Flooring contractors who undertake installations in office environments will likely be familiar with working over raised access floor panels. While their benefits in these settings have made them increasingly popular, they need special preparation before installing a floor covering to ensure that the finished appearance is not compromised.
When installed, raised access panels normally have small gaps or joints where individual panels meet. When applying a smoothing compound directly over the top of raised access flooring, the product will sink into these gaps, potentially resulting in weak points, which apart from affecting the finished appearance of the installation, can cause the smoothing compound to crack and lose its integrity. It is therefore necessary to fill these gaps beforehand. This is no more important than when installing thin resilient floor coverings, such as Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVTs).
Dual benefits
For this purpose, cement-based primers, including F. Ball and Co. Ltd.’s Stopgap Fill and Prime, are available that fill the gaps between flooring panels whilst simultaneously priming the subfloor, saving valuable time. They have a thixotropic consistency, meaning that they flow freely when stirred but set to a gel-like consistency on standing, enabling the joints to remain filled. They are also suitable for use over well-bonded, waterproof adhesive residues, prior to the application of the recommended smoothing compound.
Stopgap Fill and Prime can also be applied to mechanically fixed and glued P5 flooring grade chipboard prior to the application of a recommended smoothing compound, removing the need to overboard the subfloor with plywood, saving valuable time and expense.
Similarly practical in office environments are carpet tiles. When installed using a carpet tile tackifier, such as F. Ball’s Styccobond F41, individual tiles can be easily lifted and replaced when they become stained or worn – in walkways or areas occupied by chairs with castor wheels, for example.
Case study: F. Ball delivers efficiency at government service offices
F. Ball’s Stopgap Fill and Prime and Styccobond F41 have helped to create a professional flooring finish over both wood and metal raised access panels as part of a refurbishment to create new office space for a government service in Liverpool.
Contractors from HB Flooring, based in Sutton Coldfield, used Stopgap Fill and Prime and Stopgap 1200 smoothing compound to prepare subfloors before installing a combination of Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVTs) and carpet tiles over one floor of the building, totalling 2,500m².
It was first necessary to prime the wooden raised access panels, in the office’s entranceway and walkways, where the LVTs would be installed, and fill joints between panels. Contractors therefore applied F. Ball’s Stopgap Fill and Prime over 400m² of the total floor area: all of the wooden raised access panels and a small section of the metal flooring.
Once the primer had cured, F. Ball’s Stopgap 1200 smoothing compound was applied to create a perfectly smooth base for the installation of the LVTs. Stopgap 1200 is a two-component smoothing compound for preparing sound internal subfloors that is suitable for use over old adhesive residues (including bitumen and carpet tile tackifiers). It is also fast drying and fast setting, allowing floor coverings to be installed in as little as four hours after application.
F. Ball’s Styccobond F41 carpet tile tackifier was then used to install carpet tiles directly over the metal raised access flooring section. Styccobond F41 ensures that carpet tiles are held firmly in place when subject to lateral movements, such as everyday foot traffic and equipment being wheeled around, while allowing them to be easily lifted vertically if they need to be replaced at a later date.
Contractors from HB Flooring installed LVTs over the remaining flooring areas, comprising wooden raised access panels, which had previously been prepared using Stopgap Fill & Prime and Stopgap 1200.