By Louis Iannaco
When it comes to laying flooring down, what makes professionals in the industry stick with the adhesives that they, well, stick with? The confidence instilled in the mechanic has to do with a product he can rely on without worrying about its performance. It’s almost an unspoken agreement between installer and manufacturer: Make something I can depend on, and I’ll keep coming back.

Several of the industry’s adhesives firms have developed new products that not only have the latest technology built into them, but many are environmentally friendly and meet various criteria for “green” construction.

From Para-Chem’s Para-bond brand comes its Signature Series 5082 transitional pressure sensitive adhesive. A solvent-free, green glue, it is formulated for luxury vinyl tile and plank, rubber tile and vinyl-backed resilient sheet flooring.

It can be used over porous and non-porous substrates, noted Para-Chem’s flooring application specialist, Sonny Callaham. “Once it has dried to the touch it can be used as a pressure-sensitive glue, but after a few weeks it ‘transitions’ to a hard, permanent bond. It’s not only environmentally friendly, it’s installer and architect friendly.”

Stauf Adhesives’ SMP-960 One-Step “provides an adhesive, a vapor barrier and sound barrier superior to cork in one easy application,” noted David Ford, vice president, sales and markeing. “It reduces labor and material costs because only one coat is spread. Since One-Step does three tasks in one, the crew can be done in just one day.”

One-Step is a moisture-cured, polymer adhesive with no water, isocyanates, solvents or VOCs. “Experienced installers of urethane adhesives prefer this new technology because it makes spreading much quicker and cleanup so easy,” he said.

New from AAT is its 322 Sheet Vinyl pressure-sensitive adhesive and the Advanced Poxyfill Wood Floor Repair Kit. Greg Wood, president, noted, 322 is formulated for the installation of fiberglass-backed and PVC cushion-backed sheet vinyl. “The pressure-sensitive characteristics allows for easy repair if the sheet vinyl is damaged.” It is solvent-free and is protected by the CleanGuard two-stage antimicrobial.

AAT’s Repair Kit contains a specifically formulated adhesive to correct “hollow” and “popping” spots that can occur in wood installations. Wood said the kit contains everything needed to make an effective wood flooring repair without a major add-on expense. “The Poxyfill cartridge and adapter is used in a standard caulk gun.” The adhesive can be used to repair hollow spots under solid and engineered wood flooring, including bamboo. Unlike water-based repair products, Poxyfill does not expand the flooring.

Earlier this spring W.F. Taylor introduced its latest development in Next Generation technology, Meta-tec S-Plus Wood Flooring Adhesive. This glue can be used to install all engineered wood, acrylic impregnated wood, solid wood, bamboo, exotics, bare back wood parquet and all thicknesses over radiant heated flooring.

“Taylor wanted to offer the marketplace the advancement in both performance and environmental soundness,” said Mihir Gandhi, marketing coordinator. “We wanted to exceed and beat performance characteristics of any moisture cure urethane adhesives out there—especially because of the fact they all have solvents and isocyanate bi-products—and add a product to the 100% solids moisture cure class of adhesives.” The product combines Taylor’s patented Meta-tec technology with Telechelic Modified Silane Polymer chemistry and is Greenguard certified.

With the development of Mapei’s Ultraplan Easy, surface preparation is easier than it’s ever been, noted Diane Choate, corporate communication specialist. “This self-leveling underlayment can be applied over a variety of non-profiled substrates and well-bonded floor adhesives, and offers significant cost and time savings when it comes to quick-turnaround leveling, smoothing and repairing of interior floors.

She added Ultraplan is highly compatible for use under a variety of floor coverings and allows light foot traffic in as little as two to three hours. Environmentally friendly, it was developed with Mapei’s green innovation and can contribute points towards LEED-certified projects.