Successful Restoration with Mapetex Anti-fracture Membrane
A system of Mapei products has been utilised in the refurbishment of the Winter Gardens complex in Blackpool. The complex located in Church Street contains the Blackpool Opera House which is the second largest opera house in Europe. This has now been restored to its original splendour. Mapei’s Technical team visited the site to offer their advice. Domus Tiles subsequently specified and adopted a complete, fully compatible Mapei product system from the substrate through to the tiling installation.
Mapetex, an anti-fracture membrane, was utilised on the Grade II-listed building because of the damage to the existing concrete floor base. Mapetex, a special non-woven strengthening fabric, was adhered to the concrete floor base with Mapei’s high performance and rapid setting adhesive Keraquick mixed with Latex Plus. This system provided the necessary strength and durability to permit tiling onto the concrete substrate.
The innovative product provides a solution for many traditional problematic areas involving tiled floor finishes, for example, when floor tiles need to be laid over a variety of different substrate types such as concrete, timber, existing tiled finishes. Mapetex is also suitable for use on timber floor substrates such as tongue and groove floorboards and floating chipboard floors. The fibres in Mapetex fabric create a high mechanical strength and a surface that ensures the best interaction with Mapei adhesives, such as Keraquick in the Winter Gardens project.
Mapetex is specially designed to alleviate stresses within the substrate thus preserving the integrity of the tiled finish. It can be used as an anti-fracture layer for tiled floor finishes on uncured sand:cement screeds and bridging cracks within the substrate which may appear post-installation, for example protecting natural stone from substrate generated stresses. Mapetex System dissipates shrinkage stresses within cement based screeds and concrete substrates as they cure (screed must be a minimum of 24 hours old and concrete a minimum of 28 days old).
As an anti-fracture layer, Mapetex allows for the installation of tiles on substrates without the need to follow intermediate, non-structural, movement joints within the existing substrate (particularly when installing tiles diagonally where joints are different to the desired layout).
Mapetex System is designed to accommodate horizontal movement; where vertical movement would result in cracked tiles. The use of Mapetex System also permits larger areas of floor tiling to be installed before intermediate movement joints need to be incorporated thus reducing the number of movement joints. This is particularly useful when the aesthetics of the tile design would be disrupted by the inclusion of movement joints. However, structural movement joints still need to be respected and brought through to the tiled finish.
Mapetex provides the tilers safety net and after its simple installation, fixing with Keraquick & Latex Plus provides an Anti-fracture membrane. For more information about Mapei products and solutions call 0121 508 6970 or email technical@mapei.co.uk. Technical data sheets are also available online at http://www.mapei.co.uk.
Ends
Notes to editors
Mapei is the world’s largest manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and chemical products for building. With over 70 years experience, Mapei is a specialist in the production of quality products for the installation of all types of wall and floor coverings, and has a vast range of admixtures and repair products for concrete and building materials.
Original of this article here