The only reason I can think of is to cover your ass is re failure inspections. I used Amtico ps on a job at home and its total dogsh1t, bubbles up by the door every time its sunny.
I use Amtico ps alot as had 20 odd drums of it. Not a true ps as it goes off. But not used in in the sun.
This is what I was going on about the other day ! PS if fine up to 27° but LVT discolours from 27° so why make an adhesive to deal with those temps when the product is unsuitable ?
A true PS can go much higher than 27c. Its HT adhesives that struggle or should we say are almost impossible to use correct. Hence why Fball for example recommend PS on under floor heating and not HT or areas that will be warmer than 27c. Also im sure that its not the temperature that discolours LVT its the UV rays that hit them. Hence under furniture etc in conservatoires or shaded areas they don't discolour, the air temp is still the same in that area. Another thought for you all. They install LVT's in countries that far exceed 27c on daily basis. Tenerife for example has a LVT shop selling Karndean but re-branded under the shop name. Also LVT's get installed on boats. Boats again can be ovens and then we have the LVT tech dec ( synthetic teak decking) that is out in the sun all day in countries hitting 40c + temps. Its 31c at the moment in tenerife !
Your not wrong there Matt. I hate the stuff !! Surely with all the technology we have these days they could make it easier to use !
So Matt is it OK to use a good PS in a conservatory & would it be better to use it wet ish rather than letting it go off ? I hate epoxy adhesive to its awfull stuff to use
Well its a bit of a sticky situation (no pun intended) We are supposed to follow BS standards unless manufacturer over rides BS then we have to follow there installation guides. If manufactorurer say to use HT then thats what you should use. BUT do you have a warranty on LVT's? Manufacturer will simply kick out a claim on wear/performance if wrong glue used ! So whats teh adhesive got to do with a LVT wearing badly? well nothing really but warranty is void. This si where a independent inspection comes in where they wont be looking at adhesive on a wear issue, they will be looking at something else (can of worms!) A true ps (a true ps being a adhesive that you can put down and always stays tacky like the adhesive on selotape for example) actually works well with temperature change. However it will still allow movement but it is a delayed process. So for example, lets say the floorig goes up in temperature by 10c. It will start to expand or try to. PS adhesive can hold back its movement for a few hours. By which time its night time and the flooring is no longer trying to expand. The adhesive should of done its job by not allowing it to move for the 8 hours maybe it was trying to expand. However, if we was to fit the flooring to hot in the first place the flooring will be trying to shrink. The flooring will always try and match its average climate. So if installed to hot for example the PS will hold it back for so many hours but a few days later it will shrink. The only adhesive with a chance to stop this is epoxy but even epoxy cant stop everything. Concrete itself moves with temp change so if you was to install on a cold concrete base with epoxy and it warmed up you would get gapping again. Basically the instructions given out are wrong in my eyes- - acclimatise in the area for 24-48hrs???? really ??? what if its the hottest few days of the year at 30c??? LVT should be acclimatised to what ever the rooms average temperature will be. End of the day what ever temp you install the lvt at will be what the flooring's 'look' will be. We 'FloorSkills' say that a LVT should be installed @ - or + 2c of the rooms average temperature.
LOL, in simple terms yes. But as its you the installer giving the warranty with the hope of manufacturer back up in the event of the claim, well personally i would use what ever adhesive you are confident will give the desired effect . For me that is PS adhesive. You also need to sell the product correct, customers need to be advised that gaping will occur if temps drop low. If using a PS these gaps WILL disappear when the flooring temps returns to normal conditions. Its no different to real wood flooring, real wood will gap over winter time when the heating lowers the RH and will expand in summer time when RH increases (no heating to dry air) . This is considered normal for real wood flooring, customers know this as they are advised. If teh customer wants a floor-covering that looks like wood/ tile that don't gap then sell them vinyl.
It not the adhesive that makes the discolouration of lvts it's direct sunlight. As I always say to customers there's pros and cons to every floor covering. The cons to vinyl including lvts is that they scratch and are effected by direct sunlight. In conservatories and in areas by French doors etc.. You need to have blinds . On the issue of adhesive , ht for the most of the time is great I've found. But if you are fitting a conservatory in top end amtico you need to use epoxy for total piece of mind. The reason most don't is because of time it takes and a lot of fitters want to be in and out. If you go abroad lvts will be fitted using epoxy . Yes it can be messy especially when doing boarder work , but I'd rather do it right than have to go back when they gap and lift.
