The Linron Company is proud of our reputation for solving challenging flooring situations for our clients. Recently after conducting a review of flooring solutions for a local architect working with a Houston school district they took interest in a slip resistant sheet vinyl and stair tread combination that can be used out of doors.
This combination is manufactured by Takiron and supplied by CBC Flooring, Pathways sheet vinyl and matching stair treads. This is the only product combination that is warranted for use out of doors, wet and dry, under all types of climate conditions. These attributes are important here in Houston Texas that can see below freezing winter temperatures and over 100 degree days in the summer along with typical gulf humidity and rainfall levels. While the decked areas that needed to be addressed have roofing all were open on the sides so while partially covered; rain, direct sun and other climate challenges created interesting logistic circumstances that required installation timing flexibility.
The site, installation and substrate conditions posed other challenges. This scenario involved raised aluminum decking panels connecting a number of classroom units. This decking was manufactured with a deep corrugation designed for slip resistance, the negatives of this design for the school district was that the top of the corrugation formed a sharp ridge that turned into a hazard if a child fell or skinned their knees during rough housing. To try to address this issue in the past the district had these panels top coated with an epoxy coating which was failing in places over the decking due to poor adhesion to the top plating.
So for this new floor covering solution to properly bond to the aluminum decking a method would be needed to remove the epoxy coating and then to smooth the aluminum corrugation to accept the sheet vinyl. Self leveling exterior rated underlayment that can be applied with a thickness that varied from 1/8″ to 1/4″ was deemed the best solution.
To remove the epoxy coating we needed an efficient non-chemical method. After a number of trial and error testing we discovered that removal could be best facilitated by using a powerful pressure washing system.
For an underlayment solution we turned to the underlayment experts at Schonox USA. Their solution was Schonox US which is a water and frost resistant, high tensile and flexural strength PSI Portland cement based self leveling product that can be used out of doors. ( The high flexural strength was particularly necessary to address the flexing nature of the aluminum panel substrate.) To facilitate bonding to the aluminum decking after removal of the epoxy coating priming was necessary using their SHP Special Acrylic Primer. This underlayment combination was appropriate for all the level decking, as well as on the ramps and stair treads on site. After allowing a minimum of 48 hours for curing these areas were ready for sheet vinyl or tread installation using the recommended epoxy adhesive. If by chance cured underlayment got rained on prior to the flooring installation these areas were given at least another 48 hours to dry out completely. Our selection of these Schonox products assured us that these circumstances would not be a problem
In terms of flooring material planning in our discussions with the district we thought it best to install this directional material lengthwise down these mainly 7′ 10″ foot wide walkways. With the product coming in 6′ wide by 66′ long rolls this required a less than 2′ wide filler piece for each roll. The nature of the texture in this product allowed us to obtain three filler strips per roll thus minimizing the need for extra product for texture or pattern matching. One other unique feature of this product was the shade lot consistency, we were assured that all product for this 44 roll application would match and be shade consistent even when splicing rolls and using roll center and edges together. Head seams were also very easy to construct and make acceptable visually.
During installation another challenge to overcome was the inherent logistics in working with the required epoxy adhesive. Since we timed our installation for the cooler Houston autumn we were not challenged too much with heat related shortened working time though timing was required to try to avoid working in direct sunlight to avoid that surface heat build-up. Having the site properly staffed ensured that full roll length half sheet wide adhesive spreads were feasible. Having one staff member ensuring full cross rolling after sheet placement helped us avoid any bubbles from entrapped air.
One other challenge to address involved taking extra step to ensure topical moisture from rain and condensation would never find its way under the sheet edges. This required edge sealing which was facilitated in three ways; where practical sheet edges that abutted clean straight aluminum channels were adhered using extra adhesive applied with a larger trowel notch in a 3″ band and hand rolled (this resulted in a sealing from below), where practical an over the top molding was screwed down over the sheet vinyl in doorways and at the bottom of the ramps, where needed at exposed edges these were sealed from the top using the recommended Henkel MS 939 Polyurethane caulk.
On the process involving the stair treads. Installation by the simplified process of using double sided tape was eliminated given the heat developed when direct sunlight was contact with the darker colored tread over the aluminum stair tread base. Direct sunlight was frequent at the eleven 5 tread stairways since these were not covered with a canopy. The situation required installation of the one piece stair / riser treads using full spread epoxy adhesive again with a heavier application of the adhesive against all vertical clean cut edges. Epoxy nose caulk was also required by specification. Integral two dimensional yellow nosing treads were also required for the top tread applied to the walkway and heat welded to the pathways sheet vinyl.
The end result was an attractive and high performance floor covering that gave the needed slip resistance and safety under all local climate conditions, along with easy clean ability. Besides impressing the school board in this manner they were also impressed as stated by Kris Drosche their Project Manager on “How much quieter it was walking on the decking. There is no more sound of metal clanging from person’s footfalls.” On the Takiron Stair Treads comments where that “Never before did they see such an attractive stair tread appearance as with this product.”