Faber Safe Floor Review
Slips can be problematic, whether they are at home or in busy commercial premises. They can cause anything from minor embarrassments especially when it happens when other people are watching, to bodily injuries like sprains, bruises, or broken bones depending on the intensity of the fall. You don’t want your family members at home, or the customers and employees in your business premises being exposed to hazardous situations that land them in the emergency room. There are numerous cases of slips, with the leading being wet floors and glossy surfaces. The wet falls can be due to accidental spillages, cleaning activities, or situations where it is raining outside and the entrance area becomes wet as people walk in with water on their shoes and clothing. For glossy surfaces, the lower traction makes walking on them risky, especially if this is in areas like bathrooms or entrances where they are also likely to get wet. Increasing the traction of the floor will give people on the premises more sure footing as they go about their activities – and you can achieve this with the Faber Safe Floor. This review breaks down how the product works and how you can use it to create a safer environment.
Benefits Of The Faber Safe Floor
- Increased grip
The main role of the formulation is to enhance the grip of the surface, and in this it delivers on its mandate. It’s a non-slip treatment that provides more traction on a wide range of surfaces, including natural stones and granite and siliceous materials, to ceramics and quartz installations. These kinds of floors are notorious for getting slippery, especially when wet. The Faber Safe Floor acts on the surface itself, forming micro erosions that serve two roles: provide more resistance thus increasing grip as people walk on it, and boosting the run-off of water – making the Faber Safe Floor a key asset especially in wet conditions.
- Easy-to-use treatment
With a coverage rate of 10-15m² per litre, each unit purchased gets to work on a wide area. The particular coverage rate for your situation will depend on how absorbent the particular surface being worked on is. The application process can be carried out with a brush, lambswool applicator, roller, or you can spray onto the target surface.
Start by first cleaning the surface, in order to remove any dirt that may be present. Dust, soiling and greasy residue on the surface would interfere with bonding on the Faber Safe Floor and the surface. After thoroughly washing the surface, allow it to dry, then proceed to apply the formulation on the floor.
When the surface is ready, apply the Faber Safe Floor on it – and use it undiluted. Spread it abundantly on the surface, creating an even layer. Give it some time to set. This ‘contact time’ will be unique for your floor, and is usually under an hour. The specific time will be determined by carrying out a preliminary test, which we will go over shortly.
After the contact time has passed, remove the excess product from the surface (you can use a liquid vacuum cleaner for this), then rinse the area with lots of clean water. The floor can be opened up to foot traffic after this.
Here are some points to note during the application of the Faber Safe Floor:
- Prevailing temperatures, and that of the surface itself, will impact the effectiveness of the treatment process. In this regard, aim to make the application during the coolest period of the day. In addition, the floor should not be treated during those times when it is exposed to direct sunlight.
- Ensure that you have covered adjacent sections that are not being treated, to protect them.
- If there are any pre-existing treatments of the floor, such as wax that had been applied, these will need to be removed before application, since they will form a barrier preventing the product from bonding with the surface. It needs to come into direct contact with the surface being worked on.
- Safe for the floor
With this formulation, you get to prevent accidents without putting the structural integrity of the installation being worked on at risk. The water-based Faber Safe Floor is suitable for both indoor and outdoor surfaces, and can be used on natural stoneware and their agglomerates, porcelain installations, as well as clinker. However, it should not be used on lime-based materials like marble, travertine and limestone.
Once you have treated the surface with the Faber Safe Floor, you will not need to follow up with subsequent layers of the formulation, due to its enhanced effectiveness.
Contact Time: Pretest Before Application
Given that there is a wide range of surfaces that can be treated with the Faber Safe Floor, the precise timings involved will vary. The various natural and manmade stone structures come with their unique composition, surface hardness and resistance. The contact time to wait between the application and when you remove the excess product from the surface will be unique for your particular floor. Usually, it ranges between 15 to 60 minutes, but this is just a general guide. To determine the particular contact time that you will allow, then you will need to carry out a pretest. This can be done on a separate piece of tile – like those that remained from construction works, or a section of the floor that is in a hidden spot.
Apply the Faber Safe Floor on this small section, then assess its non-slip properties after you have rinsed the area. Here, you will be looking at how the area performs when wet. Simply press down on the surface with your fingertips and simulate the action of a person walking on it, then compare this with adjacent sections that have not been treated. This will give you a good idea of the kind of grip that has been provided. Rinsing is key to prevent a situation where residue on the surface gives you the wrong impression of the result. The contact time you observe will be what you will use when applying the Faber Safe Floor on the rest of the area.
