All these products are designed to generally repel water from entering into the concrete or screed or to form a barrier to prevent moisture escaping and adhesion will be impaired if a water based smoothing underlayment, adhesive or waterproof surface membrane is applied. This Subfloor Preparation Guide describes the different types of procedures available to produce the most acceptable substrate possible, ready for the installation of one or more of our products. Please refer to the data sheets or F. Ball Technical Service Department for further information on these products. All wooden floors must be structurally sound, level, smooth, dry and clean. Adequate ventilation should be provided to suspended timber floors at ground level to ensure that the moisture content of the wood is maintained at equilibrium. Immediately prior to applying any coating, topping or adhesive, ensure that dust from any preparation method employed is removed by vacuuming. Preparing concrete may be a dusty operation therefore appropriate PPE should be worn and good ventilation should be provided. Protection of walls, furniture and equipment should be planned.

The substrate should be prepared by mechanical means such as contained shot blasting. If a waterproofing admixture is known to have been used, further testing should be carried out with the proposed system to ensure complete compatibility and adhesion to the host substrate. Plywood must always be overlaid with STOPGAP 700 Superflex prior to the installation of a resilient floorcovering. Some textile floorcovering can be directly applied to chipboard. Hardeners and surface sealers frequently interfere with adhesion and should have been removed by one of the methods described above. Can be applied direct over underfloor heating screeds using a coverage of 1.8m²/kg where readings are up to 90% RHWood mosaic panels require over pinning with flooring grade plywood in all cases. This is not practical on solid floors and panels should therefore be removed, along with any adhesive residues. The measurement of construction moisture can also be undertaken using the carbide bomb method. Readings of less than 2.5% for all cement based subfloors and less than 0.5% for Calcium Sulphate subfloors must be obtained. Some acrylic based curing agents may be overcoated with certain STYCCOBOND adhesives and advice should be sought from F. Ball Technical Services before proceeding. If in doubt always mechanically prepare the surface. The asphalt should be flooring grade, comply with the requirements of BS 8204 part 5 and be the correct grade for its service condition. Providing the flooring grade asphalt is in good condition, sound, strong has not suffered rutting or any sign of softening and is free from any form of contamination, the surface should be cleaned with STYCCOCLEAN C140, rinsed with clean water and allowed to dry. The surface should then be primed with neat STOPGAP P131 PRIMER and allowed to dry followed by the application of 3mm of the appropriate STOPGAP floor smoothing underlayment. STOPGAP 1200 PRO can be applied direct without the need to prime. The company keeps abreast of market developments by continually monitoring the needs of installers, distributors and specifiers and by maintaining on-going and close liaison with floorcovering manufacturers.

Note: 1. Most power floated slabs will be treated with a curing agent. In most cases this will be acrylic based, however, wax based curing agents or certain silicate based products may be present that will inhibit the bond to these surfaces and should STOPGAP FILL AND PRIME is a two component, flexible cement primer that is flexible with thixotropic properties to allow the filling of joints. STOPGAP FILL AND PRIME should be applied using a steel trowel and spread evenly on to the prepared substrate providing a smooth, uniform surface. The consistency has been designed so that joints in raised access panels are filled. However for application over wide joints it is advisable to mix a unit with reduced liquid content and fill the joints prior to a subsequent coating of STOPGAP FILL AND PRIME mixed to standard consistency. Then apply STOPGAP 700 Superflex or STOPGAP 1200 PRO. Beam/Star flails are used for cleaning/removing soft composition materials from hard surfaces/concrete without damaging the surface but cannot be used on hard materials. Impedes the passage of construction moisture and rising damp up to 98% RH with a single coat application The medium for shotblasting equipment is steel abrasive “Shot”. The most common grades are 390, 460 and 550.In all cases chipboard and plywood must be primed with dilute STOPGAP P131 PRIMER as recommended. Sterling Board OSB (Oriented Strand Board) must be flooring grade appropriate for the construction of the floor, nature of the building and the expected design loading should conform to BS EN 300, Type OSB/2, Type OSB/3 or Type OSB/4. F. Ball and Co. Ltd. – the UK’s leading manufacturer of flooring adhesives and floor preparation products for the contract flooring industry.