VINYL adhesives from F Ball and Co have been used to install vinyl safety flooring and LVTs in one of the largest small-animal referral hospitals in Europe. Contractors from Veatu Flooring, based in Colchester, installed vinyl floorcoverings throughout a total of 1,100sq m at Southfields Veterinary Centre, in Basildon, Essex.

Polyflor vinyl safety flooring was installed in the treatment rooms using F Ball’s Styccobond F44 solvent-free acrylic emulsion adhesive, which is designed to give a strong initial tack, high bond strength and a long open time.

In the employee canteen, Forbo Allura Flex Wood LVTs were adhered using Styccobond F46 pressure-sensitive adhesive, which provides instant grab, preventing floorcoverings from sliding as tiles or planks are subsequently placed.

‘The adhesive is designed to minimise the incidence of trowel serrations showing through thin vinyl flooring and potentially affecting the finished appearance of the installation.’

Styccobond F46 was also used to secure Polyflor vinyl safety flooring in the corridors connecting the treatment rooms. Capping and coving were installed in the corridors using F Ball’s Styccobond F60 contact adhesive. The formation of an instant bond makes it suitable for securing floor and wallcoverings on vertical surfaces.

F Ball also provided a fast-track solution for the preparation of chipboard subfloors. One of the company’s regional technical representatives advised preparing chipboard subfloors with Stopgap Fill and Prime prior to the application of a suitable smoothing compound as a timesaving alternative to overboarding with plywood.

Says the company: ‘Stopgap Fill and Prime is a cement-based primer designed for use over raised-access panels and flooring grades of plywood, chipboard, MDF and oriented strand board (OSB 3). It has a thixotropic consistency, meaning it flows freely when stirred but sets to a gel-like consistency on standing, enabling it to fill gaps between panels to prevent imperfections transferring to the finished installation.’

The company adds: ‘F Ball’s Stopgap 1200 Pro smoothing compound was then applied in all areas to create a perfectly smooth base for floorcoverings. The product is fast-setting and fast-drying and can also be applied over old adhesive residues, in which case there’s no need to prime subfloors beforehand.’

Commenting on the project, Ben Montgomery, head of projects at Veatu Flooring, said: ‘While we use a lot of F Ball products and they’re our first choice because of their quality and availability, it’s the first time we’ve used the tech rep service. They came out and provided a tailored specification for the project we were working on, which ended up saving us a lot of time and expense.’
www.f-ball.co.uk