Alleyne’s Academy, Stone

F. Ball products help with A* refurbishment at Staffordshire school


Fast-track products including Stopgap 1200 Pro levelling compound, have enabled a school hall in Staffordshire to be refurbished during the exam season without disruption to students.

Flooring contractors were called to refurbish the floor of a school hall at Alleyne’s Academy, in Stone, after it was damaged by floods. The team installed new wood floorcoverings over an area of 195m2 after carefully preparing the subfloor to optimise the appearance and performance of the newly-installed flooring.

To begin with, contractors removed existing wooden blocks from the floor and used a mechanical scabbler to remove old adhesive residues left behind.

Lifting the wooden blocks resulted in minor damage to the building’s existing concrete screed, causing holes up to 25mm deep to appear. These were repaired using Stopgap 1200 Pro levelling compound mixed with Stopgap graded aggregate.

Once the repairs to the subfloor were complete, contractors applied Stopgap P131 general-purpose primer, diluted with seven parts of water to every one part of primer, over the subfloor.

Once the primer was dry, Stopgap 1200 Pro levelling compound was applied at a thickness of approximately 5mm over the primed subfloor.

Before the project began, it was determined that moisture levels in the subfloor exceeded the maximum threshold for installing wood floorcoverings. Therefore, Stopgap F77 one-part waterproof surface membrane was applied to create a barrier to impede the passage of excess subfloor moisture to the level of the floorcoverings.

After the waterproof surface membrane had cured, another layer of Stopgap 1200 Pro was applied to create a perfectly smooth base for the receipt of new wooden floorcoverings. Contractors went over the levelling compound with a Stopgap spiked roller to dispel any trapped air to avoid pinholing occurring.

When the levelling compound had cured, contractors used Styccobond B95 high performance wood flooring adhesive to install new oak blocks over the entire floor area in a herringbone pattern.

Commenting on the project, managing director of B&P Flooring Mark Stevenson said: “Using Stopgap 1200 Pro allowed us to complete the project to a high standard, quickly, meaning no work was ongoing while the students were taking their exams.”