Why use smoothing agents on rubber wetpour surfacing?
30. June 2022
What we can see at installer’s job sites
When our technicians visit the jobsites, they sometimes get a bit nervous when they find that some of the installers has designed their own formulation for smoothing agents, usually using a few products that we would never recommend using.

An inappropriate smoothing product such as petrol, very often used, could generate warranty problems with granules crumbling, wrong chemical reactions with the materials for surfacing, colour shifts, stains, rainbow or shadow effects and several other problems including potentially toxic mixes leading to health and environmental issues.

What smoothing agents are designed for?
A SMOOTHING AGENT simplifies the task of getting a nice and even finish on thesurfaces of binder and rubber granules (EPDM, TPV or SBR) for playgrounds, sports and leisure applications.
Your trowel or squeegee must be dipped into a shelf with the liquid to be moistened. You strip off the excess with the edge of the shelf, so the consumption of the product is very small. As a result, the granules won’t stick at your tool and the expected visual finish will be easier to achieve.

Smoothing agent main requirements
You don’t want a bad odour product if you are working all day doing wetpour surfacing. Our CONICA Smoothing Agents are colourless, clear, unpigmented, low viscosity, high flash temperature and almost odourless. The most suitable kind of packaging for smoothing agents is a 5 Kg can and 25 Kg keg.

Our recommendations
If you use a product that is not recommended, we might not accept a warranty claim or liability if some problem arise. Considering the low consumption of the product per square meter, there is no reason for trying to save a few pennies using your own risky formulation of homemade smoothing agent.
What you shouldn’t use: alcohols, acetone, petrol, solvents of aromatic chemicals and/or any other chemical not tested in advance by your materials supplier.
There are some solutions like soap water that can be used with no negative effects i,but use them carefully to avoid foam effects on the polyurethane humidity curing binder!
The advantage of using a well formulated smoothing agent from your wetpour materials supplier is that it has been proven to be effectivein a wide range of conditions, without significant risk of running into troubles by any average user whatever his experience level.
Please try and make our technicians happy the next time they visit your job site, use the right stuff! This will make everybody’s life easier.