deleted the name of the guy who replied.

Thank you for your question. The following response comes from the 2022 edition of NFPA 409.

As 7.5.1 addresses the surface of the grade floor, I interpret that the noncombustible requirement would apply to any finish associated with the floor, as this area would be the uppermost surface.

Please remember, the AHJ determines compliance.

K**** C*****
Senior Fire Protection Specialist

I have discussed it with USA DOD engineers these last days, and they were all surprised because the military building standards (Unified Facilities Criteria UFC) have adopted NFPA 409 for their hangars in the USA and abroad, and dozens of them have already been treated with combustible epoxy resin flooring systems to withstand Skydrol spills.
I am preparing a TIA on that NFPA 409 paragraph, but I have no idea if the NFPA committee will pay any attention to it because they require two committee members to second my TIA before they even consider it and I don't know anyone in that committee.