Don’t Get Unstuck This Summer
The summer has finally arrived and, as you read this, I hope you are enjoying some glorious sunshine, although if it’s anything like last year we’re probably all still wearing coats and carrying umbrellas! While the British summer and its unpredictable weather will always be a talking point, the warmer conditions also lead to flood of questions and queries about two-part adhesives.
We recently got a call from a contractor in Manchester who was using the two-part system for the first time, installing thin rubber sheet onto Altro’s Everlay system, using an epoxy adhesive. After fitting the sheet dry, he went to his van to get the adhesive.
As the van had been sitting in the sun all morning, the two-part adhesive was mixed and had firmed up in the container, making it unusable.
Another contractor in North Wales was installing safety flooring in the conservatory of a residential home for the elderly. He was using Altrofix 19 two-part polyurethane adhesive, which in many ways is more forgiving than a straight epoxy adhesive as under normal circumstances the cure is much slower.
He’d fitted the sheets of flooring, mixed and spread the adhesive and laid the flooring back down, then went for lunch. When he got back he found hundreds of blisters in the flooring, which reappeared as fast as he pushed them out.
The blistering was caused by a number of issues – the subfloor was warm to the touch and the air temperature was too high, making the floor too soft and an escape route for excess adhesive.
So in view of these problems, I thought I’d write a brief guide for the use of two-part adhesives, whatever the weather.
- Never leave two-part adhesive in hot cars or vans.
- Never mix two-part adhesives until you are absolutely ready to get on your knees and start spreading.
- Get the adhesive out of the container and on to the floor as quickly as possible - this prolongs the curing time.
- Unless working with floorcoverings which have honeycombed or recessed backing, never use a new trowel blade.
- Use smaller units as these mix more easily and are quicker to use up, keeping the adhesive fresher and more fluid.
- Always push or roll out all air pockets immediately, whilst the adhesive is wet.
- Never leave site until the flooring has laid flat and blister free in the adhesive for at least two hours.
- Never leave a blistered floor overnight to see if it will settle down - it won’t!
We Brits are supposedly prone to lack of preparation before heading into the sun. The number of people I see with pink faces and sunburnt arms after a good weekend, suggests this is probably true. As it gets (hopefully) warmer, remember it is not just about getting yourself ready for the sun, think of your tools too – or your summer could be sticky for all the wrong reasons.
This article first appeared in the July 2010 edition of the CFJ.