Farming in New Jersey - What to Look for When Choosing Flooring for Grow Rooms and Greenhouses

Whether you are seriously looking into growing marijuana for legal medicinal distribution or wish to grow certain crops of produce year-round, you may have looked into using grow rooms and greenhouses as viable options. Indoor (and semi-indoor) growing allows you to control several factors inherent in raising a healthy crop that typically is left up to Mother Nature, including weather conditions, temperature and humidity, and even exposure to light. Taking the measures you need to replicate and control all of these factors can mean healthier plants overall and more harvests per year once you're off the seasonal clock. Knowing all of this, you probably didn't consider that your choice of flooring in a grow room can significantly affect your success in this area.

How Can a Floor Affect My Grow Room?

Say you decided to convert an old building, like a garage, into your space. In all likelihood, what you're looking at is a plain, concrete floor. The problems are already numerous. Concrete is porous and will absorb anything you spill on it, whether it's water, your morning coffee, pesticides, weed killer, etc. This, coupled with the ability to pool water and even absorb moisture from the soil underneath the building, makes it a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and other contaminants. Add its propensity for forming cracks, where more bacteria can form, and the fact that it can be a major slip hazard, and you've got a potential disaster on your hands, for you and anything you grow there, especially if your crop has to meet any major safety standards before you can sell it.

Your Checklist for the Perfect Grow Room Floor

Your flooring and treatment options are many and varied, so keep these characteristics in mind as you look.

• Slip-Resistant: Grow room safety means safety for your plants AND visitors or employees.
• Drain Installation: Having a safe way to dispose of water and other chemicals as you clean so that it's not affecting your plants or being absorbed back into the ground will protect your structure and the environment around it.
• Antimicrobial: Flooring that doesn't allow mold, fungus, or bacteria to form keeps you and your produce healthy.
• Seamless: Cracks, seams, and welds create nooks and crannies where contaminants can thrive and potentially be tracked around the grow room and places outside. A seamless floor eliminates these hiding places.
• Chemical and Thermal Resistance: A non-porous surface that won't weaken or break down when you use strong cleaners, and sterilants means no chemicals stay behind or are absorbed into your soil. Sudden temperature changes or sustained, higher temperatures should not weaken or damage your floors.

• Impact and Traffic Resistance: Sudden massive drops or high traffic should not affect your floors. Your presence in your grow room should not make your floors and, therefore your crops more vulnerable!

While you can use this resource to shop around for flooring that fits your needs and budget, resinous flooring checks all the boxes. Combining a resin substance such as acrylic, epoxy, or polyurethane with a hardening agent, seamless resinous flooring is poured into an area, creating a smooth and non-porous wall to wall surface that is easy to maintain. It stands up to heavy traffic, spills, harsh cleaning chemicals, and high or low temperatures without suffering damage that can open you and your crops to contamination and other issues, better allowing you to grow in a sterile, climate-controlled indoor environment.