Welcome to the Flooring Clinic.
For the next five weeks I’ll be opening up my doors to discuss flooring tips to live by – little gems of advice I’ve come across during my Flooring Clinic days – that might help you along the way.
Without further ado, let’s get started with my first handy hint!
Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
It’s a well-accepted truth that one of the primary reasons for resin floor failure is poor preparation of the substrate and environment prior to installing the final finish.
Failure can come in all shapes and sizes, including bubbles, cracks and inconsistencies in colour or texture.
It’s vital that adequate preparation is carried out in order to avoid problems like these. The advice is as follows:
- Always use a manufacturer approved or licensed applicator.
- Remove laitance from newly laid or smooth concrete substrates.
- Clean the substrate thoroughly to ensure that any dust, dirt, oil, grease or residue is removed.
- Get rid of any old, debonded or loose, flaking resin before laying the new stuff.
- Apply a damp proof membrane if the substrate is damp.
- Don’t skip the primer! Use the manufacturer’s recommended primer.
- Install a suitable screed – renovation screeds are available that are suitable over existing floor coverings like tiles.
- Make sure the installation conditions are appropriate – too hot, cold or humid and there might be problems!
- Materials should be mixed according to the manufacturers instructions – method and quantities.
