News
Muck Raking
Matting plays an important role in keeping dirt away from other flooring in a building: Coba Europe has added new needlepunch options to its established range of commercial entrance matting. These have been introduced as ‘economy’ versions of Coba’s high performance PathMaster (Aluminium) and PathMaster Duo, reportedly without compromising on the key benefits of their established counterparts. PathMaster NP (with aluminium scraping strips) and PathMaster Duo NP (comprising alternating dual fibre strips) both feature a...
read moreEnhancements Can Make All The Difference
Lisa Breakspear, sales & technical director, Fila UK, says flooring contractors can obtain both enhancement and protection in individual floor finishing products: WHEN it comes to floor finishes and sealants, enhancement properties are often considered to be a by-product of protection. Yet, many products now give equal emphasis on each benefit – providing a valuable source of additional revenue. Enhancement products range from impregnators, which penetrate into the body of the stone and where the effects are more...
read moreFinishing Touch
Finishing materials are vital in many flooring installations: Arboritec supplies AB ceramic fortified lacquers incorporating nano technology. This is the science of using materials at an ultra-small nanoscale (down to 1/100 000 the width of a single human hair) to create new products designed to work better and last longer. In lacquers this reportedly translates into more thorough penetration, better adhesion with incomparable strength, durability and scratch resistance. The Arboritec range includes UVElite onsite UV curing...
read moreTop Tips On Stripping, Grinding & Shotblasting
Tracey Glew, group md, The Preparation Group, explains why preparation is key to create a sound background surface for the successful application and durability of screeds, resins and coatings: WHEN selecting equipment and methods, always consider potential problems such as uneven joints, high spots, contaminants, worn coatings, sticky residues, old tiles and friable substrates, which must be tackled to achieve a clean profiled surface suitable for the application of the specified screed. There is a huge range of surface...
read moreSmooth Operations
Professional surface preparation is a vital part of any floorcovering installation: Bostik says it offers a ‘one stop shop’ range of products for surface preparation. Its Screedmaster One Coat Membrane is a solvent-free two-part epoxy surface membrane designed to protect from residual moisture in power floated concrete slab and sand/cement screed. Screedmaster Rapid DPM is a single-part surface membrane for cementitious subfloors designed to dry in up to one hour, and be suitable for up to 95% relative humidity with a two-coat...
read moreNew Flooring Tool
RECENTLY attended a distributor trade show in Orlando with Estillon to present Smartfloor, a floating floor system. This was an unusual show as it was for manufacturers to show their products to distributors. Although small there was a lot of interest. ˘As you may guess I focussed on the tools being exhibited. I had seen most of them before, except for the Gundlach Hot ‘Glue 2’ Carpet Seaming System. This is designed to join carpets with various backings as double stick, but it can also be used for single stick. I was amazed...
read moreShop Floor Prep
THE life of the technical support consultant can be varied – one week we might be dealing largely with queries about, say, best practice for priming and the next with a certain type of floorcovering. One call we’ve had a few examples of recently is on discolouration of flooring that has been fitted in wet room areas. Especially in healthcare buildings such as hospitals and hospices, a wet room style shower is often fitted, with the drain installed as part of the floor rather than in a separate tray. This was the case in a...
read moreAre You Ready To Embrace The Changes
WE all scan the headlines hoping to see a positive message that we have turned the corner and the outlook ahead holds more promise for business and trade. Well here is the good news… change is on the way, that’s for sure… if your business is ready to embrace those changes through good management, solid business strategy and a flexible approach to sales and marketing then improvement in performance is within reach. 1. Good management: The world around us is changing faster than ever before; we access the world from our mobile...
read moreShow Your Grit When It Comes To The Rub
SURFACE preparation before installing planks and applying a finish is often overlooked. If the floor isn’t fully ready when the seal is applied, it will not take properly and will be ineffective. It may also impede the overall life of the finish. Sanding is the best place to begin and choosing the correct sanding method is fundamental in determining subsequent appearance and quality of the surface. However, there are three exceptions to this process: n Old floors that are completely or partially worn, greying or flaking, or that have...
read moreOnly Some Believe In Quality
QUALITY: What does it mean? I have resisted the temptation to get out my dictionary and thesaurus before writing this article. Why, because what started me thinking about quality were two unconnected events that recently happened in my life that to me summed up quality better than any book definition. The first occurred about a month ago when, forced by my growing collection of cars, motorcycles and tools, I finally made the decision to purchase a large steel shed. This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, I have looked at several...
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