Mobile Food Concession Flooring

I'm setting up a mobile (bus) food concession unit.
 
My local HD rule regarding flooring simply says it needs to be smooth, seamless, impervious to liquids, and easily washable. I am trying to wrap my mind around something that would work for me besides the standard sheet vinyl or linoleum. The local home centers selection of sheet goods is just too "residential" looking. I really want a more professional, commercial look.
 
Diamond plate looks great but might be too pricey and also isn't seamless obviously.
 
Any ideas appreciated.  

Diamond plate is seamless when welded. Also you will most likely need to have a 3-4" cove up the sides, whatever is required by your hd.

I do have that capability here. I have a spool gun for welding aluminum but I'm a little concerned about the $178 per sheet and that weld is trickey in the thinner DP. It would take 5 sheets to cover my floor. Are most commercially built units floored with diamond plate?

I do have that capability here. I have a spool gun for welding aluminum but I'm a little concerned about the $178 per sheet and that weld is trickey in the thinner DP. It would take 5 sheets to cover my floor. Are most commercially built units floored with diamond plate?

Alternative is this type from Armstrong. You can get it at Lowe's/Home Depot. They usually stock 4 or 5 variations of white but you can special order other colours (go look in the flooring section... lots of bright colours). You have to glue it down to a substrate and it's pretty tough... handles lots of abuse. I installed it in our Apache popup camper when we had it and it held up well to several years off camping in National forests (dirt, gravel and red Georgia clay). I'm even going to install it in our skoolie conversion.  You would still need the cove base that the Health Depatments require.
 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_8...amp;Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Vinyl%2BFlooring%2BAccessories_4294856531__s%3FNs%3Dp_product_price|0%26Ntt%3Darmstrong

Diamond plate is preferred...you don't have to worry about seams coming apart, it's waterproof and pretty much indestructible, but use what ever your budget allows.
What Lorna suggests is good too... a heavy duty commercial type flooring, but can be damaged by heat or sharp objects.

Another thing about diamond plate is you are unlikely to slip and fall on it. My local HD has the smooth requirement and the diamond plate has passed with no problem.

Our local sam's Club actually sells a roll of "lightly ribbed" black or grey rubber flooring that I am thinking I could use urethane glue to glue down to the plywood substrate I have in there now. I do understand that the cove base is required. They market this as a garage floor material. The slight ribs are said to help keep spills from running, at least in one direction anyway and I can se that being a plus.
 
It feels like it would be really easy to clean. The ribs are slightly rounded, not sharp edged. $169 for enough to cover the entire unit, quickly, and seemless.  
 
Would anyone here who knows the product have any advice against using this stuff?

Sorry about the spelling, I'm really not a complete idiot. hahaha

I have been trying to find the classic black and white checkered linoleum to use for flooring but it seems that it is not sold anymore. I cannot even find it online.

I would not use a rubber floor material. It is not a smooth surface, will be hell to sweep, mop, hose out and keep clean.
I shake my rubber mats out every day, and there can still be lots of food and dirt stuck to them.
The smooth diamond plate floor on the otherhand only needs a quick sweep and mop and it looks great.

on the rubber mats if your gonna put something down on top of your finish floor like those back saver mats anti fatige mats..dont get the ones with the round holes in them... i made thast mistake and brother let me tell you those are a [link=mailto:b##@*h]b##@*h[/link] to clean!! stuff gets in those holes and you have to wash ,scrub,rinse.. with the smoother ones its alot easier to keep clean. just my .02 worth

Whatever you do, please think about traction when wet before making your final choice. Commercial vinyl flooring is much cheaper and easier to replace, however, unless you get something with some tread on it, you are risking a slip and fall for yourself or one of your employees.
 
-MC

I am building a food truck and my plan was to buy some 1/16" diamond plat for flooring but I just realized that it needs to be seamless and I do not have a MIG welder, so I will go with cheap black and white checkered vinyl flooring with rubber anti-slip mats over top. As for cleaning the mats I will just power wash them down in my drive way after each use. I also plan on installing a 3" floor drain in my unit.

The drain is always a great idea, just make sure it goes to a water tank with a flapper valve allowing you to dump from the tank. Another thing may be to be sure the piping is able to be accessed for cleaning. You don't want to have food block your lines up and have to take a lot of time to dismantle the water drainage system.

MobileCuisine


The drain is always a great idea, just make sure it goes to a water tank with a flapper valve allowing you to dump from the tank. Another thing may be to be sure the piping is able to be accessed for cleaning. You don't want to have food block your lines up and have to take a lot of time to dismantle the water drainage system.

Yup, it will go to my waste tank with a back flow preventer installed.