Which bands good question - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

Defy · 27-03-2008

I had a customer yesterday ask me a really good question while rumaging through a wet room tanking kit. He was holding a roll of corner tape/ band which happened to be Mapei and just exclaimed well this has to be better dun it.

I was with someone else and when I had finished he explained saying

Quote:

In a wetroom we use flexible adhesive, flexible grout everything is geared to adhesion and flexibility but the corner bands supplied with tanking kits like Bal and Homelux are not flexible 1 The most important area where flexibility is paramouny is where there is a change of substrate

I just smiled as I am more than aware of this and is the reason we use Mapei and Durabase bands. These bands have fibremesh edges with a rubber membrane centre so can be stretched.

What do you guys think which do you use ??

Defy

Pawelzik · 27-03-2008

Well, Defy, good question as there is no real definition about how flexible a corner tape must be. Here from Germany we handle it like this:

1. We deal with a corner tape called OXIEGN MS 120, 12 cm x 50 m roll, polymer-rubber membrane centre on a fibre webbing - nearly the same as your a.m. tape, but webbing not mesh. This one has a flexibility of ~ 205%, then the bending is finished and it it cracks. Should be flexible enough, agreed?
2. Coming up here is a standartisation that says that the membrane should be about 200 µm in thickness, but this rule is under development. And as it is very new, I don´t know yet if it becomes a national or european rule.
Regards, Martin

**wetdec** · 27-03-2008

I can confirm that we have seen situations where the unflexible bands are comming away from walls as new floors are moving which is why we just deal with flexi ones. I think there is a move afoot re tanking I was discussing this with a rep in Germany apparantly there is a new reg being russled up due to electrical safety below 1st floor wetrooms but these things can take a while.

I would not say I welcome it but a directive of some sort especially for the bands would be usefull as they seem the week point, tho inconsistencies in rubberoid application throughout the market should be addressed i mean how much is 2mm when you put it on with a brush.

I think the likelyhood is a man made membrane will win over, cant see topps etc going in that direction only to do an about turn for mira again.

tiler

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Pawelzik · 28-03-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by wetdec

...I think the likelyhood is a man made membrane will win over...

Agreed Wetdecs. And that is why we prefer and reccommend the tanking with membrane.
We were informed from a hotel site where 350 showers were tanked by brush and roller application. After everything was finished the main site engineer did want a drill through a shower wall to verify the tanking thickness. Well, the test showed the tanking thickness was below the specified. As a result the tiling company could choose either to be paid less or to make the showers new. No choice I want my clients to have, membranes are always of the same thickness and that is why we recommend this kind of tanking. Martin