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Gypsum and Flooring? Yes or No?
May 10, 2017
- Flooring
By Lewis Migliore
Gypsum, in the past, has been the bane of the flooring industry as a flooring prep material. It was soft and chalky, didn’t bond well, stuck to the back of flooring materials, was affected by water, and was otherwise not up to par with cementitious based patches, levelers. and substrate prep materials. As a result it gained a bad rap and likely rightfully so. But the gypsum products of today aren’t anything like those of old and actually have better attributes and performance characteristics than cementitious products. In fact all cementitious products contain some gypsum, so even though you may think you’re avoiding gypsum entirely, you aren’t because it’s in concrete as calcium sulfate. You’re also brushing your teeth with it because it’s in your toothpaste as well and many of the other products you use daily. The high early set up in cementitious floor prep materials, those being used instead of gypsum, is due to the gypsum it contains. The new gypsum floor prep products rival and exceed concrete, and they are not affected by water and in several aspects are better than cementitious floor prep materials.
So let’s take a look at gypsum floor prep products and their attributes so you can come to the same conclusion that I did — that these products are amazing performers — and why.
Click here to download the report.
The Commercial Flooring Report is provided by Lewis Migliore, president of LGM and Associates, which offers technical flooring services, including help or guidance with a new flooring project or a failure on an existing floor. Contact him at lgmtcs@optilink.us.