Fixing tiles onto problem floors has always been difficult. How can you guarantee that the tiles will stay in place? How can you guarantee the grout won’t crack out? Without the confidence that these problems won’t occur, can you afford to take on the job? With the extra costs of preparing the sub floor will the clients still want to put tiles on their kitchen or bathroom floor? A Crack Isolation matting would seem to be the answer. Over the years the design of these products has dramatically improved giving a very high success rate. Better adhesives and an increasing experience in their use means they are now used on large and small projects Worldwide. With almost no increase in installation height and with an impressive speed and ease of application, it makes sense to consider using them. So why not? Is it a fear of failure?Improved design and better adhesives combined with experience means failure just doesn’t happen. (OK, you might have to make some basic preparation. They’re not a miracle product). Is it cost? When was the last time you actually checked out the real cost of using these products? Increased competition has, (like in so many things), lead to lower prices. We keep a close eye on the real costs of using the product and we are absolutely confident that you will save money, you will make more profit, it will make you more competitive, you will save your knees and you will, overall improve your day! There are several of these products on the market – Ours is called CI matting
Durabase CI Matting A versatile mat for decoupling floor tiles, Durabase CI is especially suitable for laying tiles onto problem substrates such as wooden floors & anhydrite screeds • Made of yellow polyethylene • Only 3mm is added to the floor height • Easy to cut • Very cost effective, inexpensive to buy, plus fast to lay • Bridges cracks • Decouples floor coverings from their substrates
Why use a matting?CI matting is a product designed to alleviate stress caused by lateral movement within substrates normally viewed as unstable. These would include: - Green screeds where shrinkage is still occurring.Fresh power floated concrete floors. Timber based substrate such as Chipboard, Floorboards, Particleboard and MDF. Metal surfaces & Asphalt It is also suitable for use with all under floor heating systems. Applying a rigid floor covering to such surfaces would normally be difficult. CI matting is a simple fixing method to achieve satisfactory results with the minimum of cost and labour. The lateral movement of such surfaces would normally cause tiles to debond or crack. Because of the almost infinite combination of substrate and variations in ceramics, slates, marbles and other surfaces that could be used on a project it is impossible to provide a definitive guarantee for any specific project. However if care is taken to ensure that any vertical flexing of the substrate is removed then a very high chance of success is likely. Dural is prepared to guarantee the performance of the product where we have been asked for our opinion as to its success. This would always be subject to the removal of vertical flex and that all work was carried out under our fixing instructions and with due professional care and diligence. In short the product does not work miracles it can only function correctly where it has been fixed in the correct manner. Key points Avoid vertical movement. In the case of wooden substrates a rough guide would be that any movement should be similar to that of a floor overlaid with ply. This can normally be achieved by making additional screw fixings through the original boards. Use an adhesive that will adhere to the substrate and mechanically grip the fleece on the underside of the mat. (An analogy would be as chewing gum sticks to a carpet. It isn’t stuck it has trapped the fibres of the material). The use of flexible adhesives and grouts can be beneficial.