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Top Marquees For Tile Protection
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One of the UK's leading retailers and distributors of high quality wall and floor tiles, Parkside Tiles, marked its 21st anniversary in style - supplying the full tiling package for a highly prestigious Bentley Motors car showroom in Leicester.
Carried out by Leicester Ceramics tiling contractors, the installation involved fixing 750 square metres of Revigrés rectified Micron Marfim floor tiles at Michael Powles Ltd's new Bentley showroom.
But Parkside Tiles director Richard France, and Stephen Hill of the tiling contractors Leicester Ceramics knew that without essential protection, movement differential between the substrate and the surface could cause the tiles to crack, split or debond.
The architects asked the tiling experts to suggest the most appropriate means of protecting the tiles. Says Richard France: "We jointly recommended to the architect, through the main contractor, Leicester-based Raynsway Properties, that 180 linear metres of the Schlüter-DILEX- EKSN heavy duty stainless steel movement joint should be used to guarantee the long-term integrity of the installation. One of the main criteria was to protect the tiles from movement by using these stress-relieving expansion joints to create separate tile fields.
"These move independently from each other, preventing the tiles bulging, cracking, and debonding from the substrate."
Schlüter-DILEX-EKSN-125 profiles were installed at perimeters and set intervals in the tiled surface to take up the surface movement within the tile covering. They were also installed directly following the line of existing subfloor structural movement joints to ensure that the movement in each area or field in the substrate was reflected in the same fields in the surface tiles.
'Architects are aware of the need for incorporating movement joints into the structure, but, as in this case, many of them rely on the supplier or tiling contractor recommending the appropriate protective measures for the job,' says Richard France. "We needed something strong enough to withstand the weight of the Bentleys -- and the other luxury cars sold at Michael Powles' without buckling themselves, and capable of absorbing movement to keep the tiles looking as good in years to come as they do now."
Dealer Principal Tim Reed says: "We've been very impressed with the installation of our new showroom floor by Parkside Tiles. With such a high visibility showroom, allied to the brand that we're selling, it was imperative that the floor looked fantastic. Equally important was the potential long-term durability of both the tiles and the installation. Each Bentley weighs nearly three tons and we're constantly moving cars around within the showroom.
"The force generated by turning the wheels on the cars means that the lateral forces generated are very high. We were therefore happy to follow advice about the use of movement joints for the floor to withstand the degree and type of force to which it's subjected. Early indications are that the floor should provide many years of trouble-free use, whilst displaying the cars to their full potential."
As well as protecting from movement with the expansion joints, the tiling contractors also installed heavy-duty stainless steel profiles. A total of 55 linear metres of Schlüter-SCHIENE-E125 profile was used to give a neat, square-edge protective finish where the tiles abut the laminate walkways through the showroom. "Schlüter is the only system I know that provides the full range of protection to guarantee the long-lasting integrity of tiles over many years," says Richard France.
The tiles were fixed with Weber porcelain rapid adhesive, which has been developed specially to provide a strong bond onto tiles with a very low porosity, or onto power floated screeds such as the Bentley showroom's substrate. The installation was completed with Stoneset Ivory grout.
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