Special Elastic adhesives

ELASTIC PARQUET ADHESIVES

THE QUALITY OF THE ADHESIVE IS CRUCIAL TO THE LIFESPAN OF PARQUET

Photo – Pallmann

The elasticity of a material indicates the extent to which a material exerts a counterforce (the so called resilience) when it is distorted elastically (not permanently) or the extent to which a material is distorted when external pressure is exerted on it. A material is called elastic if it returns to its original shape once there is no more external force. The elasticity of a parquet adhesive largely determines how it responds to the ‘forces’ of a wooden floorboard and the substrate.

A composition in motion The structure of the floor is a composition with various assembly elements. There is the building structure itself, the screed or covering floor, the subfloor or intermediate floor, the finish floor, or the actual parquet floor. Then there are nails or staples, the adhesive and adhesive bonding, and, finally, there’s the finish. All those elements combine into one whole designed to defy the years.

Dangers everywhere The threats? There are mechanical threats following the use of the floor by the occupants (furniture, footsteps, and damage) and/or as the result of climate conditions (e.g. temperature or air humidity). Does anyone still dare to say that glueing parquet is ‘easy’?!

Everything moves It will be clear that the composition of various elements has to stand there like a ‘rock’. However, the thing is that all those parts of the total system ‘move’. Moreover, they each do so in their own way: the steel of

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the nails, the concrete construction, the screed, the wood, etc. Of all those materials used, wood is still the most susceptible to fluctuations in the room temperature and air humidity (which are closely related for that matter).

Versatility wins the day In the past, we limited ourselves to oak, but nowadays all combinations are possible, so parquet glue has to be versatile. According to one makers whom we consulted, the parquet adhesive market is moving towards hybrid polymer adhesives to the cost of all other forms of technology. Time will tell.

The legislators provide order The standard EN 14293 provides a basic choice between flexible and solid adhesives. These two groups offer a solution to a specific expectation. The key question is whether to counter the movements of the wood or allow them to some extent. A solid adhesive possesses great physical and mechanical properties, weak elasticity, and great breaking strength. For floors with straight edges (e.g. traditional parquet) you don’t want to let the wood to move at all. If you do want to let the wood move to some extent, you have to use an elastic glue. Since fewer forces are involved, such an adhesive doesn’t need such high resistance. Elastic adhesives ensure less pressure on the substrate.

BBRI clarifies In practice, the complexity has led to the BBRI Parquet Work Group updating the technical reference documents. For instance, that group has started revising TV 218 'Wooden floor coverings: plank floors, parquet floors, and wood veneer floors’ from 2000. This TV keeps the sector informed of the rules of the trade and offers precise technical information about product families and fitting techniques without any commercial bias.

Types of adhesive As a rule, the highly elastic adhesives available on the market today can be divided up into two main groups, namely silane adhesives (SMP) and PUR adhesives. Amongst silane adhesives we identify MS polymers (modified silanes based on the prepolymers of Kaneka), SPUR (silane and polyurethane), STP (silane terminated polyurethane), and STP-E (a variant on the others).

Suitability of parquet adhesive The technical suitability of a parquet adhesive is determined partly by the type of parquet (structure, dimensions, and surface treatment), the type of wood (wood moisture content and swell co-efficient), the subfloor, and the surrounding conditions (in the long term) in the room where the floor is fitted. For the choice of the most suitable adhesive technology, a number of parameters of the parquet floor should be considered:

Dimensions of the floorboards In particular, you should consider the thickness/width ratio. This affects the extent of swelling if there is contact with water or solvents, but it is also important for the dimensional stability of the floorboard with varying humidity.

The structure of the floorboard Potential distortion and dimensional stability are also affected by the structure of the floor and vary depending on whether it is a solid wood or multilayer floor. Wood moisture content The co-efficient of the typical wood moisture content and the swelling differential help to determine the speed at which and the extent to which the wood can/will become distorted.

The finish The end treatment obviously helps to determine the extent to which damp is added to the wood. The supply of water and/or solvents must be kept within acceptable limits. Glazed parquet sections (lacquered) are optically more sensitive than oiled parquet sections.

What’s on the market ?

Blanchon

Forms of technology commonly used in hybrid adhesives are vinyl glues, epoxy polyurethane, polyurethanes (one and two components), and hybrid polymers. These adhesives have the following major assets: They are versatile, mono-component (and therefore easy to use), flexible, durable, and perfect for glueing wide floorboards. Moreover, they are only slightly susceptible to residual damp in the screed and they maintain the same consistency in all seasons. The minimum requirements as regards elasticity, fluidity, and adhesion are stipulated in standard DTU 51.2. The three references at Blanchon in this connection are hybrid polymers. AB 1300, which is very easy to use, will suffice for all glueing up to 130mm wide. AB 2000 can be deployed for glueing up to 200mm. Finally, there is the indispensable sausage adhesive, which does not run when used vertically.

Chimiver

Chimiver in the last few years has developped various types of glues including the sophisticated single component adhesive based on a silane-terminated prepolymer (MS technology).

UNISIL one of these is not only highly recommended for gluing pre-finished wooden floor onto marble, grint, tiles, ceramic or marble-chip floor but also suitable for gluing wooden floor onto radiant floors and cooling system. UNISIL can also be used with several other uses including the adhesion of thermal insulation panels (cork, expanded polyurethane, rock-woll) the adhesion of tiles on asbetos cement and chipboards and wood adhesion and building materials on metal substrates. Our adhesive can be used for other applications such as the adhering of heat and sound insulating panels (cork, rock-wool, expanded polyurethane, the adhering of tiles on asbetos cement and chipboards and the adhering of wood and building materials on to metal bases. These features together the EC1 and LEED certifications make us understand how this adhesive has multiple functions and applications making it a universal adhesive.

Devo®

Amongst other things, Devo® presents Devo® Glue MSP 150 1C, a mono-component and semi-elastic hybrid MS polymer adhesive which contains no silicones or isocyanates. It is designed for multilayer stabilised parquet, whilst Devo® Glue MSP 250 1C is the best-seller at Devomat Industries. This glue is suitable for glueing all types of wood (solid wood up to 20cm wide) and is particularly recommended for fitting pre-finished parquet. The glue contains no water or VOCs and spreads excellently. Devo® Glue MSP 250 is a hard-elastic glue (about 70 Shore) with great adhesive strength, it conforms to the standard CSN EN 14293, and it has the EC1-Plus (EC1-R) classification. Devo® Glue MSP250 is packed in bags of 5kg. Devo® also has dual-component adhesives in its range. Devo® Glue PU 570 2C is a waterless, dual-component, polyurethane epoxy, and semi-elastic parquet glue which is specially for glueing wooden floors onto cement-bound substrates or existing floors (tiles, marble, wooden floors, etc.). Devo® Glue PU 650 2C is also a waterless, dual-component, epoxy-polyurethane parquet adhesive, but this product is hard-elastic.

Emfi

At present, the market comprises mainly 1-component PU and hybrid adhesives. The NF 14293 and ISO 17178 standards define the elasticity of a parquet adhesive. Emfi offers EMFIPARQUET PRO PLUS

SMX ® -30 PLUS • MS ® -30 PLUS • MS ® -20 PLUS

A PLUS IN PERFORMANCE, ENVIRONMENT AND EASE OF USE

UNIVERSAL, ELASTIC PARQUET ADHESIVES

Faster curing, higher bond strength Wooden floor can bear load and be sanded way faster Excellent ease of use

Very low emission (EC-1 Plus)

EMISSIE IN DE BINNENLUCHT A +

A + ABC

G E V - E M I C O D E ® PLUS

v e r y l o w e m i s s i o n

and EMFIPARQUET PRO ECO for full glueing and EMFIMASTIC PU or PS PARQUET for cordon glueing. DTU 51.2, the reference in France for fitting glued parquet, specifies that the adhesives must conform to standards NF 14293 and ISO 11178. The DTU also specifies that adhesives should be verified via a test in a climate chamber (NF B54-008).

Pallmann

Adhesives can be divided into elastic and hard-elastic adhesives. Wood floor adhesives are classified according to DIN EN 14293 where this standard is currently revised, in order to better differentiate between hard, hard elastic and soft. As there are no fix standards or technical regulations all wood floor installers should read the product data sheets of the different manufactures strictly, to find out for which kinds of wood floor the adhesives are approved. Pallmann offers the 1-component STP wood floor adhesive Pallmann P5. This hard-elastic adhesive can be used for all common wood flooring types. It combines the powerful elasticity of a polyurethane adhesive with the benefits of the state-of-the-art STP-technology. It is solvent- and water-free and therefore very easy to apply without any risk of damaging swelling. Additionally the long working time facilitates the work of the processor. The adhesive has a good filling capacity and ridge formation.

Rubio Monocoat Parquet adhesive is currently often sold based on price. You cannot see the adhesive in the end result. We at Rubio® Monocoat see this differently. Most of the elastic adhesives available on the market are liquefied by plasticizers. As plasticizers migrate, the adhesive loses its elasticity over time. Rubio® EasyBond new generation one-component parquet adhesive based on silane-polymer technology aims to make a difference on two levels. We first of all aim to make your life easy: one parquet adhesive for almost all wood types and substrates. Easy

also because there is no danger of damage to the surface finish of your parquet. You can rest assured even in the long term. This parquet adhesive is universally applicable for nearly situations and contains no plasticizers and is hard-elastic – two characteristics that result in a durable parquet adhesive, which fulfils virtually all recognized norms and tests, including the latest ISO 17178 standard. The hard-elastic composition of Rubio EasyBond parquet adhesive gives the wood just enough room for movement so that the wood does not start to deform or cup.

Thomsit The P 665 is an elastic glue for parquet which is ready for fitting. Thomsit also presents P 675 Elast (for parquet ready for fitting), P 685 Elast Universal (solid wood and parquet ready for fitting), and P 695 Elast Universal Strong (for all wooden floors). These three glues are based on the Flextec technology, which has been developed by Thomsit. This Flextec™ technology protects the wood from shear stresses. P 675 and P 685 are soft-elastic glues, whilst P 695 is a hard-elastic glue. At Thomsit, a hard-elastic glue means an extra strong and fast-action glue so that it is also suitable for more critical parquet sorts, which, normally speaking, can be glued only with a 2-component PU glue. A soft-elastic glue is not suitable for this purpose. The showpiece par excellence is Thomsit P685 Elast Universal. This is an elastic 1-C parquet glue based on the Flextec™ technology. The glue is spread lightly and can be applied to both absorbent and non-absorbent substrates. For most substrates you don’t need a primer. Thomsit P 699 is a 1-c-SMP parquet adhesive which prevents gaps by means of an extremely hard adhesive groove and is thereby ideal for solid wood floors.