Sealfast, the new one-stop polyurethane flooring adhesive from Norbord, has helped speed up construction of a new low-energy sustainable house in Presteigne, Powys.

Self-build clients, Richard and Hilary Rimington, employed local architect Don Reed to design the three-bedroom house using a timber frame manufactured by Frame Wise, which is also based in Presteigne.

The design brief was for a house with industry-beating thermal performance and air-tightness, built using sustainable materials procured, wherever possible, from local sources.

The house employs Frame Wise’s latest double-panel system for optimum thermal resistance. Developed about 18 months ago, this panel can deliver U-values of less than 0.1W/m²k, making it one of the warmest open panel timber frame systems currently available.

Norbord’s Caberdek tongue-and-groove particleboard flooring panel, incorporated as part of the Frame Wise system, has been recently enhanced with the development of Sealfast, a single product which replaces the need to use two different adhesives during installation.

A fast-curing polyurethane adhesive, Sealfast provides a quick and simple way of ensuring a high quality, squeak-free floor on timber joists. Sealfast was developed as an alternative to other fixing methods that are currently used in the industry. Most of these other systems depend on a PVA adhesive to bond adjacent boards.

However, unlike these other methods, pioneering Sealfast is also suitable for jointing adjacent boards along their tongue-and-grooved edges.

This is where Sealfast really scores since, unlike PVA, it is water resistant so there is no need to apply protective tape to keep moisture out of the joint. Sealfast is supplied in 310ml tubes for application with a standard skeleton gun; after the joint has been made, excess adhesive squeezed out of the joint is spread with the Sealfast Scraper tool to seal the joint.

“We are always looking to improve our processes at Frame Wise, and Sealfast is a significant step forward for Caberdek” commented Simon Orrells, managing director with Frame Wise.

“This project was to use all the latest technology, and the main benefit of using Sealfast was that it allowed us to install a high quality floor very quickly” he adds. “It can be used in damp weather conditions – even in rain - and you don’t have to tape all the joints and nail-holes to keep the damp out.”

It took Frame Wise less than three weeks to erect the timber frame, with the roof installed. Mr and Mrs Rimington have moved onto the interior fit-out phase and hope to have their new house finished by Autumn 2009.