Prime Every Time!

Here at Ultra Floor we believe priming is an essential part of the flooring installation process as it helps to dramatically reduce the risk of failure.

There are three key reasons why you should prime every time. Firstly, priming reduces the floor’s absorbency.  When wet smoothing compounds are applied to porous substrates, such as tamped concrete and timber, moisture can pass into the subfloor which in turn expels air.  The moisture loss prevents full hydration of the binding materials in the compound giving a weaker strength product, whilst the air expelled causes pinholes in the cured product. An appropriate primer will minimise these issues.

Secondly, priming increases adhesion! Correct priming serves as a bonding aid between the compound and the substrate. This is especially important in today’s market where a) the types of substrate are much more varied, and b) smoothing compounds are of a higher strength, thus requiring greater adhesion.

Thirdly, correct priming acts as an interface between materials preventing incompatibility or reaction. The use of a barrier primer will prevent this unwanted contact, avoiding a reaction and possible failure.

The renowned Ultra Floor range includes Prime IT AR moisture tolerant, water based acrylic primer, suitable for absorbent subfloors, and Prime IT N polymer emulsion primer, which is recommended for use as a bonding aid. Use Prime IT N neat onto non absorbent substrates, to give a tough, well bonded primer, ready to receive a cementitious  smoothing compound.