Boston Aviation: Hangar Floor Coating Built for the Job
Standard industrial epoxy fails fast in a working hangar. Boston Concrete specs and installs aviation-rated floor systems, matched to your exact chemical exposure, slab condition, and aircraft load profile. Free written estimate on every project.
A Boston hangar slab sees a chemical mix that no warehouse or manufacturing floor encounters: Jet A and avgas soaking in from routine fueling, Skydrol hydraulic fluid dripping during maintenance, and glycol-based de-icing fluid tracked in from the ramp on winter nights. Each of those chemicals attacks coating systems differently. Skydrol is the most aggressive, dissolving standard epoxy within months of regular contact. The only reliable answer is a system selected specifically for the full chemical profile of that hangar, not a general-purpose industrial coating applied at a lower price point.
Load engineering matters just as much as chemistry. A corporate jet parked overnight spreads its weight across three or four gear positions, but the tow tractor that repositioned it earlier concentrated the same or greater force through small solid rubber wheels at every turn. The coating and the slab beneath it have to be rated for both scenarios. We review the aircraft types, tow equipment, and traffic patterns before specifying thickness, aggregate broadcast, and reinforcement zones.
Before any product is selected, we sit down with maintenance staff to document every fluid the hangar handles: Jet A, avgas, specific Skydrol grades, hydraulic oil, glycol de-icer, and cleaning solvents. Spill frequency and dwell time before cleanup both factor into the system spec. A corporate FBO with weekly Skydrol exposure gets a different coating than a GA hangar running avgas only.
Assess and prepare the concrete slab
The existing slab is shot-blasted or diamond-ground to the surface profile the chosen system requires. Zones with prior fuel or fluid contamination are tested for penetration depth; heavily saturated concrete sometimes needs mechanical removal before the coating will bond. Cracks and spalled areas are repaired with high-strength bonded materials before any coating goes down.
Install the matched coating system
Urethane cement goes in where Skydrol exposure is regular and severe. Aviation-rated epoxy covers general-use hangars with lighter chemical contact. Both are installed at the engineered film thickness, with broadcast aggregate at service lanes and maintenance bays for slip resistance under wet conditions.
Fill joints, apply topcoat, document
Control joints in the slab are filled with chemical-resistant semi-rigid filler rated for the same fluid exposure as the coating. The topcoat seals the system and provides the final surface texture. Chemical-resistance ratings and product data sheets are compiled into a facility record for compliance audits or future maintenance planning.
Aircraft tow loads
The Load Case Most Hangar Floors Fail: Tow Tractor Point Loads
Here is where many hangar floor coatings fall short. The aircraft itself, even a heavy corporate turboprop, distributes its weight across a wide footprint at each gear. The tow tractor that moves it is a different story: a compact machine with solid rubber wheels, sometimes carrying a nose-gear load that concentrates several tons into a contact patch the size of a boot sole. Every tight turn inside the hangar repeats that concentrated stress at the same spots on the concrete slab. Coatings not engineered for that scenario show delamination and surface breakdown at turn points within a year, while the rest of the floor still looks fine.
Boston Concrete treats the tow tractor as the governing load case when sizing the coating system. That means specifying adequate film build, selecting a resin with the right hardness-to-flexibility ratio for point-load cycling, and identifying the high-traffic turn zones on the floor plan before installation begins. The result holds up under aircraft loads almost by default, because those loads are lighter and more spread out by comparison.
Joint filling in tow-traffic zones uses the same chemical-resistant filler spec as the rest of the hangar floor. See concrete joint filling for how joint filler selection works in heavy-traffic industrial slabs. Forklift-rated floor systems that share similar point-load engineering are at forklift-rated epoxy flooring. Ardex repair products used in slab prep are covered at Ardex repair systems.
Skydrol resistance, tow tractor loads, joint fillers and aviation compliance.
Aviation chemicals (especially Skydrol) attack standard epoxy systems aggressively. Combined with tow tractor point loads and aircraft tire contact patches, the spec has to match a unique exposure profile that other commercial floors do not see.
If the hangar handles aircraft with Skydrol hydraulic systems (most modern commercial and many corporate), yes. Skydrol-rated urethane cement is the typical answer; the wrong system dissolves quickly under Skydrol contact.
Glycol-based de-icing fluids are part of the chemical exposure profile in Boston hangars. We spec the system for those alongside the aviation hydraulics so winter operations do not degrade the floor.
Yes, the joint filler has to be chemical-resistant to the same aviation fluids the coating handles. Standard polyurea filler can degrade under Skydrol; we use chemical-resistant variants in aviation environments.
A typical hangar takes a week or two from prep through cure, with the hangar offline during the work. Larger MRO facilities stretch to multi-week phased installs. The schedule is built around maintenance operations.
Client reviews
What Boston Operations Say About Their Hangar Floors
Skydrol-rated urethane install in our maintenance hangar. Three years of regular hydraulic spills, zero coating failure at any spill point. Worth the spec premium over standard epoxy.
Z. A5
FBO Manager, Boston Airport
★★★★★
Engineered for our tow tractor loads, not just aircraft loads. The coating has held perfectly at every tow turn point, where the previous floor had failed within months.
Y. A5
MRO Operations, Cambridge
★★★★★
Coordinated install during a scheduled maintenance downtime. Hangar offline only for the cure window, back in service on schedule. Real coordination with operations.
Q. A5
Corporate Hangar Owner, Somerville
★★★★★
Documented chemical-resistance rating for our facility compliance file. Auditor accepted without questions. The documentation matters in aviation.
X. A5
Aviation Facility Director, Quincy
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Share the aircraft types, fluid exposure, and maintenance schedule for your facility. Boston Concrete will identify the right aviation-rated system and put the scope and price in writing before any work begins.
