Donna Hannaway explores the advantages of opting for adhesive-free solutions.
BUILDINGS such as universities, hospitals, residential care homes, and even our local 24-hour supermarkets have many people living and working in them all day and shutting up shop for a flooring refurbishment simply isn’t an option.
With hospitals, call centres, and certain retail outlets offering around-the-clock services; the likes of schools, colleges, and offices only being closed over the weekend; and residential settings such as care homes and social housing often only having a matter of days (or even hours) before a new resident moves in, it’s apparent there’s demand for flooring solutions that allow a quick and easy installation, with minimal disruption and downtime.
Fortunately, the continuous development of adhesive-free flooring solutions over the years ensures there’s now a ‘fast fit’ solution for these types of projects that require a quick turnaround. Aside from the fact refurbishment work can be carried out over the weekend, overnight, or even while the premises are still in use, what are the benefits of choosing adhesive-free floorcoverings?
The need for speed
Adhesive-free floorcoverings can be laid straight down onto the subfloor – or even over an existing floor – with minimal preparation in many cases. By avoiding time-consuming sub-floor preparation, installation time can be reduced by half compared to using traditional adhered floorcoverings, and with no wet trades on site, this also means less mess and disruption for your client.
Ease of installation
Eliminating adhesives doesn’t just save time. It also makes the job so much easier as it completely sidesteps a range of potential application and curing issues. It also avoids emissions and odours that might be an issue in sensitive areas of buildings such as hospitals, schools, and care homes. You won’t need to bring special tools or heavy rollers on to site either in order to deliver a perfect finish.
Business as usual
As there’s absolutely no need for adhesives, application, or drying times do not need to be factored into the project either and newly laid floors can be walked on immediately after installation, allowing building operations to resume as normal. This will result in a happy client as their downtime is minimised and as a fitter, you’ll be able to move onto your next job much more quickly.
Remove and recycle
When the time eventually comes to replace an adhesive-free floor, products are easy to uplift and can be recycled at the end of their service life as there’s no adhesive residue on the back of the material. Subfloors are then left clean and sound ready for a repeat installation.
A solution for the whole building
From entrance to exit, there are adhesive-free flooring solutions on the market for every area of a building, including entrance flooring systems and interior flooring ranges. These are available in a sheet, tile, or plank format for maximum flexibility.
One such example is Forbo Flooring Systems’ Fast Fit collection. The collection comprises its modular entrance matting system Coral Click, luxury vinyl tile collections Allura Puzzle, Allura Click Pro, and Allura Ease, as well as the innovative vinyl sheet range Modul’up.
Indeed, a Fast Fit installation can reduce downtime by over 50%. What’s more, there are even ranges which are suitable for installation over damp or poor subfloors, and others that can provide acoustic benefits, meaning contractors will always be able to find a suitable ‘fast fit’ solution for any type of project.
Adhesive-free floorcoverings offer the ideal answer for projects where time is of the essence. By working together with a reputable flooring manufacturer, such as Forbo, contractors can receive expert guidance and technical advice on the
wide range of solutions that are available and suitable for your specific projects.
The flooring of tomorrow will be adhesive-free.
www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/fastfit
Donna Hannaway is head of marketing UK
& Ireland at Forbo Flooring Systems
