Capitol adhesives are designed to work with a wide variety of carpet backings. At last count, there are in excess of 40 different types of carpet backings commercially available and the textures range from smooth to extremely rough. It is very important to know what the backing is prior to selecting a trowel because of this fact. To use a fine notch trowel on a rough backing will result in carpet bubbling or complete bond failure under high traffic conditions. To use a heavy notch trowel on a smooth back carpet may result in adhesive being oozed up through to the face pile and most certainly a reduction of adhesive coverage.

On all of Capitol adhesive packaging you will find bold references to the proper trowel notching required for specific flooring types. It is important to follow these recommendations for several reasons. First of all, these recommendations are designed to give the maximum performance with the adhesive for the type of flooring to be installed. We've tested all of these installation conditions and the trowel recommendation is our way of helping you achieve a superior installation. Secondly, the trowel recommendation gives you the most cost effective solution for the adhesive balanced against the flooring selection. Sure, you can use a smaller trowel notch to get better coverage but you also risk not having enough adhesive on the floor for proper bonding. Let the technical experts at Capitol take the guesswork out of trowel selection.

This is the amount of time required by the adhesive to flash-off prior to having the flooring covering installed. To install into the adhesive prior to this amount of time may result in bubbling and unnecessary rolling in order to get proper bond.

This is the amount of time when the troweled adhesive can still accept and fully bond to the flooring material being installed. If an adhesive is allowed to be open beyond its working time, it is possible that the bond will be less than adequate for a proper installation.

At Capitol, we test all of our adhesives for stability down to 10�F. The adhesives are then brought to room temperature and then run through the cycle three times. Capitol adhesives will maintain their performance attributes even after this rigorous test protocol. It is not recommended, however, that you allow Capitol adhesives to be stored in temperatures below 10�F. If this condition occurs, the adhesive will no longer be useable.

Yes, as long as the surface of the existing floor has been cleaned well and any wax or polishing agents removed from the surface. Keep in mind that installing over an existing floor creates a non-porous condition on the substrate and special attention need be made to allowing the adhesive the proper open time prior to installing the new floor. The answer can also be "NO" if the existing vinyl floor is a perimeter bond type of floor. The best test for this is to cut a small opening in the center of the old floor and lift up to see if is bonded to the subfloor. If it is not you must assume that it is a perimeter-bonded floor and as such must be removed prior to installation.

No. Old vinyl asbestos tile (VAT) have an inherent porosity that new VCT does not. To install directly over old VAT could result in trapping moisture under the new tile. This will result in telegraphing of the old tile through to the top of the new.

Only SAFoT 480 Thin Spread VCT Tile adhesive has been developed to work over old asphalt cutback adhesive. To use any other Capitol adhesive, it is required that you remove as much of the old adhesive as possible. Care must be taken with the removal of old cutback adhesives as they may contain asbestos. Make sure to follow the directions written in the Resilient Floor Covering Institute publication "Recommended Work Practices for the Removal of Resilient Floor Coverings" and OSHA regulations. Once the old adhesive is removed, it is highly recommended that a primer be used to insure proper bond and to prevent bleed-through of old adhesive.

At Capitol, we're proud to be able to manufacture a wide range of flooring adhesive products built to meet critical customer demands. We manufacture a variety of multipurpose adhesives to satisfy several key performance and cost factors. Our base grade products such as SAFoT 003 and FAST 50 are built for the value conscience buyer who is looking for a product that can do the job at a reasonable cost. These base grade products are lower in solids and therefore lower in cost. They are perfect for low-traffic commercial or residential installations. For high traffic and long-term installations, select SAFoT 001, FAST 400 or FAST 95. These high solids, rubber and resin rich adhesives are built to stand the test of time and traffic.

Capitol manufactures all of its adhesives to the highest quality standards in the industry. As such, we offer 10, 5, and 2-year performance warranties on all of our adhesives regardless of what flooring type or manufacturer installed. All of our warranty positions state that if the adhesive is found defective within the pre-defined time period, we will replace the entire floor up to and including removal, replacement, and reasonable and customary labor (at Capitols sole discretion).

A lot depends on what happened after you opened the can. If you took out a small portion for use and then put the lid back on, the product will probably be good for another year as long as it is kept at 65�F. If you are using this product to install flooring and are scooping up excess adhesive from the floor and placing it back in the bucket, the life span of the adhesive will be considerably shortened. The process of scooping up adhesive from the floor to put back into the bucket inadvertently puts unknown substances into the adhesive, which may radically alter its performance and stability.

The most common cause for this condition results from troweling adhesive under extremely hot, arid conditions. Most flooring adhesives are water-based and as a consequence when they are applied in arid environments they have a tendency to flash faster than expected resulting in balling or stringing under the trowel. Capitol always recommends for best product performance that you install in conditions around 65-75�F. If this conditions still occurs under "ideal" conditions, it is possible that you are installing the adhesive over dry, dusty concrete; over concrete that has a pH in excess of 12; or over a gypsum substrate that has not been primed. Under these conditions, adhesives will have a tendency to de-stabilize and get gummy under the trowel. To solve this problem, Capitol recommends that you use a primer such as LL-400 to treat the substrate prior to installation.

Capitol manufactures adhesives that are robust enough to take just about any type of moisture condition and still perform (floods excluded). The answer really depends on the type of flooring installed and that is where we defer to the flooring manufacturers recommended allowances. Most flooring manufacturers suggest a maximum allowance of 5 lbs. of moisture /1000 sq.ft/24 hours for most porous flooring types. For non-porous flooring products a maximum of 3 lbs. of moisture/1000 sq.ft./24 hours is suggested. Capitol recommends using the CaCl3 test method for determining moisture content since it is a rate dependent calculation and gives a truer indicator of moisture transmission in concrete slabs.

Yes. According to CRI 104 guidelines it is still a recommended practice to bond seams together using a seam adhesive. Further, proper application of this adhesive is extremely important to insure success. The adhesive, such as Capitol 022 or 033 seam sealers, must be placed on the edge of the carpet primary and secondary backings and not be placed directly on the floor. Follow the simple instructions on the packaging for both 022 and 033 for proper seam adhesive placement.

The answer to this question is yes with certain reservations. Although Capitol multipurpose flooring adhesives will bond VCT and do it well, they are not designed with the shear resistance required for most typical VCT installations nor do they have extended working times required for large-scale application.

Laying the tile into adhesive that is still "wet" usually causes this. If the adhesive is still wet, it will roll over on itself causing tile to slip. It is important for all pressure sensitive flooring products, like SAFoT 380, 480, 100, 200, and 300, that you allow the adhesive to "flash" to complete dryness.

Flooring materials are subject to the same expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature. To install flooring product that has not been acclimated to the room conditions runs the risk of shrinkage or growth resulting in open seams or bubbles. Capitol always recommends that you condition the flooring material and adhesives for 48 hours prior to the installation.

The most probable cause was improper conditioning of the floor tile prior to installation. It is possible that the tile were stored in a very warm environment and as a consequence were at their peak expansion point. After they were installed and the temperature of the flooring material dropped to room temperature, the tile may have contracted back to its original size thereby opening up all the seams around the tile.

WOODY P88 contains chlorinated solvents that are heavier than air and take a long time to evaporate out of the adhesive. The 30-minute flash time is required to get as much of this solvent out of the adhesive as possible before the wood flooring traps any remaining solvent beneath it. Installing wood over WOODY P-88 in advance of this open time requirement runs the risk of trapping excess solvent into the adhesive and thereby significantly effecting the dry time of the installation. Trapping excess solvent in this adhesive may extend the dry time of the installation out beyond 3 weeks so it is extremely important to let it flash for 30 minutes. Fans and open windows can assist in speeding up the flash time period but you should never shorten this 30-minute time frame.

Carpet pad should be attached to a concrete subfloor using Capitol JetBond, 029, 029C or 039 Pad Cements. Any of these products will hold the pad to the concrete floor and will keep it from bunching up as you move the carpet over the surface.

Capitol does not recommend this practice as it will create a different feel under foot that may result in a customer dissatisfaction.

If the adhesive is still wet, you may be able to remove it with a dampened white cloth. If the adhesive is dry, Capitol suggests using 011 Cleaning Solvent and a white cloth. Do not saturate the area with 011 Cleaning Solvent but rather place the solvent on the cloth and work the adhesive residue from the surface.