The right choice for tiling in educational environments

education

Specifying adhesives and groutswww.powerspeconline.com

CI/SfBSt3

April 2011

S P E C I F I E R S U P P O R T

Educational establishments are unlikeany other tiling environment. Whethera nursery, school or university, theunique combination of circumstancespresent specific challenges.

Health and safety lead every agenda.Tightening budgets are beyond endusers’ control, for initial installationand ongoing maintenance. Value and quality are equally critical, withaesthetics rarely heading the priorities.The necessary speed of project completion can vary widely accordingto the time of year.

BAL’s market leadership and enviablereputation have been earned by supporting specifiers in ensuring thatthey select the right products firsttime, every time. Total support, forevery specifier.

Only BAL offers completespecifier support

Problem-solving expertise

Informed, intelligent answers to overcome problems in unusual orchallenging educational situations.

Full technical support

From immediate answers to telephone queries to comprehensivesite inspection for full written reporting. If needed, industry-leadingtraining is readily available.

Complete solutions

No product gaps: adhesives, grouts and associated products forexact matches to specific tiles andtiling environment needs.

Unquestioned quality

Universally trusted by professionals,reflecting decades of proven performance consistency.

Real on-site benefits

Products created for real tilers, with fast-setting and high-yield options andassured, rapid availability nationwide.Short-notice visits easily arranged as needed, for real in-person expertise on site.

Guaranteed results

Have confidence in the industry’s bestwarranty: 25 years, without quibbles. It covers every adhesive, grout or otherproduct bearing the BAL name, subjectto normal ‘correct use’ conditions.

In specifying tiling for any educational establishment, it pays to rely on the qualitythat only the market leader can offer.

From drawing board to sign-off, yourchosen BAL products are guaranteed to deliver the desired results.

Put it all together and it means that, forquality that will endure, you should be sureit’s BAL for your education sector tiling.

Total support

Excellence is the lowest acceptablestandard when specifying tiling in theeducation sector. If problems arise,the impact can be significant.

When pupils began to trip on liftingtiles in the showers of a Midlands secondary school, safety concernswere the immediate concern. Any serious injury, though, could havemeant expensive compensationclaims. Off the record, school governors conceded that they hadbeen lucky.

During late 2009, a northern universityclosed its main Student Refectory.“Being hygiene-conscious,” said aspokesperson, “means taking no risks.The first sight of mould in the kitchenprompted an investigation and weconcluded that the whole area had tobe re-grouted, after just four years.”

East Anglian parents were proud ofraising the funds for their school’s own swimming pool. Pride turned toanger when, within 18 months, largeareas of the pool floor had to be re-tiled at considerable expense.

Once diagnosed, these problems were all straightforward to rectify, but the remedies were not cheap –and prevention had been possible at the product specification stage. In every case, the problem could have been avoided by specifying different materials.

Let BAL help

Education sector tiling involves more than selecting durable but attractive tiles.

Specifiers have to ensure lasting performance and full compliance with such standards as BS 5385, BS EN 12004, BS EN 13888 and others.

With the help of BAL, they can selectfrom more than 25 task-specific adhesive types, five levelling compounds,numerous grouts, including a rainbow of anti-bacterial products, and everynecessary ancillary product.

Nobody needs to hope that contractorswill choose the best materials. BAL canhelp. Producing the best professional tile adhesives and grouts, it has led themarket for four decades. BAL expertsgive free, impartial tiling consultancy to 50,000 callers annually.

It is expert, experienced and specialist:the BAL name will never be seen onproducts unrelated to tiling. Above all,every single BAL product carries an unequivocal 25-year guarantee.

Have full confidence in your educationsector tiling specification, by calling the BAL Technical Advisory and Specification Service.

Tiling matters

Solutions for educational environments:

Proven quality

BAL’s expertise has been proven, time after time, on real education sector projects.

At one end of the tiling spectrum, the 2009 refurbishment of the 21,000-student South Thames College included new wall and floortiling in 12 disparate areas. It meantfixing more than 15,000 tiles of numerous types and sizes to a wide variety of backgrounds.

Environments ranged from toiletblocks and a laundry to hairdressingsalons, to be tiled with everything from standard wall ceramics to elegantlarge-format floor tiles. Almost everypossible tiling challenge had to beconsidered and overcome.

To illustrate the scale, there were never fewer than four tilers at work. Altogether, around ten BAL productswere used, including four different adhesives. The result was a project

Key basic needs for Specifiers

n Adhesive compatibility with tiles/location

n Consistent product quality

n Reliable bonding

n Assured performance and durability

n High standards of workmanship

completed without a single problem, to a standard worthy of TTA Awardsentry. The contractor said, “After 30years of using BAL, I confidently expect quality and value and, withoutexception, that is exactly what thespecified products delivered, as always.”

At the other end of the scale, BAL regularly advises on relatively smalljobs at nursery, elementary and secondary schools. These may not be highly visible flagship projects, but there is just as much need to get everything right, first time. Smallerpractices are entitled to exploit thesame level of expertise as the largestgroups.

Whatever the scale or nature of a tiling project for the education sector,future problems can be avoided at the outset with correct specification.BAL has the answers.

Solutions for educational environments:

Key differences

Tiling replacement and repairs arerarely cheap and can cost more thanthe original installation. Simply specifying a good product is notenough: it has to be exactly the correctproduct for the task. Cracked, lifting,warped or completely de-bonded tiling is invariably due to use of thewrong adhesive.

Your adhesive choices will dependupon the types of tile used. Some natural stones require a white adhesive,while porcelain always needs a polymer-modified cementitious product. Even the size of the tile can influence the specification. Thewrong choice can mean anything fromdiscoloured tiles to total bond failure.

The background matters. If your floor tiles are to be laid onto a timberbackground, you need to be certain of specifying the correct adhesive.

Otherwise, it is merely a question of time before the cracks begin to appear, heralding the need for an expensive, time-consuming replacement of the entire floor. Even the age of the substrate can influence the suitability of adhesives.

Specifers will understand the importance of environmental factors,fundamental to correct adhesive specification. Product choice couldeven be influenced by seasonal factors: the start and completion dates can be of crucial importance.

It is not necessary to know the fulltechnical characteristics of a widerange of different professional tilingproducts. It is only vital to realise that the different types are all necessary and that specifying the correct products is critical.

Typical specific needs for Specifiers

n Fast-setting options – for earlier job completion

n High-yield adhesives – less product, lower costs

n Anti-bacterial properties – for extra hygiene

n Extra flexibility – to accommodate movement

n High water resistance – for shower areas/pools

A school shower block in Richmond,Surrey may need to be tiled using different products from those for identical showers in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

The showers in Surrey will use hardwater. In North Yorkshire, their waterwill be soft. In that case, an epoxygrout is needed, as dissolved SO3sulphates attack cementitious grout.Eventually, they will destroy it. In anyarea, it may be necessary to considerwater chemistry beyond checking apH value in the 7.2 to 7.6 range.

The answer is not to always specifyepoxy grouts throughout for anyschool wet area. Firstly, this is costlyand unnecessary over-specification. In addition, some areas may require a cementitious grout with anti-bacterial protection, for health andsafety reasons.

There may other influences on product choice, depending upon the individual circumstance of eachproject. Although the specifier may already be familiar with BS 5385:Part4:2009 Section 7.3.2.9,among others, they should know where to find impartial expert advice.

As for adhesives, if circumstanceschange mid-project, delay will be only the first challenge. The right adhesive may become the wrong product, with significant implications. If project timings change, adhesivechoices always need to be re-confirmed.

Solutions for educational environments:

Particular challenges

Problem-solving for Specifiers

n Genuinely experienced expertise – on-call

n Hands-on assistance – on-site when required

n Proven track record – of help in finding solutions

n Intelligent answers – that inspire confidence

BAL support for specifiers goeswell beyond the design phase:Product Support Technicians arealways available for site visits. Ifmid-project problems arise, solvethem with a single call.

Be sure that it’s BAL and you cantrust:

n Education sector expertise gainedthrough years of experience.

n Product formulations for specifictasks, delivering specified performance.

n Unbeatable support services to advise, guide and confirm yourspecification.

n A matchless reputation, based on four decades of unchallengedleadership.

n The industry’s only comprehensive25-year guarantee, covering everysingle BAL product.

For specifers in the education sector, it makes sense to use the most trusted expertise in tiling adhesivesand grouts. Decades of educationproject success will mean that the impartial advice is solidly grounded in experience.

Some tile manufacturers always recommend particular adhesives.Specifiers should be wary of such endorsements. Professional tilers can all name an adhesive brand regularly specified by a certain tilemanufacturer owned by the same parent, regardless of the project. They would all also decline to use it:an independent online survey of almost 500 tilers showed that it wasnot among the 14 most popularbrands. The professionals’ favourite,BAL, polled four times as many votes as the runner-up.

When you insist on BAL, you acknowledge the informed preference of professional tilers.

Every year, tilers make 50,000 calls toimpartial BAL experts. When you seekthe advice of the same specialists, you are merely placing your trustwhere professional tilers place theirs.

For tiling in educational environments:

Be sure it’s BAL

Building Adhesives Limited, Longton Road, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 8JB, England. Tel: +44 (0) 1782 591100 www.bal-adhesives.com

Whenever your specification wouldbenefit from precise tiling answers,you can trust BAL’s proven expertiseand experience.

On call

Get immediate answers from our dedicated Specifier Support Line:

0845 600 1222

On line

Send your specific questions to theteam by email:

specification@bal-adhesives.com

or by fax: 01782 591121

Or, take your project through to complete NBS M40 specification with the fast, authoritative and reliable Powerspec on-line tool:

www.powerspeconline.com

On site

Benefit from expertise in person, by calling in a BAL Product SupportTechnician. Start by calling the Specifier Support Line:

0845 600 1222

On the web

A wealth of information is ready todownload from the BAL web site:

n Product details

n Technical data

n Material safety data

n Training information

n News and events

Find all the facts on more than 50 specialist tiling products, including 25 different adhesives, at:

www.bal-adhesives.com

On call, on line, on siteto help with education projects

BAL220

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