During past Christmas days my colleagues from CONICA in UK did an interesting daily posting on LinkedIn of 12 Christmas tips for rubber flooring installers.
If you had no opportunity to see them in the CONICA Ltd pages at LinkedIn, you can check all the posts there, but if you do not have a LinkedIn account, no worries, I will also collect them here:
- Always prime curbs, edging, day joints and colour transitions to guarantee the strongest bond and increase the longevity of the surface.
- Always use smoothing agent to lubricate and keep tools clean. There are many proven benefits over traditional methods such as soapy water or diesel.
- Always have a barrel/drum key handy to open binder drums, this small but very handy tool will save a lot of time and stress!
- If rain is forecast during installation, plan ahead (as much as possible) by only mixing small quantities and floating small areas at a time so you can finish neatly, then restart where you stopped once the weather has cleared.
- Always weigh materials accurately. Weighing once, then marking mixing buckets is a fast and easy way to ensure the correct quantity of binder is always used which can help to ensure the surface doesn’t end up too weak or foam from too much binder.
- We recommend using a glue funnel when pouring binder into the mixer to avoid making unnecessary mess and wasting material.
- Fed up of cleaning out wheelbarrows? Use plastic sheets to cover the barrow, thus avoiding the need to clean after every use. Shrink wrap from pallets is the ideal (and free) solution.
- Use a jigsaw for maximum control and accuracy when removing an area to be repaired. Applying pressure to the surface to prevent lifting is essential.
- Make sure the working area has adequate security fencing (HERAS type) to protect it from wildlife and/or people whilst the surfacing is curing.
- Ensure the mixing area is located close to the installation area and protect existing surfacing to prevent any accidental staining.
- Always clean tools immediately after use (including when taking breaks) otherwise material will cure, making cleaning much more strenuous and time consuming.
- Always provide customers with cleaning and maintenance advice immediately following installation. This will allow the customer to keep the surfacing you have installed looking great and performing correctly for many years to come.
If you have been doing wetpour for years maybe you already do a lot of these things and I am sure you have also invented your own techniques, procedures and tools. If you want to share them, don’t hesitate to add them as comments in this post.
You know that in several posts at this blog I also explain installation tips, but allow me to add a last one here: Use high quality materials from a company that can give you also a good technical support and training. Looking for the cheapest is a safe path to disaster. CONICA has been in this business for more than 40 years and is well known for their good technical support and as all products manufactured in Switzerland, a guaranteed and stable Quality.
Take care
Rubberman Blog 