F. Ball and Co. Ltd. will showcase its range of products for creating flawless flooring installations on board cruise ships at this year’s Cruise Ship Interiors Expo Europe, at ExCel London from 4-5 December.
Exported globally, products from F. Ball’s marine range have been used to install flooring on some of the world’s most prestigious cruise ships, as well as a wide range of other marine and offshore applications, including Mediterranean super yachts, offshore oil rigs and polar exploration vessels.
All of the company’s products for marine applications are tested in accordance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards, the EU Marine Equipment Directive (MED) and UK Marine Equipment Regulations (MER).
These include adhesives for almost every type of decorative floorcovering and subfloor preparation products to ensure a perfect base for the receipt of floorcoverings and optimise the appearance and longevity of installations.
Amongst key products is F. Ball’s Stopgap 1500 high performance, water-mix smoothing compound for creating a perfectly smooth surface for floorcoverings, which has recently been approved for use in marine environments and can be applied directly over steel subfloors as well as old adhesives residues. This eliminates the need to mechanically remove them before the installation can begin.
Other solutions help to ensure a long-lasting, aesthetically pleasing flooring finish when subject to conditions typically found in marine environments. For example, Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS temperature tolerant, pressure sensitive vinyl adhesive forms a water-resistant bond that is able to withstand extreme temperature changes. This means it can be used as part of a system for installing floorcoverings in areas exposed to high levels of moisture, such as bathrooms and kitchen and galleys on board vessels.
F. Ball will also use the Cruise Ships Interiors Expo to reinforce the company’s leading credentials in the manufacture of flooring installation products, highlighting the continual innovation and development of its products, supported by certification of its manufacturing and quality processes to international standards ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001.
Jonathan Goold, F. Ball Export Business Manager, said: “Ensuring that flooring maintains both its appearance and integrity over the lifetime of an installation are critical considerations for any marine environment. F. Ball products are developed and exhaustively tested to ensure that both can be guaranteed. We are excited to showcase our latest innovations at this year's Cruise Ship Interiors Expo Europe.”
