bal fracture mat.

[johnryan]

hello all, was just wondering if anyone has any reviews on the new matting from bal. they've had it on display at ctd for about a month now, but so far they're telling me only one contractor they know has been using it (seems they're happy with it from what they say at ctd). don't have any plans to use it myself for now, but was interested to see if anyone here has any experience of it yet. looks like it could be a big saver on adhesive, though looking closely at it, i have some misgivings about how well it would perform. also they couldn't tell me if it can be used to fast track green screeds instead of ditra. can't see how it does as it doesn't seem to have any kind of moisture dispersal system. can anyone here enlighten on this? looking forward to any replies, reviews or info. cheers. john

 

[White Room]

There was a previous post about it http://www.tilersforums.com/18-tile-adhesive-grout/72206-bal-rapid-mat.html

 

[John Benton]

One of the guys at the Leeds depot was singing its praises the other week to me, but I cant see that it can have the same tolerances as Ditra due to its thickness, 1mm. If anyone can tell me otherwise please.

 

[White Room]

I know Pjc used the pci stuff for a long time which is similar and seemed happy with it...

 

[Rookery]

A pal of mine has used a couple of rolls over timber floors and says its great. It does seem a bit thin and like the Mapei version, it does seem to require a leap of faith to use something like this over ditra.

 

[TJ Smiler]

Funny enough i bumped into Gary Knowles the other day (A Bal Rep) and he was singing it's praises too (but i suppose he would being a rep for Bal). He explained that it is just as effective as Ditra but with half the cost on adhesive. Have not used it yet but he did give me a small sample so will get a small floor at some point and then give you my thoughts on it....... I did think that due to it only being 1mm thick that it would be good when bringing a wall out for mosaic ie; the dog tooth method. Just an idea.

 

[johnryan]

There was a previous post about it http://www.tilersforums.com/18-tile-adhesive-grout/72206-bal-rapid-mat.html

yeah i remember that thread, but was wondering if anyone had had any first hand experience now that it's been on the market for a little while. just interested in seeing how people found it to use and what they thought when it had been tiled etc. i've yet to meet anyone that's tried it yet.

 

[johnryan]

Funny enough i bumped into Gary Knowles the other day (A Bal Rep) and he was singing it's praises too (but i suppose he would being a rep for Bal). He explained that it is just as effective as Ditra but with half the cost on adhesive. Have not used it yet but he did give me a small sample so will get a small floor at some point and then give you my thoughts on it....... I did think that due to it only being 1mm thick that it would be good when bringing a wall out for mosaic ie; the dog tooth method. Just an idea.

look forward to reading that post. like the idea of using it for flushing mosaics up with the field tiles too.

 

[Stef]

I can't honestly see how the Bal mat can compete with Ditra, there is no way possible how a 1mm mat can be the same as a mat equivalent of the construction of Ditra.

 

[Peter]

What's the trade price on this? Fiver a metre and it'd be worth while but the Internet throws up similar prices to Ditra.

No doubt has the 60% Bal markup over and above it's market value.

 

[johnryan]

I can't honestly see how the Bal mat can compete with Ditra, there is no way possible how a 1mm mat can be the same as a mat equivalent of the construction of Ditra.

my thoughts exactly and having seen it in ctd i wonder how exactly it works. however, saying that you'd think if a company like bal put something on the market like this, it must be up to spec. will be interesting as time goes by to see how it does,
and in ctd it works out at 9 per meter plus vat, so it's not cheap, though that could be mitigated by the reduction in adhesive costs.

 

[The D]

the firm i am subbing to uses it i have used it on about 6 floors now and it is ok dose it work ?????? we will see would i buy it for my jobs not a chance. BAL bring out a mat that is unproven put it at the top end for price and bleat on about how it will save you money because it uses less adhesive but you have to use BAL adhesive so it is twice the price anyway so you save nothing and the mat has no legs to stand on yet. just another example of the arrogance of the BAL brand

 

[Peter]

If it fails in 24 years then it was down to fixer error or the adhesive not being mixed with Evian.

 

[Perry]

I think it comes BASF

 

[White Room]

I think it comes BASF

You used a lot of the BASF stuff Pete...

 

[Perry]

You used a lot of the BASF stuff Pete...

Yes Mark BASF is a big company.

 

[Perry]

Tilemaster are doing one nowdays

 

[jonnyc]

Basf made PCI pecilastic I think and I used plenty of that before PCI pulled out of uk.
trimline sell e very similar 1mm mat called isomat which we use under isolated tiles that bridge cracks in screed as does not affect bed thickness but not a guarantee. I assume the bal version similar to pecilastic and therefore cannot used on green screed.

 

[jonnyc]

Oh I haven't checked the price at ctd but when I can buy ditra at £5.75 plus vat per mt and isomat about same cost why use bal if more costly

 

[Perry]

Yes John thats the one but look at the tilemaster one same sort of thing to pesalastic Bal love to make a big profit. Theres a lot less adhesive and labour using it and not using ditra if you dont need too.

 

[jonnyc]

Yes John thats the one but look at the tilemaster one same sort of thing to pesalastic Bal love to make a big profit. Theres a lot less adhesive and labour using not using ditra if you dont need too.

How much is the tilemaster one.

 

[Perry]

Speak to Mark or Paul on that one. I am using it this week.