Karndean Skim Coat alternative

[JonHeath]

Hi all,

I'm laying a very small area (4m2) of Karndean shortly. I've not laid Karndean before but have laid several large areas of Amtico.

I'm laying on top of 6mm plywood which I am yet to nail down. I notice the Kardean instructions then say to skim with "Karndean Skim Coat". This makes the job slightly less cost effective as I'm just using some leftover Karndean that I've got off someone, and don't really want to buy a 5kg tub of this skim coat. Can anyone recommend an alternative to this skim coat?

I read on one site that "Timber floors should be overlayed with 6mm plyboard then primed with diluted Neoprene or PVA primer". No mention of the Karndean Skim Coat. In fact after digging a bit further I found an old Karndean instructions pdf that suggested exactly the same thing (Neoprene or PVA Primer) - suggesting that this skim coat product they have is a relatively new thing.

Would PVA primer do the same job?

Thanks
Jon

 

[dazlight]

Skim coat is mainly to cover any joints in the ply an screw heads / nails.
Best to prime the ply if not using skim.

 

[JonHeath]

Thanks. Can anyone recommend a primer?

 

[kjacko]

I laid 35sqm of karndean. Most of it was on a new floor covered in ply. ONLY the joints were smoothed out with some sandable leveller.
Then i just glued and laid straight onto the ply. No primer or anything.
Oh...i had a guy in to level part of the floor and the joints. He lays Karndean for his job and never primed or told me to prime the ply before paying the product.

 

[dazlight]

Was your ply stapled then? Priming ply will always give your adhesive a better bond. Not everyone does it but its better too.

 

[kjacko]

Was your ply stapled then? Priming ply will always give your adhesive a better bond. Not everyone does it but its better too.

I nail gunned it all down, yes (if that's what you mean)

 

[JonHeath]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do. If I just prime, then will this also fill the gaps between the plywood and the nailheads? Can anyone recommend a decent primer?

 

[kjacko]

For 4sqm mate....i really wouldn't sweat it.

 

[dazlight]

Was your ply stapled then? Priming ply will always give your adhesive a better bond. Not everyone does it but its better too.

I nail gunned it all down, yes (if that's what you mean)

I meant staples mate,
If I'm plying over floor boards I use ring nails, if over chipboard I use divergent staples. But was taught to feather all the ply over ring nails or screws.

 

[dazlight]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do. If I just prime, then will this also fill the gaps between the plywood and the nailheads? Can anyone recommend a decent primer?

The primer won't fill the joints. If they are out of the walking area and tight joints I wouldn't worry too much.
not worth buying primer like f.ball 131 because you will only use a bit.

 

[JonHeath]

Yeah I thought as much regarding primer and it not really being made to fill any joins between the ply or fill holes.

So I guess there are two objectives here if you're doing it to the book:

1. fill the gaps between the ply joins and fill in any nail head dents.
2. apply a primer coat to improve adhesion between the ply and the karndean

I'm guessing the "skim coat" product by Karndean attempts to do both as it's intention is to "smooth joints and fixings in plywood".

At risk of worrying too much about this I don't think I'll bother filling the joins between the ply or the nail heads. When fitting the Amtico I have used "Feather it Finish Floor Smoothing Compound" but this time round the area is much smaller and will only have a couple of joins.

So I guess I just need to decide whether to PVA prime or not. I'll have a little look to see if I can get a small quantity of primer at low cost, but again it sounds like I'm worrying too much about it. I do like to follow instructions though