Adhesives For Luxury Vinyl Tiles

            Adhesives for Luxury Vinyl Tiles

When laying a new vinyl floor,whether it is a vinyl sheet floor, eg Polyflor Standard XL or a luxury vinyl tile floor, eg Karndean or Amtico,there are quite a few different  adhesive options to choose from.The main four are:-

• Acrylic Adhesive
• Pressure Sensitive Adhesive
• High Temperature Adhesive
• Epoxy Adhesive

They can all be used at certain times to do technically the same job of sticking the vinyl to the subfloor, but depending on when they are used and more importantly how they are used,can be the difference between long term success or failure of the floor.Large vinyl tile manufacturers eg Amtico and Karndean specify their own adhesives which must be used to adhere to their warranty conditions. F.Ball & Co Ltd are a major company who manufacture for a lot of other companies and are generally regarded as a product leader.They manufacturer adhesives for use with lots of other materials eg Lino, Rubber,Wood, Carpet etc but also the four that are pertinent to vinyl flooring.

• Acrylic Adhesive

Acrylic adhesive or F44 as made by F.Ball & Co is perhaps the most used adhesive.With vinyl tiles F44 would normally be used in areas where the tiles have already been dry fitted eg an outer border or corridor or in smaller sections of a larger floor.Once spread, a floor layer would normally wait twenty minutes or so for the adhesive to turn or become slightly tacky, so that once the tiles  are placed in it,they will pretty much grab or take hold immediately with little room for error and readjustment.In addition the adhesive only has a limited open time, ie when it is still actively able to do its job. Usually 60-90 minutes or so.Spread too large an area or take too long to cut any tiles and the adhesive becomes dead and wont do its job.

• Pressure Sensitive Adhesive

Pressure sensitive adhesive or F46 as made by F.Ball & Co is applied to the subfloor in larger areas.It is usually white or cream in colour which is then left to become clear. This can take at least an hour and sometimes longer.Once it has turned then a floor layer has a couple of hours to lay the tiles into it.This is ideal for larger floor areas where there little or no cutting and fitting needed, eg central fields and large uninterrupted areas.Once the tiles have been fitted then they must be rolled with a 69 kg roller to ensure even spread of the adhesive, but also as the name suggests, the adhesive becomes stronger after pressure has been applied.Sometimes however when using certain vinyl tiles, eg random panel tiles from Karndean, the floor layer has to lay the tiles while the adhesive is classed as wet, i.e you don't wait at all.So it can sometimes be a little misleading.

• High Temperature Adhesive

High temperature adhesive or F48 as made by F.Ball & Co is used primarily when there is underfloor heating in the subfloor or also when a conservatory or sun room would just become too hot for a normal adhesive to withstand the suns rays.This adhesive is more like a paste.It has very little open time at all and must be used in very small areas.The floor layer goes into the adhesive wet and it must be rolled pretty much immediately.After 15 minutes or so it will be fully adhered.Unfortunately during that 15 minutes or more, the tiles will move if pushed or touched, so it has to be done slowly and methodically in lots of small areas, which becomes quite time consuming, in comparison to pressure sensitive adhesive.If too big an area is spread then the adhesive will become ineffectual and the floor will eventually fail.

• Epoxy Adhesive

Epoxy adhesive or F81 as made by F.Ball & Co is a seriously effective two part mixture that results in a high temperature chemical reaction, which will stick just about anything.However it is one to be avoided if possible.It's use is mainly for areas where moisture would be a problem for normal adhesives, eg swimming pool areas, external vinyl areas and also for example sticking vinyl to stainless steel gantries or platforms in manufacturing or marine environments.The floor layer again goes into the adhesive while it is wet, but the floor covering can move around quite easily and it is the most difficult product to use correctly and also remove from clothes, etc.An adhesive best left for the professional.