Gap fillers that ensure healthy living

When mov­ing house or renov­at­ing, you often have to say good­bye to your old wall­pa­per. The wall­pa­per is down – and so is the mood. Ten­ants and build­ing own­ers often dis­cov­er not only wall­pa­per-covered drill holes, but also stress cracks or major plaster dam­age. And when remov­ing the old floor cov­er­ing, holes, joints and oth­er uneven­ness may be found. You have no oth­er choice but to do some patch and repair work. In order to pro­duce smooth sur­faces on walls, floors and ceil­ings, solvent-free lev­el­ling com­pounds are recom­men­ded. They are eas­ily recog­niz­able by eco-labels such as the EC1 seal.

If, dur­ing con­struc­tion or renov­a­tion, defects or uneven areas appear in the masonry or on the floor, these must be lev­elled out. You can choose from a range of dif­fer­ent fillers and lev­el­ling com­pounds, depend­ing on the area of applic­a­tion and extent of dam­age. Fillers of stiff con­sist­ency, for example, are used for filling holes and cracks. On uneven floors, the product must be flow­able so that it can eas­ily spread over the sur­face area. Anoth­er decis­ive factor is wheth­er the filler is to be used indoors or out­doors.

When repair­ing gaps, cracks or oth­er defects in out­door areas or wet rooms, cemen­ti­tious lev­el­ling com­pounds should be used due to the pres­ence of mois­ture. In dry indoor areas, by con­trast, pH-neut­ral fillers of high gypsum con­tent are the product of choice. Although they do not tol­er­ate mois­ture, they are suit­able for repair­ing all kinds of dam­age. Depend­ing on the applic­a­tion, there are spe­cial products, ran­ging from stucco and joint plasters to adhes­ive fillers for smooth sub­strates. True all-round­ers are syn­thet­ic res­in fillers: they are well suited for indoor and out­door use on all sub­strates, includ­ing wood, met­al and even min­er­al sub­strates.

Lev­el­ling com­pounds or fillers are applied with a trow­el. After thor­ough dry­ing, the lev­elled sur­face is sanded to provide a smooth fin­ish. Lev­el­ling com­pounds usu­ally come as a powder and are mixed with a pre­defined amount of water, but they are also sup­plied ready-mixed. To ensure not only a floor that is safe for walk­ing but also a safe room cli­mate, it is advis­able to choose products that are free of solvents and oth­er harm­ful sub­stances.