Adhesives

With so many adhesives and tapes on the market at the moment it’s difficult to decide which one is best for what you are doing. Here is a brief guide to help you along. One of the most popular adhesives is Gripfill:

; this 350ml tube of adhesive is common place with any builder, contractor or even a carpet fitter. What use is it for carpet fitting?? Well this is easy it’s perfect for sticking gripper rods to the subfloor before the carpet underlay and carpet is laid as well as sticking skirting boards. It accomplishes all that it claims in an extremely efficient manner. What you actually get is a conventional type tube for use in a standard “Sealant applicator gun”. The tube comes with an integral clear plastic nozzle, no chance of losing it that way and you can see the contents as they extrude through the nozzle. Application is simple, cut the tip off the nozzle in order to give the desired bead size and required angle and as with all other similar type tubes, press handle of Gun and squeeze contents out of Nozzle. NOT QUITE…you will need to push a 3″ long thin nail or piece of wire or something similar down the nozzle in order to puncture a secondary seal at the base of the nozzle where it is bonded to the tube. I am sure this has caught many people out over the years. It’s not a problem, just a point to remember. The Adhesive itself is a quite viscous Greyish compound which sticks to virtually anything, even vertical surfaces. Bonds almost immediately so be careful where you put it!! This product is ideal for a layman carpet &underlay fitter who’s new to it, however, this is a fantastic product at a fantastic price £1.99 + Vat.
Next in line is Rapidgrip,

This is a fast setting gunnable polyurethane adhesive suitable for the rapid installation of carpet grippers to MOST subfloors. Can also be used for bonding various materials such as high grade or uncoated steel, aluminium and non-ferrous metals, plus thermosetting plastics, GRP polyesters, rigid PVC, ABS, SAN, PA, PC, PMMA, wood, Plaster, and cementations materials. To apply grippers apply a bead (typically 3mm) in a zigzag onto the gripper base and immediately place into position. Leave undisturbed for a minimum of 10mins to allow the Rapidgrip to initially cure. When fitting carpet underlay it’s very important to make sure as with the Gripfill that the subfloor is clean, dry and free from dust and dirt. This comes in a 310ml cartridge and is solvent free. Coverage for this is 30m-40m of carpet gripper. Cost £7.40 + Vat a little more expensive than its predecessor but still a must have if used properly.