On the surface of it, a pool rejuvenation project is nothing out of the ordinary. However, when you consider that the project requires the Church to stay in use whilst the baptismal pool, in the middle of the Church, is renovated you begin to appreciate the challenge to the contractors. To tackle this challenge Cerface Limited Wall & Floor Tiling Contractors of Gillingham, Kent teamed up with ARDEX UK Limited, leading manufacturers of fast track tiling systems.

The sunken baptismal pool at the Community Church in Downham, Kent commenced with the existing concrete being grit blasted to expose the aggregate. As the Community Hall itself remained in use, the dust from the blasting process had to be contained. The solution was to construct a dust proof tent over the pool linked to a dust extraction system.

The wall surface of the pool was then rendered using ARDEX AM 100 the unique slump free, fast track tiling render which can be tiled on just 2 hours after application. The treads and risers of the steps leading to the pool were treated prior to tiling with ARDEX WPC, which provided a waterproof protection coat prior to the fixing of tiles. ARDEX WPC is particularly beneficial in domestic or commercial tiling applications where speed is of the essence, as tile fixing can commence just 2 hours after application of the second waterproof coat.

The baptismal pool was then ready to receive 20 x 20mm paper faced glass mosaics by Edgar Udny, with 50 x 50mm unglazed round edge mosaics being applied to the external perimeter area. Cerface Limited then specified ARDEX-FLEX 5000 white flexible adhesive with a built-in admix to fix the mosaics, as it provides a more cost effective solution than a traditional cement-based adhesive with separate dispersion admix. To complete the project ARDEX-FLEX FS flexible grout, also with built-in admix, was used to deliver the perfect finish to a challenging assignment.

Chris Clark of Cerface Limited said, 'We were confident that ARDEX products would provide the total system solution when combined with our skilled and innovative craftsman. Both we and our client were delighted with the successful end result'.

For further information on the ARDEX product range, please visit ARDEX online at www.ardex.co.uk telephone 01440 714939 or email info@ardex.co.uk

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