The tiles had been laid, essential Schlüter protection was installed and the new store was due to be handed over in four days. Then the devastating summer floods came, which hit much of the country, and the ground floor tiling in a large extension at Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre was under a foot of water.
As soon as the flooding subsided the 600 x 600 Buchtal tiles supplied by Strata Tiles were ripped up and replaced, as a precaution. The work was carried out by P. Plunkett Tiling Contractors Ltd., of Northumberland. Contracts Manager David Baker says: “The main contractor arranged for the screed to be inspected. They found that it did not need replacing, so new tiles were laid in record time using Mapei Adesilex P4 adhesive.” “The whole of Meadowhall was closed for three days following the floods. The water was up to thigh level in some parts of the centre, so we were lucky to be able to clear up and finish the job as soon as we did.”
The upper floor of the two-storey extension escaped unscathed. To guarantee the long-term integrity of the 1,500-square metres of tiled flooring over the two storeys, Plunketts installed the Schlüter®-SCHIENE transition profile where the tiles abutted the neighbouring wooden floor surface, and independent tile fields were created with Schlüter®-DILEX-KS movement joints to prevent the tiles from cracking, splitting and debonding. The Mapei Adesilex P4 adhesive was used because a thick bed, high performance adhesive was required to accommodate the difference in levels and the large format tiles.
Plunketts chose Schlüter-Systems essential tile protection systems knowing that they will protect the floors they have laid at Meadowhall for years to come. “You can only ensure that installations will continue looking good over the years if they are properly installed and protected, says David Baker. “If no protection is used, or the profiles are not capable of doing what is demanded of them, the installation will fail, and you’ll have to pay more for remedial work, to look good again.” |