Had a real scare with that new fast-set adhesive on a vinyl plank job

I mean, I saw the 15 minute open time on the bucket and thought it would be fine for a small bathroom. Laid down a 3x5 foot section, got the planks clicked in, and went to grab more material. Came back maybe 8 minutes later and the stuff was already grabbing hard, I could barely adjust the last row. Ended up with a slight gap I couldn't fix. Has anyone else had this happen with the quick-grab formulas, and what's your real working time with them?

3 comments

3 Comments

alicea2623d ago

Yeah I actually just read something the other day about how those adhesives use a chemical reaction that picks up speed as you go, so the first few minutes feel one way and then it suddenly hits a wall. That 8 minute mark you hit sounds right on the money from what I've heard. A guy I know who does commercial work told me he tested five different fast-set brands side by side and none of them gave you the full listed open time if the floor was above 70 degrees. Kinda makes you wonder why the buckets don't just say "try to work faster than you think you need to" instead of a number you can't trust. That gap you ended up with is brutal though, once those grabbers lock in you're basically stuck living with whatever you got.

pat1422mo ago

Those fast-set formulas are no joke. I treat the listed open time as a hard deadline now.

noah2482mo ago

Honestly pat142, you're not wrong at all. Tried to push it by like 30 seconds once and ended up with a rock solid bucket. Ngl, it felt like a science experiment gone bad. Now I set a timer on my phone like I'm defusing a bomb or something. Those chemists weren't messing around when they picked that open time.