Natural History Museum, London

Stopgap Isolator protects solid oak floor in historic building


Stopgap Isolator Membrane, has been used in one of London’s oldest museums. It was specified as part of the refurbishment of the Natural History Museum’s Spencer Gallery to ensure that existing solid oak flooring could be retained underneath a new vinyl floorcovering.

The flooring contractor was called in to carry out the work in the 280m² gallery and immediately realised that the Isolator membrane was the ideal solution. Isolator is a loose lay system, which acts as a barrier over damp, contaminated or existing floor surfaces, which need to be protected.

Laying Isolator in 2m wide lengths throughout the long gallery, contractors found the impervious laminated sheet quick and easy to place and to subsequently apply an Isolator adhesive onto. F. Ball’s pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive for Isolator was the product of choice for securing Armstrong vinyl flooring which is to stay in place until the full scale refurbishment of the museum in four year’s time. The vinyl and Isolator will then simply be lifted up, allowing the original flooring to be restored.