PRODUCTS from F Ball and Co, the UK manufacturer of flooring adhesives and floor preparation products, have been used to deliver a smooth floor finish as part of a refurbishment at Peter Newman Flooring in Poole, Dorset to create a new company showroom and warehouse.

A wide range of F Ball products was used for the floor refurbishment including Stopgap P141 primer, Stopgap 1200 Pro smoothing compound, Stopgap 850, and Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS adhesive.
The property dates back to the ‘60s, and incorporates a 90sq m showroom, a 200sq m inner stockroom, and a 250sq m main warehouse. All areas had a layer of paint on the subfloor’s surface, so the first point of action was to remove the paint with a grinder.

Company director Merrick Smith conducted a moisture test using a hand-held moisture detector, which indicated there was no damp-proof membrane in place as the moisture reading was at the top of the scale.

Therefore, a waterproof surface membrane was required to stop excess moisture rising up and damaging the floor installation. The contractor’s choice of product was F Ball’s Stopgap F77, a solvent-free, two-part epoxy resin system which cures to provide what’s described as a high-performance waterproof surface membrane, effective up to 98% relative humidity (RH) levels.

The subfloor of the showroom was primed using Stopgap P141, an acrylic primer for non-absorbent subfloors. Priming prevents unacceptably fast drying of adhesives and smoothing compounds on absorbent and non-absorbent surfaces and helps promote the adhesion of a smoothing compound to a screed or waterproof surface membrane.

Since the showroom would face heavy foot traffic daily from customers and staff, the company selected Stopgap 300 as its smoothing compound, which is specially designed for areas that are subjected to heavy-duty trafficking.

In places where old walls had been removed, the contractors used Stopgap 400, which is designed to repair and make good internal floors, steps and stairs.

Amtico Signature LVT floorcovering was then installed for ‘an impressive finish’ to the showroom, and since the area is glass-fronted, an adhesive had to be selected with temperature-tolerant properties.

Says F Ball, ‘Temperature extremes can cause vinyl floorcoverings, especially, to expand and contract, leading to tenting and gapping over time. Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS adhesive is the perfect choice to combat these conditions, as it is designed for use in areas where floorcoverings have to withstand extreme temperature variations.

‘Styccobond F49 combines temperature tolerance with pressure sensitive qualities and as such, has good initial tack and high bond strength. This holds vinyl sheet, tiles or planks firmly in place once positioned by the contractor and, when cured, the bond will hold vinyl floorcoverings in place from temperatures as low as -20deg C up to 60deg C.

‘Stopgap 1200 smoothing compound and Stopgap 850 were used by the contractors in the stockroom and main warehouse respectively. Stopgap 1200 is specially designed for use over old adhesive residues without the need for priming, and Stopgap 850 is specially designed to withstand light to medium duty trafficking. When both smoothing compounds were fully set, a coat of floor paint was applied to both areas.’

Commenting on the project, Merrick said: ‘F Ball is the main brand of product we use day-in day-out, and for good reason! We’ve always used them since our company began back in 1980, as the products are reliable and technical back-up is always sound.

‘Stopgap 1200 is a go-to product every time, along with Stopgap 300, Styccobond F44, Styccobond F3 and Styccobond F49. We were very fortunate to have the local F Ball technical representative, Steve Sinclair, visit the site and help survey which products would be most appropriate to give the best finish possible.’
www.f-ball.co.uk