Manufacturers and contractors are welcome to contribute to the Expert Advice section. Schlüter-Systems have prepared a series of advisory technical articles relating to the ongoing problems associated with movement in floor tile installations. Contract Flooring Magazine leads the way for publishing such expert advice online for reference by the flooring, building and construction industry.
Contract Flooring Magazine articles are read by industries top professionals and decision makers including Architects, Specifiers, flooring and building industry manufacturers.
If you would like to contribute to this section, please contact us.
Read our definitive series on movement joints and why they are needed. We also cover the technical aspects regarding their installation.
Schlüter®–Systems 'Ian Knifton' expert in this field, have contributed a Movement Joint Series of technical articles. A valuable trade resource.
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| Stone Does Not Work |
| Code of Practice |
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This, in turn, is caused by lack of training and a failure to follow British Standards requirements, and Stone Federation of Great Britain guidelines. But we're now taking massive steps to change that by introducing the first NVQs for stone flooring installers.
Approximately 70 per cent of the domestic stone industry is made up of ceramic, porcelain and terrazzo fitters who have moved into the market thinking stone can be installed in the same way. And there is a very high chance that installers who are not trained in laying stone are going to end up with failures.
In the past a lot of stone was very hard marble or granite, which was relatively forgiving to movement stresses. Nowadays the trend is towards white limestone, in particular 600mm x 600mm x 10mm. These Johnny-come-lately fitters don't understand the characteristics of this thinner, more vulnerable stone. They don't understand how it performs, that it'll crack easily if the screed moves.
Because of the number of failures installers frequently say: "I'm not going to use stone - it doesn't work." Stone DOES work, and works very well. It gives a long-lasting, quality finish. But it must be fitted by trained installers, the design must be right, the stone used must be suitable for the application, movement joints must be used to compensate for surface movement, and uncoupling membranes are needed to prevent shear stresses being transferred from the substrate to the surface.
Very often the floor has cracked or debonded because installers have not fitted an uncoupling membrane or enough movement joints. The lack of movement joints often arises where the end-user customer doesn't want them because of the aesthetics of the installation. The installer should be alerting the customer to what will happen without them - but they're not doing, probably because they don't know themselves. And, of course, if laid properly, and sympathetically with the design, movement joints often improve the look of the finished floor, rather than detracting from it.
To overcome these problems the Stone Federation is working closely with the CITB who are currently funding a training officer for the stone industry. Our training group is hard at work drafting NVQs up to level two in stone flooring installation. We're aiming to see the first fixers starting to study for this new qualification by the end of the year.
