Third Generation LatiFamily Member

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Message from Simon Meadow:

"I spent a few days with tech services and in the lab. Here are some pictures of me getting to work:

Mixing up some adhesives, 
setting up pull off test samples, 
smashing epoxy and tile to remove pull off test samples, 
in hard hat and neon gear deep underground in the new underground public transportation project! 

I went to several job sites with Royce. We also went to lunch with an old Chinese contractor with silver white hair and some hoop earrings. I had a massive bowl of fish head curry finally which I had been looking forward to trying."

Slip Resistance Testing Criteria

New Tile Council of North America (TCNA) slip resistance testing criteria for ceramic tile finishes will go into effect in 2014.  Several interesting & informative industry articles are available on this subject. Click here to send me an email if you would like copies of these articles or additional info.

There is also good information on this topic in the 2013 TCNA manual.

From Wikipedia:

Floor slip resistance testing is the science of measuring the coefficient of friction (or resistance to slip accidents) of flooring surfaces, either in a laboratory (before or after installation) or on floors in situ. Slip resistance testing (or floor friction testing) is usually desired by the building's owner or manager when there has been a report of a slip and fall accident, when there has been a report of a near accident, or (preferably) before the flooring is installed on the property. Flooring is tested using a tribometer (floor slip resistance tester) to discover if there is a high propensity for slip and fall accidents on it, either dry or (most often) when wet with water or lubricated with other contaminants such as kitchen grease, hydraulic oil, etc. There have been numerous floor slip resistance testing tribometers and lab devices produced around the world to measure both the static (stationary) and dynamic (in motion) coefficient of friction, but presently there are only a few that are reliable for obtaining useful safety results and that have current official test methods.

Full article - click here

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Slip Resistance Testing Machine

Photo from SATRA Technology website - Used here under the Fair Use Doctrine.  More info click here.

We Test

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We don't just make claims regarding our performance.  We test & re-test.  And our testing is confirmed by over 50 years of jobsite experience from the Arctic to the Tropics. From Singapore to San Francisco to Sydney.  From Oslo to Oman. Depend on Laticrete.
We are your tile & stone installation materials Consultants.

Some Guys Need To Test Things Themselves

"Henry, 254 applied over HydroBan on a regular concrete block. Cure time 2 days for the HydroBan then 5 days for the 254 . First pic is the chisel in between the block and the Cultured stone product . This is after I have hit it with a hammer 2 times."


"This is after 5 blows with the hammer and chisel. I am shocked with the bond of the Hydroban! The surface of the concrete block failed .
The aggregate on the piece of Cultured stone is bonded to the HydroBan, Truly amazing."

Jim Doane- Jimbo's Creative Masonry
http://www.jimboscreativemasonry.com/

Beware the dangerous (and useless) 'Screwdriver' test!

Over the years we've received reports from the field regarding contractors who tested mortars by "trying to pry a tile up with a screwdriver"

This is NOT a realistic or accurate test of the performance of a mortar!

We've had contractors comment that "... the tile come up easily ..." or "... the tile came up clean ..."

I REPEAT: This is NOT an accurate test of a mortars performance. The fact that the tile come up only shows the massive force that can be exerted with a "lever" You may remember from high school physics that Archimedes said " give me a long enough lever and a place to stand and I'll move the Earth!" And he was RIGHT!

The fact that the tile came up "clean" only indicates that the bond of the mortar to the subsurface and the INTERNAL strength of the mortar was stronger than the bond of the mortar to the tile. This in NOT necessarily bad! Remember that if you take a 5,000# strength chain and pull with 6,000# pounds of force the chain will break at one of the links. This DOES NOT mean that the broken link was weak or "bad"! It only means that it broke after its strength was exceeded!