'Grab-it' type adhesives

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Rafiki

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Spent a frustrating afternoon trying to glue some Celotex type insulation to the outside of the uninsulated coolbox. One part of the outside of the box is a 45 degree slope under the box with v. difficult access. However with two of us one could gain access to the top and pass a tape down to underneath to be held by the other. With this in place I thought applying Grab-it type adhesive such as ' Good as nails ' etc it would be possible to hold in place for a few minutes and then it would stick...... not a bit of it. Held it for a maybe five minutes, the first version fell off straight away, the second glue held for maybe twenty minutes then fell off when I tried to slide the next piece in place.

Are these glues any good ? how could they possibly hold i plasterboard or skirting boards in place ?

What should I use for my next attempt?

Regards
 
Onia said:
Spent a frustrating afternoon trying to glue some Celotex type insulation to the outside of the uninsulated coolbox. One part of the outside of the box is a 45 degree slope under the box with v. difficult access. However with two of us one could gain access to the top and pass a tape down to underneath to be held by the other. With this in place I thought applying Grab-it type adhesive such as ' Good as nails ' etc it would be possible to hold in place for a few minutes and then it would stick...... not a bit of it. Held it for a maybe five minutes, the first version fell off straight away, the second glue held for maybe twenty minutes then fell off when I tried to slide the next piece in place.

Are these glues any good ? how could they possibly hold i plasterboard or skirting boards in place ?

What should I use for my next attempt?

Regards
Click to expand...

Whats the cool box made of ? If its polythene or polypropylene you will have trouble finding anything to stick.
 
You have to use the right product.

Some are only good on porous surfaces, or if at least one surface is porous.
With others, both surfaces can be non porous (e.g. the one mentioned in post #2). RTFM!

But even with the right product they can take a while to go off, so it can help to keep it in place or with pressure applied with something like a wedge, clamp or gaffer tape for 12 hrs or so to give it a fighting chance, especially if it's going to be under constant tension afterwards.

Personally I'm a big fan of the modern range of grab adhesives and sealants. They're so much better than the old type glues which were pretty useless because they were always designed for perfectly flat contact and never took into account uneven surfaces. I also think they're much more user friendly and versatile, not to mention stronger, flexible, more durable, etc etc
 
I improved the insulation of my cool box using aerosol builders foam.
It goes everywhere and sticks 'very well'.

In the past, I have used football bladders to hold things in place whilst the glue sets in awkward places.

Tony.
 
Onia said:
Coolbox appears to be made of fibreglass - single skin.
Click to expand...

I have done just this job - Celotex on to fibreglass coolbox. I used mainly "Gripfill" as adhesive (the solvent type), which worked fine. Maybe you used a non-solvent type which I find not so good? I also used some low expansion foam -"Exact Gap" to fill some voids, which also adhered OK. I would not necessary use the foam again as it was messy.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p79630?table=no

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p66044?table=no
 
Onia said:
Spent a frustrating afternoon trying to glue some Celotex type insulation to the outside of the uninsulated coolbox. One part of the outside of the box is a 45 degree slope under the box with v. difficult access. However with two of us one could gain access to the top and pass a tape down to underneath to be held by the other. With this in place I thought applying Grab-it type adhesive such as ' Good as nails ' etc it would be possible to hold in place for a few minutes and then it would stick...... not a bit of it. Held it for a maybe five minutes, the first version fell off straight away, the second glue held for maybe twenty minutes then fell off when I tried to slide the next piece in place.

Are these glues any good ? how could they possibly hold i plasterboard or skirting boards in place ?

What should I use for my next attempt?

Regards
Click to expand...

Double sided carpet tape.
 
That's an interesting one, may use this for other pieces of cellotex, but unfortunately on the problematic surface I cant really gain access to the existing surface to coat it.
 
Thanks for your suggestion, indeed one of the adhesives I used was non-solvent, the other I don't know as still on the boat ( 2 hours away!). I will get that Gripfill and also the low expansion foam. I have used quite a lot of high expansion foam, and have spent a long time clearing up the mess. !
Now got to decide what else to get from Toolstation to make the order up to £10 for free delivery - much better than Screwfix !
 
Hot glue! Because nobody has mentioned it yet. When I installed foam insulation on the inside of the hull in some lockers, I used my trusty hot glue pen, and it was quick, easy and if you want to take it off again or made a mistake, you just pull on the foam really hard and it'll let go and is easy to clean up.

That was late last summer and it's not come off yet despite multiple sessions of locker rummaging (and seems to have solved the condensation problems in those lockers, yay). The surface was topcoated fibreglass, so fairly smooth. Definitely sticks on uncoated GRP too. If you're doing larger areas, I'd go for a AC powered glue gun though - the bigger glue sticks cost less.
 
I had thought of using my glue gun, but the problem is that the glue cools and goes off too quickly given the difficulty of access ( I have to lay on top of the galley surfaces with one hand down the back of a cupboard and my brother has to get under the sink ! )
Mind you my £8 glue gun had a very successful first outing at the week-end in making a mock up for a new holding tank - you are right they use glue sticks very quickly!
 
Ah, right. My lockers were more accessible, so I just bent the foam back, applied glue, held it in place, then bent back the next part and repeated. That's probably why whoever insulated my fridge just went on a crazed rampage with a PU foam cannon in there :)
 
Reading this makes me a bit happier that I used ‘bagged’ sections of a hot water tank insulation kit around my coolbox. They may not be as thermally effective as insulation board but I could compress them somewhat and push them into the sloping gap - and they can be removed easily without mess, unlike foam or loose fill (or well glued board, I guess).
 
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