Adhesive for sheet Vinyl floor

[ms21117]

I am installing sheet vinyl, rated for loose lay, on a basement floor. The floor has a small amount of cutback (black mastic adhesive) on the floor...it looks like the previous owner sanded the floor down...any reason I can't use Mapei Ultrabond 373...I know it's not recommended, but in the real world will it work OK? I tried a 2' x 2' section and it dried to tacky in about 2 hours....OR, if someone has tried that and it didn't work; how about Henry 430. which is recommended to put on top of cutback, but designed for VCT.??

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

I'd need to see the amount of cutback residual to say for certain but speaking in general terms if it's at the level where it's sort of a brownish, yellowish, tobacco looking stain and not heavy enough to appear black then it's typically safe to go over with an acceptable adhesive without fear of discoloration or loss of bond. I recommend taking a screwdriver and if you can dig into the cutback and it's still enough to gouge into and scrape it up then that's too much.

You cannot use the Henry 430. It's not chemically compatible with the sheet vinyl and it will plasticize and disbond. 430 is designed for a product that's about 15% PVC and 80% stone dust. Sheet vinyl is a totally different formulation with a much higher vinyl content.

The Mapei 373 would be acceptable if the product is a vinyl or glass back product but NOT if the product is paper or felt backed. A felt back product would require a latex based adhesive not an acrylic.

You possibly have other issues though. Have you done any type of moisture testing on the subfloor? Even doing a mat test would help to see if there is any vapor emitting from that slab and indicate whether you'd need to do further testing. Otherwise, you could have a failure pretty quickly if there's too much moisture emitting from that slab. Cutback was solvent based and had a much higher tolerance for moisture and alkalinity than the water based adhesives we have today.

 

[ms21117]

I'd need to see the amount of cutback residual to say for certain but speaking in general terms if it's at the level where it's sort of a brownish, yellowish, tobacco looking stain and not heavy enough to appear black then it's typically safe to go over with an acceptable adhesive without fear of discoloration or loss of bond. I recommend taking a screwdriver and if you can dig into the cutback and it's still enough to gouge into and scrape it up then that's too much.

You cannot use the Henry 430. It's not chemically compatible with the sheet vinyl and it will plasticize and disbond. 430 is designed for a product that's about 15% PVC and 80% stone dust. Sheet vinyl is a totally different formulation with a much higher vinyl content.

The Mapei 373 would be acceptable if the product is a vinyl or glass back product but NOT if the product is paper or felt backed. A felt back product would require a latex based adhesive not an acrylic.

You possibly have other issues though. Have you done any type of moisture testing on the subfloor? Even doing a mat test would help to see if there is any vapor emitting from that slab and indicate whether you'd need to do further testing. Otherwise, you could have a failure pretty quickly if there's to much moisture emitting from that slab. Cutback was solvent based and had a much higher tolerance for moisture and alkalinity than the water based adhesives we have today.

Thanks! great answer that makes sense. It is more like tobacco stain. The slab is dry, I'll use the 373.