THE RAPID-SETTING EVOLUTION
Mark Ellis, Technical Support Manager, Tilemaster Adhesives takes a look at how advancements in cement technology have led to faster and smoother installation times.
Can you remember when three-hour- setting smoothing compounds, like Tilemaster’s LevelFlex, first came into the market? At the time, Levelflex was revolutionary – a one of a kind with added benefits like flexibility, suitability for use onto timber substrates or underfloor heating systems, fibre-reinforced formulation and the ability to apply from 2mm – 50mm in a single application; it was surely all we could ever need? LevelFlex is still considered to be a leader in its field, but modern-day timescales and ways of working mean that today we may need something faster.
Thanks to advances in cement technology - and a broader range of raw materials available for the global market – it’s been possible to become revolutionary again; to break ground and develop the kind of products no one ever thought possible. Tilemaster’s Rapid Level 30 and Super Flow 30; smoothing compounds that can be walked on after 30 minutes – who would ever have imagined that! This perfectly illustrates just how far the industry and development within our sector has come.
Developing products that can, time-after-time, give consistent results - a 30-minute walk-on time, the ability to apply ceramic or porcelain tiles after 45 – 60 minutes and to lay vinyl floorcoverings after 90 minutes; that’s where we are now. These benefits coupled again with the products being flexible, suitable for application to timber substrates and over underfloor heating systems whilst being suitable for application from 2mm – 15mm begs the question, what more could anyone need?
Gone are the days where an installer lays a self-smoothing compound in the morning and then has to return the day after to begin installing the floorcovering once the smoothing compound has dried/set. With new developments and innovations like Rapid Level 30 and Super Flow 30, it has become entirely possible for a self-smoothing compound to be laid in the morning, left to dry, and for floorcoverings to be installed in the afternoon.
Advancements in associated products also means that when a solid substrate is damp – because it’s newly installed or through a lack of a constructional damp-proof membrane within the substrate — then a surface epoxy-based damp proof membrane (DPM) can be applied to the surface. Tilemaster’s original DPM
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also started out as ‘standard’ curing product but, once again, the initial ground-breaking benefits were soon eclipsed by a demand for a product that dried more quickly. Today’s next generation - Tilemaster FAST One Coat DPM – is a fast curing epoxy-based surface DPM that is dry in as little as four hours on substrates that contain up to 98% Relative Humidity. This, coupled with the advancements in self-smoothing compounds, means that time can be saved and the need to jump between sites is avoided.
An installer can arrive on site at 8am, install Super Flow 30 as a moisture tolerant rapid setting self-smoothing compound and allow it to dry for 90 minutes, before applying FAST One Coat DPM at 9:30am. If this is allowed the four hours required to cure, before applying a final layer of Super Flow 30 self- smoothing compound, this final layer will have dried by 3pm, allowing the installer to begin laying the final floorcovering. Depending on the nature of the installation, this could be achieved in the remaining hours of a day, meaning that a job that may have taken two to three days to complete previously is now achievable within just one day.
How the next revolutionary development takes shape remains to be seen but, if the past is anything to go by, there are bound to be exciting things to come!
www.tilemasteradhesives.co.uk LEVELLING COMPOUNDS | 25
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