A collection of informative resources to answer most questions.
-Caulk & Sealant products are not intended for continual water submersion -Ensure product is skinned prior to painting -Use color coated nails if recommended by the fiber cement board manufacturer. -Do not fill nail holes or tool sealant into thin films as these films may discolor. -Test product thoroughly with all substrates, prior to use, to determine project suitability
-Clean tools with isopropyl alcohol before sealants dries, following solvent vendor’s precautions. -Once cured, caulk & sealant must be cut or scraped away.
Do not apply product in hot and dry conditions or when heavy rain or freezing temperatures are anticipated.
Extrude product into joint with a steady consistent pressure in a rounded bead form. DO NOT smear or wipe sealant to a thin consistency outside of joint or masked area. For a proper seal design apply product using the following guidelines: ‡2:1 width to depth ‡2-sided adhesion only Note: The ideal caulk bead forms an hourglass shape about twice as wide as it is deep, allowing the bead to stretch without tearing or pulling away from the substrate. The sealant should be no thicker than ½ inch and not thinner than 1/8" inch. Use backer rod to control depth and bead shape. Once product is applied, DO NOT wipe over the bead with a solvent. Before caulk & sealant dries remove masking tape and proceed to clean up. Before product cures, remove painters tape and wipe away excess adhesive with water and a wet cloth, isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits. If product is cured use a utility knife to cut away unwanted caulk or sealant.
Mask edges using painter’s tape, adjacent to joints and around the joint area before applying caulk or sealant. Tape forces product to lie in a straight line and allows for easy cleanup. If joint’s depth exceed 5/16” place a backer rod in joint before applying product in a rounded bead form.
Read instructions, located on caulking cartridge, to learn how deep to cut spout of nozzle. Nozzle should be cut on a slant and the foil seal punctured before placing cartridge in cartridge gun.
For maximum adhesion remove old caulk from substrate with utility knife or caulk removal tool. Once joint is clean wipe away excess debris with a rag using a bleach and water solution (do not use soap). Rinse area well with water and allow too dry prior to new caulking application. Replace any damaged areas that have been weakened by decay. Sealant will break or pull away damaged substrate.
The notches in the trowel are designed to deposit the correct amount of adhesive. Notches which become clogged with dried or cured adhesive, or notches which are reduced in size as the trowel wears from abrasion on the floor need to be cleaned or re-filed so they perform properly.
If there is conflicting information, or if you have other questions, it is better to call our technical service line and ask, instead of beginning what may turn out to be an unsuccessful installation.
While some of our adhesives can be applied at temperatures as low as 0°F and still achieve good bonds, other adhesives or applications are limited to higher temperatures. Finally, while some water-based products may perform well when applied at very cold temperatures, the adhesives in their containers must be kept above freezing to retain the consistency required for application. If cold temperatures are involved, read the label.
Water-based wood glues such as Titebond Original or Titebond II build strength in a joint as they lose moisture into the surrounding wood. This moisture causes the wood on both sides of the bondline to swell slightly. If the project is planed or sanded before this swelling disappears, the high moisture wood near the joint will continue to dry and will shrink slightly compared to the rest of the wood. Allow your project to dry for several days before sanding or planing.
Stepped joints typically result when pieces of wood of different moisture contents are edge glued together in making a tabletop or cabinet door. It is important to be sure that all the wood for a given project is at the same moisture content before beginning a project. Allowing the wood to acclimate or sit exposed in your shop for a week or two is one way to be sure each piece of wood has a similar moisture content.
When working with woods that are high in tannic acid or are considered oily, wiping the joints with acetone before gluing them up ensures a good bond. Acetone clears the contaminants from the wood's pores on the bonding surface and dries quickly without leaving any residue. A good bonding surface can also be achieved by sanding or planing the wood just before gluing the joints.
Both solvent based and water based adhesives need to dry to develop strength and perform properly. They must dry by losing solvent or water through one of the surfaces being bonded. Non-porous materials such as painted surfaces, glazed tile, metal, plastic or foam all serve to prevent these products from drying, so neither water nor solvent based adhesives can be used to bond two non-porous substrates together. Urethane based adhesives cure rather than dry, and thus, can be used for bonding non-porous materials to other non porous materials.
To decrease the clamp time in a vacuum press, put a thick piece of wood into the vacuum bag to help absorb the moisture from the glue. This technique is best utilized when laminating many thin veneers together because the water in the glue saturates the veneers.
Use a small artist's brush to coat the surface with glue before applying homemade wood filler. Doing this will assure that the surface is wet enough to encourage adhesion. Otherwise the wood filler mix may be too dry to adhere well to the surface to which it is being applied.
Using a flooring primer before installing a wood floor over Gyp-Crete or other lightweight concrete materials will toughen the chalky surface and improve the anchorage of the floor.
Although good joint design minimizes the need for gluing end grain, sometimes end grain joints are unavoidable. The strength of end grain joints can be improved if the "open" end grain is first sized. A sizing mixture may be made by mixing one part to two parts water to one part glue. Place the sizing mixture on the end grain. Let it soak in for no more than two minutes, and then continue with a regular application of glue.
All substrates must be clean, dry, structurally sound, properly cured and free of dirt, oil, paint, old adhesive, wax, sealers and curing agents. General scouring with 20 grit or #3½ paper will remove most compounds.
Contact cements are unique in that they are applied to both surfaces and must dry before the two surfaces are put together. The bond is then immediately formed when the two layers of dried adhesive are pressed together. Contact cements can only be successful when at least one of the materials being bonded is somewhat flexible.
Aside from certain thin spread, pressure sensitives, most other adhesives need to dry after the materials being joined are positioned. This requires that one of the materials being bonded be porous. This means that a multi-purpose flooring adhesive designed to install vinyl cannot be used to install vinyl over vinyl because neither of the surfaces is porous and the adhesive will not dry.
Glue joint "squeeze out" may make the area around the joint difficult to stain. Use masking tape to cover the areas that you do not want glue to soak into. The sections that were masked will be free of stain-resisting glue when the masking tape is removed.
Titebond Liquid Hide Glue is very sensitive to humidity, therefore it is often hard to tell when to take off your clamps. The best way to determine your clamp time is to place a scrap piece of wood with Liquid Hide Glue spread on it next to your newly glued and clamped piece. When the glue on the scrap piece of wood is dry, you can take your clamps off. Be sure to wait at least 24 hours before you stress the joints.
When different wood species are used in a project, it is important that all woods have the same moisture content. Storing all the wood together in the same warm, dry location before beginning the project will help all the wood reach the same moisture content.
It is possible to change the color of any of our water-based Titebond Wood Glues by adding either dyes or pigments. Water-soluble dyes such as food coloring or TransTints can be added directly to the wood glues with good mixing. Powdered dyes or pigments should be mixed with a drop of Dawn dish detergent and a small amount of water to help prevent lumps in the pigment mix. Mix until smooth. Diluting the pigment mixture further to 50% solids will allow for better mixing into the glue. Add no more than 5 percent dye to keep from affecting bond strength of the adhesive. Start by adding a small amount of the dye/pigment mix, as small amounts can significantly alter color. Before making your final color decision, be sure to let a sample of the dyed glue dry. When the mixtures dry, they may look different from the wet state.
The expansion space recommended by the flooring manufacturer is designed to allow the floor to grow, as it will do whenever it increases in moisture. Typically, the baseboard, quarter round molding, or door casing covers this space and it is not visible. If the floor is not given the room to expand, it will ultimately fail when it increases enough in moisture to grow beyond the space in which it has been confined.
For any successful project, using the appropriate product is critical. Be sure to review the label for product applications, instructions, helpful hints and cautions. If you have any questions regarding product labeling, please call 1-800-347-4583.
The Franklin Urethane Repair Kit is a two-part urethane system that enables contractors to repair loose or popping areas in a finished floor. The adhesive in the system has a low viscosity that sets quickly and is fully cured within thirty to forty-five minutes of application. The easy flow characteristics of the urethane adhesive, unlike traditional epoxies, provide increased coverage of the repair The Franklin Urethane Repair Kit is easy to use with minimal holes to drill - an 1/8" drill bit is all that is required. Therefore, upon completion of the process, when used as directed, the floor will be repaired with no visible defects.
While the specific angle is not critical, it should be apparent that any given trowel deposits less adhesive when it is tilted more toward the floor. In order to provide enough adhesive to bond the floor properly, it is essential that this guideline be followed.
Our literature specifies that that the moisture content of a concrete subfloor registers no more than 3.0 lbs/1000 square feet/24 hours on a calcium chloride test or no more than 4.5 on a Tramex Concrete Moisture Encounter meter. If these methods are not available, taping a piece of plastic or foil over several square feet of slab, or laying a rubber mat over the slab for twenty-four hours will provide similar information. If these methods are used, moisture levels are too high for installation of a wood floor if the concrete is darkened or if moisture condenses on the bottom of the plastic or foil. The moisture content of a wood subfloor should not be more than 4% higher than that of the wood being installed.
Keep in mind that adhesives can only produce well-anchored floors when the surface to which they are applied is sound. Bonding to wax, dirt, paint or sealers will produce a bond no stronger than the wax, dirt, paint or sealer and will often create a problem that could be avoided by properly cleaning the subfloor.
Although it is convenient to trowel out large areas of adhesive, keep in mind the working time of the adhesive and the layout of the floor. If you cannot lay flooring into all of the adhesive troweled within the open time, the flooring will not be adhered in some areas. One way to avoid this problem is to periodically lift up a piece of flooring that has just been installed to verify that a minimum of 80% of the adhesive is transferring to the wood.
Adhesive removal is easiest when the adhesive is still wet. Water based adhesives are removed with water, while urethane based adhesives are removed with mineral spirits. The best way to remove dried adhesive from the top of a wood floor depends on the adhesive that was used. While most dried adhesives can be removed using mineral spirits, it is best not to allow polyurethane based adhesives to cure on top of the floor. Test any products used to remove adhesive on an uninstalled piece of flooring to ensure compatibility with flooring finish. Franklin is not responsible for any damage created by improper removal techniques.
When installing large panels such as tub surrounds or sheets of FRP, bracing or blocking the panels for the first 24 hours provides assurance that a good bond will be achieved even if the panel is somewhat warped or the wall surface slightly irregular.
The recommended trowel has been selected to provide sufficient installation time along with an appropriate amount of adhesive and to bridge irregularities in the bonding surfaces. Please click here for approximate square foot coverage according to the recommended trowel size.