TECHNICAL TERMS


(B) HARD DRY The stage at which the seal or dressing is sufficiently hard to withstand traffic.


DUSTING This term is normally applied to concrete floors, and refers to the disintegration of the surface layer of concrete into very fine particles of ‘dust’. Almost all concrete floors dust to some extent, depending upon the concrete mix and type and volume of traffic.


EDGE PREPARATION Finishing process to prepare flooring up to vertical surfaces where large machines cannot access.


EGGSHELL FINISH Subdued gloss of a surface coating material.


EMULSIFYING AGENT A chemical used in the preparation of emulsions to prevent the components from separating. An emulsifying agent is normally only used in small quantities.


EMULSION A very fine suspension of one liquid in another liquid with which it is not miscible. Oil and water are not normally miscible and will separate if blended together. They can, however, be emulsified by the use of emulsifying agents which suspend one liquid in another. By common use the word has also come to mean the suspension of a wide range of solid materials in water. For example, although wax is a solid, a suspension of wax in water is called water/ wax emulsion.


EMULSION WAXES (A) TWO COMPONENT SYSTEMS A blend of water/wax emulsion and an alkali-soluble resin or shellac. They may or may not dry with a glossy appearance. An increased gloss can be obtained by buffing.


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(B) THREE COMPONENT SYSTEMS A blend of a water/wax emulsion and an alkali-soluble resin or shellac and a synthetic polymer resin emulsion. Examples of polymer resins commonly used in the polish industry are polystyrene and acrylates. The water/wax emulsion, alkali-soluble resin and synthetic polymer resin emulsion can be blended in almost any proportions to give emulsion waxes with a wide variety of properties.


EPOXY RESIN A synthetic resin made essentially from petroleum derivatives. It is usually supplied in a two-pot form when used in a floor seal. The base component consists of the epoxy resin while the accelerator may be one of a variety of chemicals. In a solvent-free form it is used for floor laying.


ETCHING The process of forming small cavities in a surface by the use of a chemical reagent. For example, when sealing concrete floors it is often desirable to etch the surface with an acid. The cavities so formed, enable the seal to penetrate further thus ensuring a greater degree of adhesion.


FIBRE A, natural or manmade, fragment of matter that forms the basic element of a carpet. The term refers to matter that can be spun, air-tangled or plied into a yarn and can then be developed into a carpet by weaving, tufting, knitting or fusion bonding. Significant properties include the level of recovery, bulk, durability, soil resistance and denier.


FILM A very thin layer of a substance which, in the case of a floor seal, is usually between 0.13mm (5/1000in) and 0.25mm (10/1000in) thick.


FINISHING COAT This term is normally applied to a surface coating material used as the top coat of a painting or sealing system.


FLASHING Associated with matt paints and seals. It describes the alternate matt and gloss striation effects sometimes left by brush marks, instead of the uniform matt finish which should be obtained.


FLASH POINT The temperature at which vapour from a liquid will ignite when exposed to a small flame or spark. The lower the temperature at which ignition takes place the more flammable is the liquid. For example, acetone, which has a flash point of -17.8°C (0°F) will ignite below ordinary room temperature 18.3°C (65°F) and is, therefore, very highly flammable; white spirit on the other hand, has a flash point of 41.1°C (106°F), and therefore requires the temperature to be raised before it will ignite.


FLOATING FLOOR This is where the floor sits atop of the underlay, without being secured to the subfloor, so it “floats.” Floating floors are necessary when installed with underfloor heating where the heat causes the floor to expand. There is a gap between the floating floor and the walls to decouple them and allow for expansion; this gap is covered with skirting boards or mouldings.


FREEZE-THAW STABILITY This property is normally associated with water emulsion floor waxes and water paints and is the resistance of the material to repeated freezing and thawing. One complete freeze-thaw cycle consists of lowering the temperature of the material until it freezes, holding it at that temperature for a specified period and then


allowing it to warm to room temperature, when the material becomes liquid again. When a material fails a freeze-thaw stability test, solid ingredients in the emulsion separate from the liquid forming a hard mass. The material is then in an unusable condition. Depending upon the type of emulsion, a material may be completely freeze-thaw stable over repeated cycles, stable over a limited number of cycles or completely unstable when frozen and thawed once.


GRINDING Diamond accessories attached to rotating plates at the base of a grinding machine, smooth, clean and remove.


HARDWOOD Hardwood is wood which belongs to the order Dicotyledoneae, or broad- leaf trees, which includes for example beech, teak and oak. Many hardwood floors will withstand heavy foot traffic successfully over a long period of time. Because of their resistance to abrasion and decorative appearance they are usually protected with a seal rather than with a floorcovering.


INDICATOR A chemical which changes colour when the pH of a solution changes.


INTERCOAT ADHESION The bonding together of two coats, one upon the other, of surface coating materials.


LACQUER The correct definition of a lacquer is ‘a solution of film forming substances in volatile solvents’. Drying takes place by evaporation of solvent, leaving the original filmforming substances as a thin film on the surface.


LEVELLING Also known as ‘flow’. Levelling is the property of a surface coating material to flow out


Tomorrow’s Contract Floors Yearbook 2020/21


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