The range has been refined and refocused around the types of adhesives most favoured by builders and tradespeople. Some of the best sellers have also benefited from formulation improvements. In addition, Dunlop are also launching two new “S1” tile adhesives – these have increased deformation, meaning they can be used on substrates where limited movement or vibration is possible.
Products have been renamed using alpha-numeric coding, whilst retaining the longer product name descriptions and colour tones to ensure they can be easily identified during the transition. Products that are changing are:
The alpha-numeric product codes help identify whether the product is non-flexible cement-based (CX), flexible cement-based (CF), or cement-based large format (CLF). The number equates to the setting time of the product; so 24 = 24 hours, 3 = three hours and so on.
Items that are removed from Dunlop’s range include: Floor and Wall Plus White 20kg, Rapidset Floor and Wall Tile Adhesive Grey Set Fast Plus Flexible Floor and Wall Tile Adhesive, Tile Adhesive for Green Screed and 2-Part Rapidset Flex Grey 11.55kg.
New Innovations
As well as re-naming current products, Dunlop are also introducing two “S1” tile adhesives.
CS1-12 S1 Ultra Flexible Tile Adhesive and CS1-03 S1 Ultra Flexible Fast Set Tile Adhesive – as the name suggests – are S1 deformable tile adhesives that set in 12 and 3 hours respectively.
Being S1 deformable means the product can be used on projects where a little bit more “give” is required. Areas where an S1 tile adhesive may be beneficial include:
- Heated floors i.e. heated screeds or undertile floor heating (i.e. electric heating mats)
- Floors subjected to limited movement i.e. suspended floors
- External wall and floor tiling
- Areas where vibration from machinery is likely to impact upon wall tiling.
Selecting
When should a tradesperson select a slow-set or fast-setting product? When should it be flexible or non-flexible? Well it all depends on the individual tiling project, the environment, the tile type and the background you are tiling onto.
For example, if you are tiling in particularly hot and dry weather, you would be advised to select a slower setting product, such as CX-24 Essential Tile Adhesive, or CF-24 Flexible Tile Adhesive. This is because the hotter the temperature, generally the quicker a tile adhesive will “go off”. If you are using a rapid-setting product at elevated temperatures it will skin over more quickly, thus reducing the time in which the tiles can be successfully placed onto the adhesive ribs as well as having a reduced pot life.
And vice-versa, when tiling in cold temperatures (but no lower than 5°C and rising), for example, use of a rapid-setting product will allow you to grout more quickly than a standard setting adhesive.
You should also consider the tile type. For example, very porous tiles and natural stone, such as marble or limestone, should be tiled with rapid-setting products. This is because standard setting adhesives may cause some potential staining with some natural stone products.
Tiles can experience a lot of stress due to movement in the substrate, foot-traffic and thermally-induced expansion and contraction that can come from underfloor heating or environments such as conservatories/orangeries. In this instance a flexible tile adhesive – such as CF-03 or CF-24 – should be used as these can accommodate some limited movement and help to reduce the risk of tiles debonding or cracking.
S1 tile adhesives, such as new CS1-12 S1 Ultra Flexible Tile Adhesive and CS1-03 S1 Ultra Flexible Fast Set Tile Adhesive are deformable meaning they provide an additional protection against movement caused by, for example underfloor heating.
To find out more about Dunlop’s new range of tile adhesive and to watch Top Tips videos visit dunloptrade.com
Dunlop is also providing an online ‘Job Build’ tool to help the trades select the right products for their project. To take a look visit dunloptrade.com/job-build
