Contractors from A&H Flooring used F. Ball products to install 2,700m² of floorcoverings as part of a renovation project on multiple floors at Glasgow University Library over a combination of raised plywood and concrete subfloors with old adhesive residues present.
Testing the water
To begin with, old linoleum floorcoverings were removed from the concrete subfloors. Using F. Ball’s digital hygrometer, a moisture test was then carried out to determine the relative humidity levels of the subfloor. In this instance, everywhere was sufficiently dry enough to receive floorcoverings, except from a 20m2 section of concrete subfloor, which had an RH of 92%.
Over this area, the contractor applied Stopgap F77 high-performance waterproof surface membrane. Stopgap F77 impedes the passage of construction moisture and rising damp up to 98% RH with a single coat application. It is fully cured after three hours at 20°C, making it ideal for when flooring needs to be installed as quickly as possible.
Smoothing the base
The contractor applied an F. Ball primer over the areas of raised plywood flooring, before applying Stopgap 700 Superflex levelling compound, a fast drying, fibre-reinforced, self-levelling smoothing underlayment designed especially for use on flexible subfloors.
On the concrete sections of subfloor, Stopgap 1200 Pro high performance levelling compound was applied. Stopgap 1200 Pro is a two component levelling compound specially designed for use over old adhesive residues, without the need for priming. It is low-odour, self-smoothing and fast drying.
Sticking with F. Ball
Contractors then installed a variety of floorcoverings onto the prepared subfloors. Styccobond F41 carpet tile tackifier was used to install luxury Milliken carpet tiles. Styccobond F41 dries to create a permanently tacky film that prevents ‘loose-lay’ carpet tiles from moving, but allows individual tiles to be lifted and replaced easily when worn or damaged.
Styccobond F46 pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive was selected to install both wood effect vinyl sheets and vinyl safety flooring on the other sections, including the plywood subfloor areas. Styccobond F46 is designed to provide a strong initial tack, high bond strength and pressure sensitive properties. It will also reduce the incidence of trowel serrations showing through thin vinyl floorcoverings.
Roy Henderson, of A&H Flooring in Glasgow, said: “This was a tricky project because the building is always in use and other tradespeople required access to the site, but F. Ball products meant we could work on areas separately and quickly; minimising disruption at the university. I’ve used F. Ball products from the start of my career – they’re dependable and they do what they say on the tin.”