When it came to renovating Castle House, a seven-bedroom Grade II-listed Georgian property in Nottingham’s St James Street, five employees of Balderton Tile Centre used over 13,000 tiles and products from Palace Chemicals to ensure a quality finish.
Balderton reportedly impressed local builders with its quotation for retiling six bathrooms, a ‘vault’ and a kitchen / diner and bar area. The job, which also included under-floor heating, was recently completed, with 268 sqm of tiles installed around the luxurious house.
Matt Ingram, showroom manager for Balderton Tile Centre, said: “The house has been done up really nicely, and it’s going to be run as an Airbnb. It’s right next to the Castle in Nottingham, in a really good location. I think it’s going to be a hit.”
Ingram added that every bathroom in Castle House has marble tiles on the walls, complemented with features including herringbone, fish scale, hexagon, and rhombus shapes.
Balderton Tile Centre has a long-standing relationship with Liverpool-based Palace Chemicals, which was established in 1978 and is one of the largest independent tiling, building chemicals, wood treatment and decorating sundries manufacturers currently operating in the UK.
Ingram said: “Palace Chemicals are very good at product delivery, very reliable and are extremely good on price.”
Steve Ball, Palace Chemicals’ commercial director, said: “We have enjoyed a long relationship with Balderton Tile Centre, and are thrilled to see their latest, project completed. It’s extremely fascinating to think that our products have been used on such a historic building in the centre of Nottingham, especially in the ‘vault’ – maybe Robin Hood visited? We congratulate Balderton Tile Centre on another fantastic piece of craftsmanship.”
Balderton’s tilers used Palace’s MULTI_PRIME for the surface preparation, MULTI-FLEX Tile Adhesive and EASI-FLEX wall & floor adhesives.
MULTI-PRIME is a styrene butadiene co-polymer emulsion for use as a primer and sealer to improve the receptiveness of a receiving substrate by either priming, stabilising or sealing prior to the application of a Palace Self-Levelling compound. It’s said to increase the adhesion and prolong the flowable working time of a leveller, while improving initial coverage and reducing the occurrence of pin-holes. It can be used on porous and non-porous surfaces, internally and externally, and will help with optimising adhesion strength and the long-term durability of the bond to the surface substrate, the company says.
MULTI-FLEX wall & floor tile adhesive is a cement-based, polymer-modified thin-bed ceramic tile adhesive, which reportedly offers a rapid-setting high early strength and is recommended for fixing all types of ceramic and porcelain floor and wall tiles, as well as natural stone, mosaics and vitrified tiles in interior and exterior locations.
The adhesive is said to provide improved flexural strength, water-resistance and is also suitable for applications over sub-floor heating.
The company’s EASI-FLEX wall & floor tile adhesive is described as an easy-to-use standard setting adhesive for fixing ceramic, porcelain, mosaics, marble and natural stone to most floor substrates and has a long open time and potent non-slip properties.
It is available in white or grey and gives a four-hour working time before curing at 24 hours. It’s suitable for interior/exterior use and locations which are frequently wet.
